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Fernanda Balata

January 28th, 2025

It is time to draw a line under extreme wealth

3 comments | 8 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Fernanda Balata

January 28th, 2025

It is time to draw a line under extreme wealth

3 comments | 8 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

When a handful of individuals hold extreme levels of wealth, there are severe risks to democracy as well as to economic and ecological stability, writes Fernanda Balata. Could an extreme wealth line – akin to the poverty line – anchor global action against the harms of unchecked wealth and power?


The world’s three richest men – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – had a front-row seat at billionaire Donald Trump’s inauguration last week. Between the three of them, they control Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and the Washington Post. Musk – the richest person ever, with wealth worth US$450 billion – is now a government official at the White House. This may be the largest display of unchecked wealth and power in the 21st century, showcasing how extreme wealth distorts democratic processes.

It begs the question: what if we decided that there is such a thing as too much wealth?

In my latest research with the New Economics Foundation and Patriotic Millionaires, I explore the concept of an extreme wealth line – a threshold beyond which wealth accumulation by an individual or an entity becomes socially harmful: undermining democracy as well as economic and ecological stability. Through insights gained in interviews with political figures, policy experts and millionaires, we found that an extreme wealth line could help promote a fairer economy and support solutions to address the major global risks of extreme wealth

At what point is wealth extreme?

While most people face daily struggles to meet the rising cost of living, with limited control over their lives and futures, a handful of people hold disproportionate influence over political outcomes and public discourse. The top ten wealthiest people in the world now own more than the poorest three billion combined. In 2024, wealth owned by billionaires increased by $2 trillion – three times faster than the previous year – with each week seeing almost four new billionaires, on average. The latest Oxfam report found that if any of the richest 10 billionaires lost 99% of their wealth, they’d still be a billionaire.

Extreme wealth is not just about owning mansions, yachts, shares and businesses. When people have such excessive wealth, they can use it to distort democratic foundations and the social contract, maintaining a system where they keep getting richer despite the consequences for the rest of us. Those who have achieved multi-millionaire and billionaire status can exert power and influence over fragile democracies, while nearly half of humanity lives on less than a living wage.

Front of minds in Europe now is Musk’s interference in UK and German politics. Using his position as the owner of a major social media platform (Twitter/X), Musk called for the UK parliament to be dissolved and for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be jailed; and claimed that only the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) could “save Germany” weeks before the country’s general election.

However, this issue extends far beyond one individual. The systemic risks of extreme wealth distorting democracy are a deeply entrenched problem in our societies. In Italy, billionaire and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ownership of major television networks and publications enabled him to shape public opinion and political discourse. In Azerbaijan, the Aliyev family has leveraged oil wealth to suppress opposition and consolidate power. And in Russia, the oligarch class continues to shape state policies and governance through their accumulated fortunes.

Political leaders are not tackling the issue

The super-rich often accumulate their wealth through exploitation or inheritance and maintain it by avoiding taxes and exerting their power over the markets, our economy and our political system. According to the latest Oxfam report, 60% of billionaire wealth is either from crony or monopolistic sources or inherited.

In our interviews with millionaires, the existence of extreme wealth was broadly viewed as a systemic failure. A recent polling of G20 millionaires found that the majority of millionaires believe that extreme wealth poses a threat to the democratic stability of the country where they live and that political leaders do not have the will to tackle the issue. One politician we interviewed told us that “extreme wealth concentration stifles equitable policymaking through lobbying and political donations.”

Recent polling of G20 millionaires found that the majority believe that extreme wealth poses a threat to the democratic stability of the country where they live

Extreme wealth drives political and legal systems to benefit the richest few and not the majority. If current trends continue, the world could witness its first trillionaire within this decade, while poverty won’t be eliminated for another 229 years.

But the super-rich can only accumulate and maintain such a large share of our global wealth because political leaders allow them to. This means it doesn’t have to be this way.

We need an extreme wealth line

It has long been accepted that there is a line beneath which people have too little to thrive or survive. Organisations have sometimes attempted to define this with metrics like the “extreme poverty line”. But is there also a level at which accumulating wealth becomes harmful?

In the report published this week, I argue that an extreme wealth line could help bridge the gap in current debates, narratives and policy frameworks by offering a metric or set of metrics to indicate the point at which wealth concentration crosses a point that is detrimental to society – undermining democracy, society, the economy, and the environment.

We found widespread support by millionaires in our interviews for an extreme wealth line, with one saying: “an extreme wealth line would make the harms of concentrated wealth more visible and encourage societal reassessment of wealth accumulation.” An open letter earlier this month from 370 millionaires and billionaires – We Must Draw The Line – also urged elected leaders to tackle the corrosive impact of extreme wealth on our democracies and broader society.  

Addressing extreme wealth is not about stopping people from innovating and pursuing financial stability and success. By framing extreme wealth concentration as a societal risk, an extreme wealth line could reshape public opinion, as the poverty line transformed public understanding of economic deprivation. By setting a benchmark, policymakers could better address extreme wealth-related harms. An extreme wealth line could also provide a reference point for progressive taxation and regulatory reforms aimed at reducing excessive influence over public institutions and the media. A standardised measure could facilitate international cooperation on taxing wealth and fighting corruption.

The Brazilian presidency of the G20 Summit last year, through its proposal of a global minimum tax on ultra-net-worth individuals, highlighted global momentum for better wealth regulation. Now, it’s time to define and implement an extreme wealth line and realise its potential as a critical tool for addressing the systemic risks of extreme wealth.


The full report, Exploring an extreme wealth line, published by the New Economics Foundation, is available to read now.

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All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s). They do not represent the position of LSE Inequalities, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Image credits: Bernulius via Shutterstock.

About the author

Fernanda Balata

Fernanda Balata

Fernanda Balata is a political economist at the New Economics Foundation, leading programmes of work on climate, economic and social justice. She has experience of bridging between high-level research and policy, and working directly with people, workers, and communities.

Posted In: Elites | Global Inequalities | Ideas and Narratives | Politics of Inequality | Wealth

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