(theguardian) – The combined wealth of the top 10 U.S. billionaires soared by $698 billion in the past year, underscoring the deepening divide between America’s richest and the rest of its citizens, according to a new report from Oxfam America released Monday. The report warns that President Donald Trump’s economic policies risk driving U.S. inequality to unprecedented levels, even as decades of decisions from both major parties have helped widen the wealth gap.
Drawing from Federal Reserve data spanning 1989 to 2022, researchers found that the top 1% of American households gained 101 times more wealth than the median household during that period — and 987 times more than households in the bottom 20th percentile of income. In raw terms, that’s an average gain of $8.35 million per top 1% household, compared with $83,000 for the average household.
Oxfam’s findings paint a stark picture of an economy increasingly tilted toward the ultra-rich. While billionaires amass historic fortunes, over 40% of Americans — including nearly half of all children — live in low-income families, earning less than twice the national poverty line.
When compared to 38 high-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States ranks worst in relative poverty, second-highest in child poverty and infant mortality, and second-lowest in life expectancy.
“Inequality is a policy choice,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “These comparisons show us that we can make very different choices when it comes to poverty and inequality in our society.”
Oxfam: Decades of Policy Favor the Wealthy
The report argues that the U.S. tax code, social safety net, and labor protections have been gradually dismantled, transforming concentrated wealth into concentrated political power. Oxfam identified President Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” passed by Congress in May, as one of the largest upward transfers of wealth in decades, reducing taxes for corporations and high-income earners.
But the charity emphasized that both Republican and Democratic administrations have contributed to rising inequality through decades of tax cuts, deregulation, and reductions in social support.
“Policymakers have been choosing inequality, and those choices have had bipartisan support,” Riddell said. “From cuts to taxes and the social safety net to weakening labor rights, these policy reforms have had backing from both parties.”
The Path Forward
Oxfam outlined a series of policy recommendations aimed at reversing the wealth gap, including reforms to campaign finance laws and antitrust regulations, progressive taxation on the wealthy and corporations, strengthening social safety nets, and protecting workers’ unions.
However, the report acknowledges that these reforms face significant political challenges due to long-standing stigmas attached to welfare and taxation — remnants of rhetoric popularized during the Reagan era, such as the “welfare queen” myth.
“What’s really needed is a different kind of politics,” Riddell said. “One that focuses on delivering for ordinary people by rapidly reducing inequality. There are sensible, proven reforms that could go a long way to reversing the troubling trends we see.”
A Grassroots Push for Change
Despite limited progress at the federal level, Oxfam highlights community leaders working on the front lines to reduce inequality. Representatives from United Workers Maryland, featured in the report, said that public frustration with economic disparity could provide a crucial moment for reform.
“I think it’s brilliant that they see this as an opportunity,” Riddell added. “This is a moment to look around and realize our broader power — that we can demand a system that works for everyone, not just for those at the very top.”
