U.S. Federal Minimum Wage Remains Flat for 16th Straight Year as Billionaires’ Wealth Skyrockets

The world’s 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective fortunes in 2025. That’s according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which found just eight billionaires accounted for about a quarter of those gains.

Meanwhile, millions of U.S. residents have been hit by soaring health insurance premiums, after Republican lawmakers thwarted Democrats’ efforts to extend Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, which expired on December 31. The Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund forecast the higher premiums will force some 4.8 million people to drop coverage this year; this, as Reuters reports at least 350 branded medications will likely see price increases this year, including vaccines against COVID, RSV and shingles, and a blockbuster cancer treatment.

On Thursday, minimum wage increases took effect across 19 states, averaging 67 cents an hour. But the federal minimum wage remained unchanged with the start of the new year, as it has for the past 16 years. In response, Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders wrote, “A $7.25 federal minimum wage is a national disgrace. No one who works full time should live in poverty. We must keep fighting to guarantee all workers a living wage — not starvation wages.”