Spears asked me, and three others, to define WEALTH in fewer than 70 words. Their rationale was that, at the time of Spear’s founding, in 2006, there were fewer than 1,000 billionaires world-wide; their combined net worth a little under $3 trillion. Today, there are 2,755 billionaires, according to Forbes, and they have a collective net worth of $13 trillion.

So, here is the definition of wealth I came up with:

Wealth began life as a stash of resources and ended up as the most potent weapon the strong have to make the poor poorer, the weak weaker and the planet browner. More generally, the wealthy may be more ready now to acknowledge that inequality has become obscene. However, these acknowledgments by no means translate into any readiness to accept change that will diminish their wealth.

Click here for the Spears site, where you can read alternative definitions.