The federal minimum hasn't moved since 2009. Billionaire wealth rose sevenfold, 4.7-fold after inflation. But 30 states pay more, and 2009 was a crash year.
U.S Minimum Wage in 2009: $7.25/hr U.S minimum Wage in 2026: $7.25/hr U.S. Billionaire Wealth in 2009: $1.27 trillion U.S Billionaire Wealth in 2026: $9.15 trillion Our job: Pass a billionaire wealth tax & raise the minimum wage to at least $20 an hour. No more excuses.
All four numbers hold up. The federal minimum has been $7.25 since July 2009 and buys about 35% less now, though 30 states and DC set higher floors1. Billionaire wealth went from $1.27 trillion, Forbes's 2009 tally2, to roughly $9 trillion3. The open question is whether a wealth tax and a $20 floor would help.
What the post says or clearly implies, checked one by one. How verdicts work
The federal floor hasn't moved since July 2009 and buys about 35% less. Thirty states and DC set higher minimums, and about 1% of hourly workers earn $7.25 or less.
The $7.25 rate took effect July 24, 20094. That's more than 17 years without a raise, the longest stretch since the federal minimum began in 19385. Prices have risen about 55% since 2009, so $7.25 now buys what $4.68 did then, by our calculation from the consumer price index6,7.
Thirty states and DC set minimums above $7.251. In 2024, 843,000 hourly workers earned $7.25 or less, 1.0% of hourly workers, down from 4.9% in 2009. Nearly three in four were in service jobs, where tips may add to pay8.
The frozen floor still sets the minimum in 20 states, among them Texas and Georgia, that either match it or have no higher minimum of their own1. About 55 million people work in those states9.
$7.25 times the ratio of the January–September 2026 average CPI-U (332.243) to each year's annual average. Our calculation, rounded to the cent. EPI, using a different price index, puts the loss at 30%.
| Year | In 2026 dollars | As paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | $11.23 | $7.25 |
| 2010 | $11.05 | $7.25 |
| 2011 | $10.71 | $7.25 |
| 2012 | $10.49 | $7.25 |
| 2013 | $10.34 | $7.25 |
| 2014 | $10.17 | $7.25 |
| 2015 | $10.16 | $7.25 |
| 2016 | $10.04 | $7.25 |
| 2017 | $9.83 | $7.25 |
| 2018 | $9.59 | $7.25 |
| 2019 | $9.42 | $7.25 |
| 2020 | $9.31 | $7.25 |
| 2021 | $8.89 | $7.25 |
| 2022 | $8.23 | $7.25 |
| 2023 | $7.91 | $7.25 |
| 2024 | $7.68 | $7.25 |
| 2025 | $7.48 | $7.25 |
| 2026 | $7.25 | $7.25 |
It's Forbes's figure for its 2009 list of the 400 richest Americans. That year the cutoff was $950 million, so the list took in every U.S. billionaire Forbes tracked.
Forbes put the combined worth of the 2009 Forbes 400 at $1.27 trillion, as of Sept. 10, 2009, and the price of admission fell to $950 million2. Anyone worth $1 billion cleared that bar, so the list counted every U.S. billionaire on Forbes's books, plus anyone worth between $950 million and $1 billion.
It was a bad year for fortunes. The same list had been worth $1.57 trillion a year earlier2. But 2009 is when the minimum wage last rose, so the start year has a reason. Nor was it the bottom. Forbes's March 2009 world list gave Americans 44% of $2.4 trillion, about $1.06 trillion by our math10.
These are nominal dollars. In 2026 dollars, $1.27 trillion is about $1.97 trillion, by our calculation6,7.
We couldn't find the exact figure published. But Forbes's September data puts all U.S. billionaires between $8.6 trillion and $10.6 trillion, and one June tally hit $9.24 trillion.
Americans for Tax Fairness counted 977 U.S. billionaires worth $9.24 trillion on June 16, using Forbes data3. Forbes's September list put the 400 richest at a record $8 trillion, with 590 more U.S. billionaires below its $4.4 billion cutoff11. Each of those 590 is worth between $1 billion and $4.4 billion, so all U.S. billionaires together held between about $8.6 trillion and $10.6 trillion as of Sept. 4, by our calculation. Sanders' office used an all-billionaires count in March, too: 938 billionaires worth $8.2 trillion12.
So the post most likely compares 400 people in 2009 with all billionaires in 2026. In 2009 those were nearly the same group. Like for like, the Forbes 400 alone went from $1.27 trillion to $8 trillion, about 6.3-fold, or about fourfold after inflation, by our calculation2,11,6,7.
After inflation, the post's own figures show about 4.7-fold growth, using annual-average prices, by our calculation6,7.
Facts can't settle this part, so we don't rule on it.
Should Washington tax billionaires' wealth every year and raise the wage floor to $20, or would that do more harm than good?
Sanders' pending bills would tax billionaires 5% of their net assets each year13 and raise the minimum to $17 over five years14. The $20 in his post goes further. Both sides can accept the numbers above. They split on whether these remedies work.
Wealth this concentrated distorts democracy, and a frozen minimum has let the lowest-paid fall behind, so both should change.
The top 0.1%'s share of U.S. wealth rose from under 10% in 1980 to almost 20% by the late 2010s, Saez and Zucman estimate15. Across 1,779 policy issues, Gilens and Page found economic elites and business groups had "substantial independent impacts" on policy, and average citizens little or none16. Saez and Zucman put Sanders' 5% tax at $4.4 trillion over a decade, his office says12. Europe's taxes failed for fixable reasons like low thresholds and offshore evasion, they argue, and the U.S. taxes citizens wherever they live15.
California's $20 fast-food minimum, about 74% of the state median, showed little to no job effect, EPI says. A $20 federal minimum in 2030 would raise pay for 39.6 million workers, EPI estimates9. Across 138 state increases, low-wage jobs "remained essentially unchanged" five years on17. CBO projected $15 would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty18.
One national $20 floor would cost low-wage jobs in poorer states, and wealth taxes have a poor record abroad and an uncertain one in court.
A $20 floor today would top the typical wage in poorer states: Mississippi's median was $19.29 in May 202519. CBO projected $15 would cost 1.3 million jobs, with a likely range of about zero to 3.7 million18, and $17 by 2029 about 1 million by 203320. Neumark and Shirley found 79% of U.S. job-effect estimates negative21. High-cost states already set higher minimums1.
Twelve OECD countries taxed net wealth in 1990, and four did by 2017. The OECD found most raised very little, and repeals often cited their failure to meet redistributive goals22. Penn Wharton scored Warren's 2019 wealth tax, a different design, at about $2.7 trillion over a decade, below her campaign's $3.75 trillion, and found it would cut GDP in 2050 by about 1 to 2 percent23. The Supreme Court has expressly left open whether a federal wealth tax is constitutional24.
Every source was opened and read. Advocacy groups are labeled as such.
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