1: Wealth Concentration and the Authoritarian Threat

By 2025, global billionaire wealth reached an unprecedented $15.8 trillion – a figure surpassing the combined gross domestic product of China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies (UBS, 2025). This staggering concentration represents a profound transformation in the distribution of economic resources and, consequently, political power. The wealthiest 1% of humanity now controls 47% of global wealth, while the bottom 50% possesses barely 2% (Credit Suisse, 2024). In the United States, the epicentre of this concentration, the three wealthiest individuals – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault – collectively hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of American households combined (Institute for Policy Studies, 2024).