Everyone knows that President Donald Trumps loves to talk about his wealth, claiming he has “very little debt” and that his company has “tremendous cash flow.”. Whether that's true or not, the following visualization is attempting to compare his fortune against other US Presidents of the past.
Before we compare personal net worth's across history, we need to keep in mind that the value of the US dollar was not quite the same back in the days.
For example, we have to determine how much Thomas Jefferson house would be worth today, which demands certain presumptions. Trump’s net worth relies entirely on concepts where he attaches value to his own brand as a person. Same as if you attach a logo to a sweatshirt, that sweatshirt instantly becomes more expensive because it's linked with a certain idea behind that brand. Trump famously said that his net worth depends on how he’s feeling, which is not the most accurate thing but we got the point.
The circle on the graph represent the scale how wealthy the person is, the bigger the circle, larger the wealth. Portrait of the president is attached inside the circle if his worth exceeds $50 million. Proportional color modification is added to circles to complement the dimension of the circle and to easily see how the wealth adds up against another.
We can ake a few conclusions based on the graph:
- Trump’s fortune far exceeds everyone else. ( 6 X richer than the next president, George Washington)
- He is richer than all other U.S. Presidents combined ($3.5 billion vs. about $1.9 billion).
- All Presidents have been wealthy individuals with net worths over $8 million with few exceptions.
My outcome after reading through the chart is that the nation has had a bunch of rich people in the administration of the country, even though, Trump will more likely stay on top of the list, it’s a safe bet that the next elected U.S. President will be at least a millionaire too.