Global Trends Analysis 2025

AI Dominance, Wealth Inequality, Corporate Power & Governance Challenges

Wealth Inequality

54%

Top 1% owns stocks

$2T+

Top 12 billionaires

12.7%

Black/White wealth ratio

U.S. Wealth Concentration 193% increase

Top 12 U.S. billionaires' wealth since 2020

Source: Institute for Policy Studies

Global Billionaires 3,028

Holding $16.1 trillion in combined wealth

Source: Forbes Billionaires List

Racial Wealth Gap 28%

Black households with zero or negative wealth

Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances

AI Dominance

223

AI medical devices

150k

Weekly AI rides

40

U.S. AI models

AI Performance Gains 18.8-67.3%

Improvement on key benchmarks in a single year

Source: AI Index Report 2024

U.S. vs China AI 12x

U.S. private AI investment compared to China

Source: Stanford HAI

AI Adoption 78%

Of organizations reporting AI use (up from 55% in 2023)

Source: McKinsey Global Survey

Corporate Power

$3.6T

Tax cuts proposed

$26T

Private assets

4x

PE vs public

Project 2025 Labor Policies

Proposes eliminating child labor rules for dangerous workplaces and allowing states to waive federal labor laws.

Source: Project 2025 Documentation

Shareholder Primacy $1T+

Stock buybacks prioritizing wealthy households

Source: Economic Policy Institute

Private Markets $26T

Gross assets in private financial markets

Source: Federal Reserve Data

Governance & Policing

Police Militarization

Federal resources providing military-grade equipment to local police with reduced accountability mechanisms.

Source: Executive Orders

Immigration Enforcement

ICE detains 59,000 immigrants with fewer than 30% convicted of crimes. 62% of Americans disapprove of deportation handling.

Source: ICE Reports, Pew Research

Oligarchic Diplomacy

Billionaires acting as unofficial envoys, mediating trade disputes and geopolitical tensions through private channels.

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

Public Opposition 78%

Of Americans support pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants

Source: Pew Research Center

Global Implications

Interconnected Global Trends

The 2025 landscape shows deepening structural inequalities, technological disruption, and shifts in power dynamics toward corporate and oligarchic influence. While AI offers economic benefits, its governance remains uneven, and militarized policing threatens civil liberties worldwide.

Power Consolidation

These trends reflect a broader move toward consolidated power and weakened democratic safeguards across both developed and developing nations, with similar patterns emerging in multiple regions.

Future Projections

Without significant policy interventions, these trends are likely to intensify through 2025 and beyond, potentially leading to increased social unrest and geopolitical instability as disparities become more pronounced.