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To numerous Americans, the economic climate over the recent five-year span has been tough. Expenses have soared while wages remains unchanged. Elevated mortgage rates have made buying a home a dismal prospect. The rate of unemployment has been slowly rising.

Most people have stated they're putting off major life decisions, including having kids or moving to new employment, because of economic uncertainty. But for a select few of people, the recent half-decade couldn't have been more successful.

Fortune Expansion

The wealth of the world's billionaires grew 54% in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. And even throughout all the financial uncertainty, the stock market has only kept rising. This growth has mostly helped just a tiny percentage of Americans: 10% of the population controls 93% of stock market wealth.

However unequal as this division seems, it's the economic framework working as it is presently configured.

"Affluent individuals have purchased their jets, they've acquired their multiple houses and mansions, but now they're acquiring senators and media outlets," stated wealth disparity expert Chuck Collins. "We're now entering this other chapter of hyper-extraction where the wealthy are taking advantage of the system of inequality."

Understanding Wealth Tiers

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

To modernize the concept, Collins organizes these "wealth villages" based on income levels:

• At the base level, Affluent Town, are the 10 million Americans who have a annual salary 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 comprise 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 noted. "Whereas in Upper Richistan, you're using a private jet. That's a really different cultural experience. 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."

Ultra-Wealth Impact

The peak in "Richistan" is Billionaireville, which is made up of about 800 American billionaires who are some of the world's richest. The control that this group has far surpasses those who are simply affluent, let alone the ordinary person who doesn't reside in "Richistan" at all.

But Collins thinks the political catchphrase "abolish billionaires" misses the point and has a "whiff of exterminism" to it.

"It's the difference between private conduct and a structure of regulations," Collins said. "We should be concerned about an economic system that funnels so much wealth upward to the billionaires."

The Four Pillars of Billionaire Wealth

To understand how wealth at the billionaire level works, Collins separates it into four parts: getting the wealth, defending the wealth, government influence and maximum resource extraction.

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

But getting to Billionaireville requires significant resources and planning in those next three steps. Collins describes what he calls the "wealth defense industry": the tax lawyers, accountants and wealth managers who use their skills to ensure that the super rich are being deliberate about their taxes.

"Wealth defense professionals use a wide variety of tools such as financial instruments, international accounts, undisclosed businesses, charitable foundations and other mechanisms to hold assets," he explains.

Government Power and Extreme Wealth Removal

To advance a wealth defense strategy, a family needs policy assistance. Wealth of over $40m converts to political power, Collins says, and can be used to defend wealth and maintain expansion.

The last stage is a different kind of wealth accumulation, one that Collins calls "extreme removal" to describe how the wealthy have come to affect nearly every single part of an Americans' daily existence largely through private equity, which allows wealthy individuals to invest in private companies.

"Private equity is looking for those sectors 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 stored 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 raise their rents."

The Real Consequences

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 substantial income improvement. 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 monetarily hurting," Collins said, adding that right-leaning leaders have been good at tapping into a potent "false common-man appeal".

Government Truth

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 short yet influential roles overseeing massive cuts to the federal workforce, other important roles for commerce, treasury, education and the interior are also all billionaires.

This government structure, along with help from political partners, helped pass significant fiscal policies, which will make enduring decreases for the wealthy and corporations.

Potential Changes

While political parties continue to argue that border policies and poor economic deals 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.

Left-leaning officials, he argues, know what policies are needed to "alter economic flow", including deep changes to the tax system, boosting the minimum wage and empowering worker groups.

"It was so, so close, and the bill really did reflect the will of the bulk of people who really want lawmakers to solve some of these critical challenges," Collins said. "Elite control is not about creating so much as blocking. It's easier to block than it is to make something meaningful happen, but the historical precedent is there. We know what that looks like."

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

"It may be quickly that the pendulum swings back, and then it really is about sustaining a continuous public campaign to make progress on this severe disparity we're living in," he said. "We can address this. It is fixable."