These billionaires have more money than the US Treasury right now
As time winds down on how long lawmakers have to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the U.S. defaulting on its debt, the Treasury Department’s cash balance has been dropping.
Data from the department’s website shows that its cash balance fell to $49.473 billion on Wednesday, a drop from about the $76.5 billion that it had at the close of Tuesday.
The White House and congressional Republicans are in the midst of negotiations to try to raise the debt limit before it is reached, potentially as soon as June 5.
As the Treasury’s cash balance drops, an increasing number of individuals in the United States and other countries throughout the world are worth more than what the government has.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index, which issues a daily ranking of the world’s wealthiest people based on net worth, lists 24 individuals as having a higher net worth than the amount of money that the Treasury currently has.
The New York Times noted that Michael Bloomberg — the founder of the outlet — is left off the list under its editorial policy, but Forbes lists his net worth as about $94.5 billion.
Below are the billionaires with more money than the Treasury currently.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Twitter, SpaceX, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Associated Press/Evan Agostini/Invision/Michel Euler, Pool)
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault – $189 billion
Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – $179 billion
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – $139 billion
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates – $125 billion
Oracle co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison – $116 billion
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer – $113 billion
Google co-founder Larry Page – $112 billion
Google co-founder Larry Page and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (Shuttershock/AP/Evan Vucci, File)
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett – $111 billion
Google co-founder Sergey Brin – $106 billion
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg – $92.3 billion
Investor and América Móvil founder Carlos Slim – $90.3 billion
L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers – $87.2 billion
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani – $83.7 billion
Inditex founder Amancio Ortega – $67.1 billion
Meta — the parent company of Facebook — co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett (Associated Press/Mark Lennihan/Nati Harnik, File)
Walmart heir Jim Walton – $66.6 billion
Walmart heir Rob Walton – $64.9 billion
Walmart heiress Alice Walton – $63.8 billion
Adani Group founder and Chairman Gautum Adani – $63.4 billion
Mars candy heiress Jacqueline Badger Mars – $61.7 billion
Mars heir and Chairman John Mars – $61.7 billion
Walmart Chairman and heir Rob Walton (Associated Press/Danny Johnston, File)
Nongfu Spring founder and Chairman Zhong Shanshan – $61.6 billion
David Koch heirs Julia Flesher Koch and family – $60.6 billion
Koch Industries CEO and Chairman Charles Koch – $60.4 billion
Dell Technologies CEO and Chairman Michael Dell – $53.4 billion
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