With a tentative deadline for Republicans and Democrats to reach a final agreement on raising the debt ceiling and put it to a vote, the Treasury Department’s cash balance has been steadily declining.
According to data from the department’s website, the cash balance of the U.S. Treasury dropped to $49.473 billion on Wednesday, down from approximately $76.5 billion the day before.
Negotiations between conservative congressional Republicans and the Biden White House have agreed to raise the debt limit before the current level of debt is reached, which could happen as early as June 5, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
As the Treasury’s cash balance continues to decline, a growing number of individuals, not only in the United States but around the world, now possess more wealth than the government itself.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a daily ranking of the world’s richest people based on their net worth, includes 24 individuals whose net worth surpasses the current balance held by the Treasury.
The New York Times pointed out an editorial policy that excludes Michael Bloomberg, the founder of the publication, from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
However, Forbes estimates Michael Bloomberg’s net worth to be around $94.5 billion.
Here are a few top billionaires who could bail out the U.S. Government if needed:
Bernard Arnault comes in at number one with a net worth of $189 billion.
Elon Musk of Twitter (aka XCorp), Tesla, and SpaceX has $179 billion.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Washington Post owner, $139 billion.
Former number one Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, has a cool $125 billion.’
Larry Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Oracle, comes in with $116 billion.
Steve Ballmer, protégé of Gates and former Microsoft CEO, $113 billion.
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, is number eight at $111 billion.
The co-founder of Google, Larry Page, has $106 billion.
The other Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, also $106 billion.
Meta (Facebook) co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg – $92.3 billion
All this without any of the Walton Family.
