It’s no secret that America is a deeply troubled nation. Runaway crime, inflation, soaring obesity rates, poor health outcomes, the breakdown of social comity… the list is as well-known as it is interminable. Perhaps the most significant class divide in the next few years will be between those rich enough to walk away from the mess and those with no choice but to stay put and endure it.
“Wealthy US families are increasingly applying for second citizenships and national residences as a way to hedge their financial risk, according to a leading law firm,” CNBC reported earlier this month.
“The wealthy are building these ‘passport portfolios’ – collections of second, and even third or fourth citizenships – in case they need to flee their home country,” the financial news site writes. “Henley & Partners, a law firm that specializes in high-net-worth citizenships, said Americans now outnumber every other nationality when it comes to securing alternative residences or added citizenships.”
If the Titanic is approaching the iceberg, the immensely well-off are ensuring they have secured their place in the lifeboat. “Recent high-profile examples of second citizenships include billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, who added a citizenship in New Zealand, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who applied for citizenship in Cyprus,” CNBC notes.
It’s hard not to see the trend as an inevitable outcome of rich Americans aggressively embracing globalism in pursuit of additional revenue streams. Glenn Hutchins, a powerful private equity investor who donates heavily to Democrat causes, was quoted in The Atlantic 13 years ago saying:
“A person in Africa who runs a big African bank and went to Harvard might have more in common with me than he does with his neighbors, and I could well share more overlapping concerns and experiences with him than with my neighbors….
“Beijing has a lot in common with New York, London, or Mumbai. You see the same people, you eat in the same restaurants, you stay in the same hotels. But most important, we are engaged as global citizens in crosscutting commercial, political, and social matters of common concern. We are much less place-based than we used to be.”
The gulf between average Americans and the rich and super-wealthy is only growing as middle- and lower-class citizens struggle mightily with runaway inflation during the Biden years.
“The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter [2023], as an end-of-year stock rally lifted their portfolios, according to new data from the Federal Reserve,” CNBC reported in March. “The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter. All of the gains came from their stock holdings. The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares held by the top 1% surged to $19.7 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter.”
In contrast, the rest of America is hurting. Even Democrats and their media allies are beginning to grasp the extent of the rising discontent, and its potential political ramifications.
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