The United States: The Land of 8.9 Million Millionaires

The United States has often been referred to as the only country in the world with a million millionaires. Recent figures show that this number is actually much higher. Dr. Bill Belew of PanAsianBizreports that the U.S. has 8.9 million households worth at least 1 million dollars. This is compared to China with 300,000 millionaires and Russia with 88,000.

The millionaires are the prime movers of the economy; they are the Atlases that hold it up and fuel its progress through vast investments. Russia and China both have a rising class of millionaires-- and Russia has 3 times more millionaires per capita than China. This is promising for both countries' economic future-- which will be beneficial for the rest of the world as well, as it will result in increased exports of valuable goods and services from these countries.

Yet this news should also allay fears about the United States losing its "competition" with dynamic developing countries like China. The United States outnumbers China by a factor of about 30 in the absolute number of its millionaires and by more than 100 in the number of millionaires per capita. Chinese millionaires are prospering, but they will have to do from 30 to 100 times better to even possibly catch up with the United States! Americans have no reason for fearing their country's displacement from the position of the number-one economic power in the world.

America will not lose because of globalization; trade with the Western world has helped aspiring entrepreneurs in Russia and China become millionaires. Trade with Russia and China could help more aspiring American businessmen become millionaires as well. What is good for the millionaires is good for everyone else-- if their money was earned through honest work and commerce, not coercion or political exploitation.

The United States has attracted and continues to attract the brightest minds in the world to set up their businesses here; these may not be the same kinds of businesses that predominated in the U.S. before -- especially as manufacturing firms try to shift their operations overseas to take advantage of other countries' and regions' comparative advantages over the United States. But the sheer number of people who prosper and profit in the United States shows that there is plenty of economic opportunity left -- indeed, that such opportunity is growing by leaps and bounds. America is not declining in prominence; it has a long upward ascent ahead of it.