Fortune says “global households” became $40 trillion richer in 2025. But when the richest 10 percent already own three-quarters of the world’s wealth, that headline is less a report than a magic trick. The new abundance came largely from rising equities, inflated asset values and expanding financial claims—not from productive investment or improved living standards. Behind the quadrillion-dollar balance sheet lies a system where private fortunes swell while public wealth stagnates, workers lose power, tenants lose security and the Global South services the debts of the imperial core. This is not shared prosperity. It is class power written in the language of accounting.