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For many individuals in the United States, the economic climate over the last half-decade has been tough. Expenses have skyrocketed while wages remains unchanged. High mortgage rates have made purchasing property a dismal prospect. The rate of unemployment has been gradually increasing.

The majority of individuals have stated they're putting off major life decisions, including having kids or switching jobs, because of the instability. But for a very small group of people, the last five years couldn't have been more prosperous.

Fortune Expansion

The wealth of the world's billionaires increased 54% in 2020, at the peak of the pandemic. And even amid all the economic instability, the stock market has only persisted in expanding. This expansion has mostly helped just a limited group of Americans: 10% of the population holds 93% of stock market wealth.

As uneven as this allocation seems, it's the financial structure working as it is existing today.

"Rich elites have bought their jets, they've acquired their multiple houses and mansions, but now they're securing senators and media outlets," stated wealth disparity expert Chuck Collins. "We're now stepping into this other chapter of maximum resource removal where the wealthy are exploiting the system of inequality."

Mapping Economic Classes

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

To update the concept, Collins classifies these "wealth villages" based on income levels:

• At the foundation, 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.

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

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

The Billionaireville Effect

The summit 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 far surpasses those who are simply affluent, let alone the typical citizen who doesn't inhabit "Richistan" at all.

But Collins thinks the activist mantra "end extreme wealth" fails to address the core issue and has a "hint of elimination" to it.

"It's the difference between individual behaviors and a system of rules," Collins said. "We should be focused on an economic system that funnels so much wealth upward to the billionaires."

Wealth Accumulation Mechanisms

To understand how wealth at the billionaire level works, Collins breaks it down into four parts: accumulating assets, securing fortune, government influence and hyper-extraction.

When many Americans think about wealth, they usually think exclusively about the first step, Collins said. People can create a reasonable quantity of wealth through creating or operating a successful business, which could get them membership in Affluent Town.

But getting to Billionaireville requires significant resources 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 skills to ensure that the super rich are being calculated about their taxes.

"Wealth defense professionals use a broad range of tools such as trusts, international accounts, anonymous shell companies, charitable foundations and other vehicles to hold assets," he explains.

Political Influence and Hyper-Extraction

To advance 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 "extreme removal" to describe how the wealthy have come to touch nearly every single part of an Americans' routine activities largely through private equity, which allows wealthy individuals to support private companies.

"Private equity is seeking those corners of the economy where they can extract value a little bit harder," Collins said. "One thing I don't think people understand is these billionaire private-equity funds are what happens when so much wealth is accumulated in so few hands, and they can kind of turn around 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 increase their costs."

Tangible Effects

The effects 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 pain and frustration of this kind of society can lead to deep discontent.

"The most powerful oligarchs understand people are being excluded [and] are economically suffering," Collins said, adding that Republicans have been good at tapping into a potent "false common-man appeal".

Policy Situation

The irony, Collins points out in his book, is that political leaders have appointed a string of billionaires to government roles. Along with tech billionaires who had brief but powerful roles overseeing massive cuts to the federal workforce, other important roles for commerce, treasury, education and the interior are also all billionaires.

This administrative framework, along with help from legislative supporters, helped pass huge tax bills, which will make lasting reductions for the wealthy and corporations.

The Path Forward

While government groups continue to argue that border policies and unfavorable commercial treaties are the source of everyone's economic problems, "the challenge is: Will the alternative political group, which has also been influenced by the billionaires and big money, be able to effectively tackle the underlying harms?" Collins said.

Progressive politicians, he argues, know what policies are needed to "change wealth distribution", including deep changes to the tax system, increasing the minimum wage and strengthening unions.

"It was so, so close, and the law really did embody the will of the majority of people who really want lawmakers to solve some of these pressing issues," Collins said. "Wealthy influence is not about building so much as blocking. It's easier to block than it is to make something substantial take place, but the muscle memory is there. We know what that looks like."

Collins is positive that there can be change, but said it would require continuous government action.

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