Billionaire fortunes have grown at a rate three times faster than the average annual rate in the previous five years since the election of Donald Trump in November 2024.1 Whilst US billionaires have seen the sharpest growth in their fortunes, billionaires in the rest of the world have also seen double digit increases. Actions of the of the Trump presidency, including the championing of deregulation and undermining agreements to increase corporate taxation, have benefited the richest around the world.
It is one thing for a billionaire to buy an enormous yacht or many luxury homes around the world. This excessive consumption can rightly be criticized in a deeply unequal world where the majority have very little. A world that can also not afford the carbon that comes with this
excessive consumption. But many others would reject this criticism, describing it as the politics of envy.
