The three richest people in the US - Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett - own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people.
Analysis of the wealth of Americaâs richest people found that Gates, Bezos and Buffett were sitting on a combined $248.5bn (ÂŁ190bn) fortune. The Institute for Policy Studies said the growing gap between rich and poor had created a âmoral crisisâ.
âOur wealthiest 400 now have more wealth combined than the bottom 64% of the US population, an estimated 80m households or 204 million people,â the report says. âThatâs more people than the population of Canada and Mexico combined.â
The report says the âbillionaire classâ continues to âpull apart from the rest of usâ at the fastest rate ever recorded. âWe have not witnessed such extreme levels of concentrated wealth and power since the first gilded age a century ago.â