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To numerous US citizens, the economic climate over the recent five-year span has been difficult. Prices have escalated while pay remains flat. High mortgage rates have made homeownership a dismal prospect. The unemployment rate has been slowly rising.

Many Americans have reported they're putting off major life decisions, including raising children or changing careers, because of the instability. But for a very small group of people, the last five years couldn't have been more successful.

Fortune Expansion

The fortune of the world's billionaires increased 54% in 2020, at the climax of the pandemic. And even throughout all the economic instability, the stock market has only continued to grow. This increase has primarily advantaged just a small number of Americans: 10% of the population controls 93% of stock market wealth.

Despite the imbalance as this division seems, it's the financial structure working as it is existing today.

"Rich elites have purchased their jets, they've bought their multiple houses and mansions, but now they're buying senators and media outlets," explained economic inequality analyst Chuck Collins. "We're now entering this other chapter of hyper-extraction where the wealthy are exploiting the system of inequality."

Mapping Economic Classes

To help others grasp what exactly it means to be "wealthy" in the US, Collins utilizes a concept from journalist Robert Frank who, in a 2007 book on the rich, imagined the different levels of wealth as "Wealthville" villages: Prosperity Village, Lower Richistan, Middle Richistan, Upper Richistan and Billionaireville.

To update the concept, Collins organizes these "economic communities" based on income levels:

• At the base level, Affluent Town, are the 10 million Americans who have a household income of at least $110,000 and an total assets of over $1.5m.
• The villages get more restricted as wealth goes up: Lower Richistan has 2.6 million households who have wealth between $6m and $13m.
• Middle Richistan has 1.3 million households who have assets worth an average of $37m.
• Upper Richistan, made up of 130,000 Americans (roughly the size of a small city) has between $60m to $1bn in wealth.

In total, the residents of these villages constitute the top 10% of the wealth income distribution, about 14 million Americans altogether, though their circumstances vary dramatically.

"You could be in Lower Richistan, and you're still traveling in the coach section of a commercial plane," Collins said. "Whereas in Upper Richistan, you're traveling via a private jet. That's a really different cultural experience. You fly private, you have no investment in the commercial aviation system. You don't care if the whole system shuts down – you're set."

The Billionaireville Effect

The peak in "Richistan" is Billionaireville, which is made up of about 800 American billionaires who are some of the world's wealthiest. The influence that this group has greatly exceeds those who are simply affluent, let alone the ordinary person who doesn't inhabit "Richistan" at all.

But Collins thinks the political catchphrase "billionaires shouldn't exist" doesn't capture the real problem and has a "hint of elimination" to it.

"It's the distinction between private conduct and a system of rules," Collins explained. "We should be worried about an economic system that directs so much wealth upward to the billionaires."

Fortune Building Strategies

To understand how wealth at the billionaire level works, Collins divides it into four parts: accumulating assets, securing fortune, government influence and maximum resource extraction.

When many Americans think about wealth, they usually think solely about the first step, Collins said. People can create a modest amount of wealth through starting or running a successful business, which could get them residency in Affluent Town.

But getting to Billionaireville requires serious investment and strategy in those next three steps. Collins describes what he calls the "fortune security field": the tax lawyers, accountants and wealth managers who use their expertise to ensure that the super rich are being calculated about their taxes.

"Wealth defense professionals use a broad range of tools such as financial instruments, international accounts, secret corporations, non-profit organizations and other mechanisms to hold assets," he details.

Government Power and Extreme Wealth Removal

To enhance a wealth defense strategy, a family needs policy assistance. Wealth of over $40m becomes political power, Collins says, and can be used to secure fortune and ensure continued growth.

The ultimate step is a different kind of wealth accumulation, one that Collins calls "hyper extraction" to describe how the wealthy have come to influence nearly every single part of an Americans' everyday life largely through capital management, which allows wealthy individuals to fund private companies.

"Private equity is searching for those corners of the economy where they can increase profits a little bit harder," Collins said. "One thing I don't think people realize is these billionaire private-equity funds are what happens when so much wealth is accumulated in so few hands, and they can essentially pivot and say, 'Where else can we generate returns out of the economy?' Healthcare? Great. Mobile home parks? These people can't go anywhere, [so] you can boost their expenses."

Tangible Effects

The results of this inequality go beyond the wealth getting wealthier. It's about people paying more for their healthcare, rent and vet bills without seeing any significant salary growth. And Collins said the hardship and discontent of this kind of society can lead to serious unrest.

"The most powerful wealthy elites understand people are being excluded [and] are monetarily hurting," Collins said, adding that Republicans have been good at accessing a potent "phony populism".

Political Reality

The contradiction, Collins points out in his book, is that political leaders have appointed a string of billionaires to cabinet positions. Along with affluent innovators who had short yet influential roles overseeing massive cuts to the federal workforce, other key positions for commerce, treasury, education and the interior are also all billionaires.

This administrative framework, along with help from congressional allies, helped pass huge tax bills, which will make permanent tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

The Path Forward

While legislative bodies continue to argue that foreign entry and unfavorable commercial treaties are the source of everyone's economic problems, "the question becomes: Will the opposing party, which has also been influenced by the billionaires and big money, be able to effectively tackle the underlying harms?" Collins said.

Liberal leaders, he argues, know what policies are needed to "change wealth distribution", including significant reforms to the tax system, boosting the minimum wage and supporting labor organizations.

"It was so, so close, and the legislation really did reflect the will of the most of people who really want lawmakers to fix some of these pressing issues," Collins said. "Wealthy influence is not about creating so much as preventing. It's easier to block than it is to make something significant occur, but the institutional knowledge is there. We know what that looks like."

Collins is hopeful that there can be change, but said it would require sustained political momentum.

"It may be before we know it that the pendulum swings back, and then it really is about preserving a continuous public campaign to make progress on this extreme inequality we're living in," he said. "We can address this. It is addressable."