POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

On December 13, Quartz reported:

“The 17 people who US president-elect Donald Trump has selected for his cabinet or for posts with cabinet rank have well over $9.5 billion in combined wealth, with several positions still unfilled. This collection of wealth is greater than that of the 43 million least wealthy American households combined—over one third of the 126 million households total in the US.”

Here is a chart from a Boston Globe article by Matt Rocheleau:

Rocheleau includes these additional points of comparison:

“Collectively, the wealth of his Cabinet choices so far is about five times greater than President Obama’s Cabinet and about 34 times greater than the one George W. Bush led at the end of his presidency. . . .

“The net worth of the Cabinet Trump had selected as of Monday was at least $13.1 billion, based on available estimates, or more than the annual gross domestic product of about 70 small countries.”

Rocheleau also notes that nominees for four Cabinet-level positions have yet to be named.

Most of those with the lowest net worth are former generals or current holders of political offices. Nikki Haley may have the lowest net worth; one source lists it as between $175,000 and $180,000.

The Quartz article, by Dan Kopf, is available at: http://qz.com/862412/trumps-16-cabinet-level-picks-have-more-money-than-a-third-of-american-households-combined/.

Rocheleau’s complete article is available at: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/20/trump-cabinet-picks-far-are-worth-combined/XvAJmHCgkHhO3lSxgIKvRM/story.html.