David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
La Jornada newspaper
Wednesday, December 11, 2024, p. 23
New York and Washington. When forming his cabinet and advisory groups, Donald Trump is creating an administration of the rich, for the rich and for the rich.
Trump, who won the White House with populist promises and thus obtained the support of voters who feel that they were abandoned by him American dreamincluding a wide sector of workers disenchanted with the dome in Washington, has appointed the richest cabinet in modern times, by placing several billionaires in various key positions, including diplomatic .
The most notable of this cast of future megarric public servants is the man with the greatest personal fortune of the planet, the South African immigrant Elon Musk, for which an unofficial government agency is still being created yet amorphous and ambiguous called the government efficiency department. He personally invested more than 200 million to support Trump’s electoral campaign.
The next cabinet will be one of the richest in history, reports the Washington Postwith billionaires appointed secretaries of commerce, education, treasure and interior. Everything indicates that his cabinet will be even richer than the one he had during his first presidency, which had a total combined value of more than 6 billion dollars, the wealthiest in history until that moment.
The next one will have a combined value of at least 10 billion. And if Musk is included, it will rise to approximately 360 billion (according to ForbesMusk has a net value of 353 billion dollars). And at the head of that cabinet will be the president -elect, who has a personal fortune calculated by 5.5 billion.
Including all these, the combined value is greater than the GDP of hundreds of countries such as Finland, Chile and New Zealand, calculates axios.
At least 11 key positions appointed to the Trump government are billionaires (fortunes greater than one billion), they are married to billionaires or close to getting into that exclusive club, calculates The Guardian. Others on that list include the father -in -law of Ivanka, daughter of Trump, the real estate tycoon Charles Kushner, nominated ambassador to France; Warren Stephens, ambassador to Britain, and Steve Witkoff, real estate magnate appointed presidential sent to the Middle East, among others that are billionaires either individually or by marriage.
The average value of the cast that has appointed his government – including Trump and his vice president JD Vance – is 616 million, a figure that is 616 times higher than the average wealth of an American home, which is calculated in little more than One million dollars, according to America for Tax Fairness, coalition of more than 400 organizations in favor of a fiscal reform for a more fair tax system.
The combined value of the Joe Biden cabinet in its first year was 118 million.
“He is naming his ‘infernally rich’ cuates to take care of each facet of our economy, corrupted the government at the expense of ordinary Americans,” said Democratic liberal senator Elizabeth Warren last week. Many critics warn that there will be incessant and serious cases of conflict of interest among millionaires in charge of the government and their personal economic priorities.
The average net value of an American family is 192,900 dollars, according to the Federal Reserve. The real wages of the vast majority of US workers have remained stagnant since the early 80s.
Meanwhile, among the first actions of the new government promised by Trump is a dramatic reduction in taxes, especially for the richest.
The great winners of the election, believes America for Tax Fairness, are the 815 American billionaires (with fortunes of greater one billion), who collectively control 6.7 billion national wealth, a new record. The total richness of billionaires has increased by 3.8 billion –131 percent – since Trump tax reductions were implemented in their first presidency seven years ago. (https://docs.google.com/spread Sheets/D/1up4WCFQBCurczqwom5b dn7teknjwix7tt4motkotnxa/edit? GID = 1031594430#GID = 1031594430).
The richest 12 now have a combined net value of more than 2 billion dollars; The fortune of this richest dozen increased 193 percent in a little less than four years, reports INEQUALITY, org, project of the Institute for Policy Studies (https://inequaly.org/facts/wealth-ine Quality/).
