Since the 1980s, there has been a consistent, rapid rise in the number of billionaires. By 2025, the combined wealth of the richest 1%—those with over $11 million—has reached $44.6 trillion. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the accumulation of wealth among millionaires and billionaires. From 2020 onward, while the global economy was devastated by the pandemic, the wealth of the top 1% grew by nearly $15 trillion—an increase of 49%. In 2024 alone, approximately 204 new billionaires emerged, adding to the 2,565 billionaires recorded in 2023.
According to Oxfam’s latest Annual Inequality Report, 36% of these billionaires inherited their wealth from their family. This raises critical questions: How did the remaining 64% of millionaires and billionaires amass their fortunes? How did they continue to grow their wealth while the working poor faced increasing financial hardship? What policies, processes, economic and political structures enabled such a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich?
The Washington Consensus of 1989 has played a pivotal role in creating new billionaires and concentrating wealth among both old and new elites. British-born economist John Harold Williamson not only coined the term Washington Consensus but also outlined a set of ten economic policy prescriptions, promoted and enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank under the guise of economic reforms and structural adjustment programmes. The ten interconnected policy reforms of the Washington Consensus of 1989 are composed of i) reduce national budget deficit by reducing domestic expenditure and government borrowing for economic stability, ii) end subsidies to state owned firms, food and fuel consumption, iii) broaden tax regime, iv) liberalise market and end government control over financial and other sectors for a free market, v) adopt single exchange rate led market driven exchange rate to encourage export, vi) reduce trade restrictions and encourage tariff based trade over quotas, vii) abolish barriers to foreign direct investment, viii) privatise state owned enterprises, ix) abolish policies that restrict competition and finally, x) provide secure, affordable property rights, incentivise investment and provide access to credit. These policies were heavily backed by American and Western European establishments, who sought to create a global consensus among ruling and non-ruling elites. Proponents of such a set of ruling class project consensus promoted them as the ultimate policy solution for economic growth, development, and crisis recovery. However, in practice, these reforms have often led to wealth concentration, economic inequality, hunger, homelessness, unemployment, exploitation and the deepening of class divides.
If British born American economist John Harold Williamson is the father of the Washington Consensus, then the American Brady Plan (named after U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady) is its mother. The Washington Consensus was designed to serve the objectives of the Brady Plan, which presented market-based solutions for debt relief. However, its underlying goal was to establish U.S. dollar dominance in the global economy by strengthening commercial banks. The policy prescriptions of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation unleashed the animal spirit of corporates and aggressive expansion of capitalist forces, allowing them to exploit both labour and nature in pursuit of ever-growing pyramid of profits. This led to the dismantling of the welfare state and the undermining of democratic governance, which was replaced by a security state—one that exists primarily to protect capitalist interests and facilitate wealth accumulation through the exploitation of human and natural resources.
While capital was subsidised, ordinary people were taxed under a rent-seeking state, justified as a means of revenue generation. However, in practice, the rich received tax benefits while the financial burden fell on the working class. In practice, it is socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. The wealthy and capitalists receive bailouts, tax breaks, subsidies, and favourable regulations, all at the expense of public funds. Meanwhile, the poor and working class are told to compete in a ruthless, unregulated market where they must fend for themselves without safety nets like affordable wages, healthcare, education, or job security. This hypocrisy reveals the true nature of modern capitalism—it privatises profits while socialising risks and losses. When the rich make risky financial bets and fail, governments step in to rescue them. But when ordinary people struggle, they are left to bear the full brunt of economic downturns. Thus, the rise of the ultra-wealthy is neither accidental nor a matter of destiny. It is not the result of merit, creativity, divine blessings, or karma from a past life. Instead, it is the product of deliberate economic policies—crafted by a shrewd elite under the guise of the Washington Consensus—that laid the foundation for a neocolonial and neoliberal economic order. This system systematically impoverishes the working class while transferring their wealth to millionaires and billionaires.
Moreover, the privatisation of natural resources has further fuelled wealth accumulation among the economic elite. This is not just economic injustice—it is daylight robbery of both the working poor and the environment. The ruling class, with the support of states and governments worldwide, has engineered this new form of capitalist system to sustain and expand its power and wealth. The undiluted disciples of John Harold Williamson and their unwavering commitment to his policies continue to defend the Washington Consensus and its prescriptions under the guise of economic reform and growth.
However, after 35 years of implementation of the Washington Consensus, the real outcomes are undeniable. These policies have successfully achieved their true objective—creating millionaires and billionaires—while simultaneously impoverishing the working class, dismantling the welfare state, undermining democracy and citizenship rights. What was sold as a path to prosperity has widened inequality, concentrated wealth in the hands of a few, and weakened the economic and political power of the states, governments and people in reality. The legacy of the Washington Consensus is not one of shared progress, but of deepened class divides and systemic exploitation. It helped in the rise of millionaires and billionaires.
The current proposals for alternatives, such as universal basic income and other cluster-based approaches to economic justice, human welfare, and development, are not real solutions. Instead, they serve as short-term relief programs designed to distract the public and maintain the status quo. A genuine and minimalist alternative is to nationalise all wealth and resources accumulated during the era of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation of 1990s. These resources must be redistributed among the working poor to correct decades of economic injustice. The other alternative to capitalism can be based on collective ownership of natural resources to ensure that wealth benefits all, rather than a privileged few. This is possible by pursuing a politics of economic redistribution that prioritises the well-being of the majority over corporate interests. However, the first and most critical step is to defeat capitalism—along with its politics, culture, and policies—that have systematically enabled inequality and exploitation. So, the defeat of capitalism is central for a just and equitable social, economic and political condition for any viable alternative to emerge.
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