Senator Bernie Sanders is once again taking aim at America's growing wealth gap, and this time he's got some eye-popping numbers to back up his case. The Vermont senator went after the stunning concentration of wealth among a handful of billionaires, particularly as Elon Musk becomes the first human ever to hit a net worth hovering around $750 billion.
The Billionaire Wealth Explosion
On Friday, Sanders posted on X about what he calls "the great economic crisis of our time"—the widening chasm between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else. His complaint? While millions of Americans are scraping by, barely covering rent, groceries, or medical bills, just 10 billionaires collectively gained $730 billion in wealth during 2025.
"The great economic crisis of our time is growing income and wealth inequality. While millions of Americans struggle to pay rent, buy food, or afford health care, 10 billionaires got $730 billion richer in 2025," Sanders wrote. Drawing from Forbes data, he branded the situation "immoral and unsustainable" and called for ending what he characterizes as oligarchy in America.
Musk Reaches Unprecedented Heights
The poster child for this wealth surge is undoubtedly Musk. According to Forbes, his net worth exploded by more than $333 billion in 2025 alone—that's roughly $935 million per day if you're keeping score at home. The gains have rocketed him to the top of global wealth rankings in historic fashion.
The broader picture is equally staggering. Forbes reports that the combined wealth of over 3,100 billionaires worldwide jumped by $3.6 trillion in 2025, reaching $18.7 trillion total. The top 10 gainers alone accounted for more than $729 billion of that increase.
Interestingly, six of those top ten billionaires are American, including Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang and Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
America's Inequality Argument Heats Up
Wealth inequality has been a flashpoint in American discourse for years now, and 2025 hasn't cooled things down. Billionaire lawyer John Morgan warned earlier that the income gap might push the country toward a breaking point, though his proposed fixes drew plenty of pushback.
Finance influencer Vivian Tu predicted the wealth gap would only worsen in 2025, citing President Donald Trump's economic policies as a key factor.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon has argued that the real solution isn't redistribution but rather growing the economy in a way that benefits everyone, not just those at the top.
The practical effects are already showing up in consumer spending patterns. Lower-income households are increasingly feeling squeezed out and cutting back, while higher-income households are spending more freely and enjoying faster wage growth—creating a two-speed economy that reinforces the very inequality Sanders is railing against.