美國政策研究所的一項分析顯示，約1.60億美國人的財富加起來才抵得上比爾·蓋茨、杰夫·貝佐斯和沃倫·巴菲特。

該智囊機構在名為《億萬富翁財源》（Billionaire Bonanza）的報告中指出，美國貧富差距不斷拉大是一場“道德危機”。它還警告說，特朗普政府提出的稅務政策只會讓貧富變得更加懸殊，因為1%的最富有家庭得到了80%的稅收優惠。

報告作者之一、經濟學家查克·柯林斯認為，鑒于貧富差距擴大，“現在應該采取行動縮小這種差距，而不是給極富裕階層減稅”。

報告稱：“100年前的第一個鍍金時代以來，還沒有出現過財富和權力如此集中的情況。”

在《福布斯》富豪榜上，位列榜首的是微軟創始人比爾·蓋茨，擁有890億美元資產；亞馬遜的貝佐斯名列第二，資產數額為815億美元；股神沃倫·巴菲特以780億美元的資產規模排在第三位。富豪榜公布以來，貝佐斯的財富一直在增長，這在很大程度上要歸功于亞馬遜股價的上漲。現在貝佐斯的個人財富已經接近1000億美元，在明年的《福布斯》富豪榜上將躍居首位。

尤其要說的是貝佐斯的財富積累證實了報告的一個核心觀點：極富有人士積累財富的速度正在加快，這讓躋身極富有階層變得越來越難。

近年來，美國工薪階層的收入基本停滯不前，而1978年以來首席執行官的薪酬卻增長了930%以上。現在CEO的工資是普通員工的271倍。

而要進入今年的《福布斯》富豪榜，這400名最富有美國人的財富得增長18%。現在的富豪榜門檻為20億美元，是1982年《福布斯》首次發布富豪榜時的10倍。

同時，五分之一的美國家庭的財富為零或負值。少數族裔尤其如此——近三分之一的黑人家庭和超過四分之一的拉丁裔家庭處于這樣的狀態，而白人中此類家庭占14%。

報告指出：“這種令人咂舌的貧富差距威脅著我們的民主，使種族和階層分化問題變得復雜起來，削弱了社會凝聚力并讓經濟變得不穩定。”

富豪榜上排在前25位的都是白人。在所有的400人中，只有兩名非裔美國人（脫口秀主持人奧普拉·溫弗瑞和科技投資人羅伯特·史密斯）以及五位拉丁裔人士。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

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It takes the combined wealth of about 160 million Americans to equal that of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett, according to analysis from the Institute for Policy Studies.

In its Billionaire Bonanza report, the think tank called the growing wealth inequality in the U.S. a “moral crisis” and warned that the tax policy proposed by the Trump administration would only worsen the disparity, with 80% of tax benefits going to the wealthiest 1% of households.

Citing the rise in wealth inequality, economist and co-author of the report Chuck Collins said, “Now is the time for actions that reduce inequality, not tax cuts for the very wealthy.”

“We have not witnessed such extreme levels of concentrated wealth and power since the first gilded age a century ago,” the report says.

The Forbes list cites Gates, the Microsoft founder, as the richest person in America with $89 billion, Amazon’s Bezos as second richest with $81.5 billion, and investor Warren Buffett at third-richest with $78 billion. Since the list was published, Bezos’s wealth has increased — thanks in large part to the rising value of Amazon’s stock — putting him at nearly $100 billion and in a position to appear at the top of the Forbes list next year.

Bezos, in particular, demonstrates a key point of the report: The super rich are accumulating wealth faster, making it harder and harder to break into the club.

Wages for workers in the U.S. have remained relatively stagnant in recent years, while chief executive officers’ compensation has grown more than 930% since 1978. CEOs now make 271 times what the typical worker earns.

This year the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest people in the U.S. saw an 18% increase in the amount of wealth needed to make the cut. The price of admission is now $2 billion — ten times the amount of money it took to make the first Forbes 400 list in 1982.

Meanwhile, one in five U.S. households have zero or negative wealth. This is especially true of minority households — nearly a third of black households and more than a quarter of all Latinx households have zero or negative wealth, compared to 14% of white families.

“Such staggering levels of wealth inequality threaten our democracy, compound racial and class divisions, undermine social cohesion, and destabilize our economy,” the report says.

The top 25 richest billionaires are all white. There are only two African Americans (Oprah Winfrey and tech investor Robert Smith) and five Latinx members among the 400-person list.