Oxfam: America’s Richest Gained $698 Billion as Inequality Deepens

By Staff, Agencies

The combined wealth of the ten richest Americans surged by $698 billion over the past year, according to a new Oxfam America report that warns of record inequality under current US policies.

Released Monday, the study blames decades of tax cuts, weakened labor protections, and bipartisan neglect of the social safety net for the extreme wealth gap.

It found that between 1989 and 2022, the top 1% of US households amassed 101 times more wealth than the median household, and nearly 1,000 times more than those in the bottom 20%.

Oxfam researchers noted that while the wealthiest 1% gained an average of $8.35 million per household, typical families saw only $83,000 in the same period. Meanwhile, over 40% of Americans, including nearly half of all children, now live below twice the federal poverty line.

Rebecca Riddell, Oxfam’s senior policy lead, said inequality “is a policy choice,” pointing to the Trump administration’s latest tax bill—dubbed the president’s “one big, beautiful bill”—as “one of the largest upward transfers of wealth in decades.”

However, the report stresses the problem is bipartisan, citing support from both parties for reforms that have “consistently favored the rich.”

Among 38 OECD nations, the US ranks first in relative poverty, second in child poverty and infant mortality, and second-lowest in life expectancy, highlighting what Oxfam calls “the political choice to prioritize wealth over well-being.”