Globally, 85 individuals have as much wealth as the poorest half of the population.

According to an Oxfam report published today citing Credit Suisse as its source, "[t]he bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world."

This is everywhere today, and has been erroneously reported as claiming that 85 individuals control half the worlds wealth.

The report further shows that "In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent
of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer." It also shows that the USA leads the world in having wealth concentrate at the top.

I don't think there is any doubt that the wealth concentration is real, recent, unprecedented in the USA, and extreme. I have seen it claimed that it is the result of, variously, industrialization, automation, robots, globalization, and the Internet. My thesis is that it is mostly the result of many small changes in the rules of the economic game, as administered by government. I'm working on a post about carried interest, and another about traffic cameras. Barely a day goes by that I'm not reminded about something else.