Welcome to the longest U.S. economic expansion in history, one
perhaps best characterized by the excesses of extreme wealth and an
ever-widening chasm between the unfathomably rich and everyone else.
Indeed, as the expansion entered its record-setting 121st month on Monday, signs of a new Gilded Age are all over.
Big-money
deals are getting bigger, from corporate mergers and acquisitions, to
individuals buying luxury penthouses, sports teams, yachts and
all-frills pilgrimages to the ends of the earth. And while these deals
grab headlines, there is a deeper trend at work. The number of
billionaires in the United States has more than doubled in the last
decade, from 267 in 2008 to 607 last year, according to UBS.
“The rich have gotten richer and they’ve gotten richer faster,” said
John Mathews, Head of Private Wealth Management and Ultra High Net Worth
at UBS (UBSG.S) Global Wealth Management. “The drive or the desire for consumption has just gone upscale.”
But
there are also signs of struggle and stagnation at lower-income levels.
The wealthiest fifth of Americans hold 88% of the country’s wealth, a
share that has grown since before the crisis, Federal Reserve data
through 2016 shows. Meanwhile, the number of people receiving federal
food stamps tops 39 million, below the peak in 2013 but still up 40%
from 2008 even though the country’s population has only grown about 8%.
Anger over what some see as the unfairness of the economy has bubbled
into the country’s politics, with Democratic presidential candidates
promising to lower healthcare costs, guarantee jobs and tax the rich.
