[richardknop]

The wealthy are able to wait out recessions without having to panic sell their equities and in the end they become even richer because inevitably the bull market that comes after the crash will make them come out on the top. All the while collecting dividends. Working class people who don't own equities don't gain anything from bull markets such as the one that's been going on for last 10 years.

[cm2187]

I am not sure that's the case. I read that when you look at the top billionaire list through times (80s, 90s, 2000s, now), there is a lot of turnover. Over long economic cycles, the fate of the companies that made people rich can evolve in both directions.

[orthecreedence]

Let's say I'm a billionaire. There's a market crash. A lot of my money is tied up in the market, but luckily, a lot of it isn't. A lot of it will be safe investments or shares in profit-generating companies that issue dividends. So, while the commoner is destitute, while I may have lost 50% of my wealth, I have safe money (and passive income) I can use to pour into the market buying post-crash cheap investments. Also, because my cost of living is minuscule compared to my income, I don't have to panic-sell during the crash.

When the market bounces back four years later, I'm now 1.5x wealthier than I was before the crash (thanks to all the cheap investments), and all I had to do was move some money around.

[richardknop]

Don't forget that wealthy people also own a lot of real estate and are rentiers so they have plenty of passive income sources to easily cruise through a recession while buying up cheap stuff which will go up in price heavily once economy gets back on track.

[ceejayoz]

High turnover at the very top isn't shocking - there'll always be new ones like Zuckerberg and Bezos shooting up as new markets are found/created.

There's a big difference between "no longer richest person in the world" and "lost everything".