As time winds down on how long lawmakers have to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the U.S. defaulting on its debt, the Treasury Department’s cash balance has been dropping.
Data from the department’s website shows that its cash balance fell to $49.473 billion on Wednesday, a drop from about the $76.5 billion that it had at the close of Tuesday.
The White House and congressional Republicans are in the midst of negotiations to try to raise the debt limit before it is reached, potentially as soon as June 5.
As the Treasury’s cash balance drops, an increasing number of individuals in the United States and other countries throughout the world are worth more than what the government has.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index, which issues a daily ranking of the world’s wealthiest people based on net worth, lists 24 individuals as having a higher net worth than the amount of money that the Treasury currently has.
The New York Times noted that Michael Bloomberg — the founder of the outlet — is left off the list under its editorial policy, but Forbes lists his net worth as about $94.5 billion.
Below are the billionaires with more money than the Treasury currently.
- LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault – $189 billion
- Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – $179 billion
- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – $139 billion
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates – $125 billion
- Oracle co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison – $116 billion
- Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer – $113 billion
- Google co-founder Larry Page – $112 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett – $111 billion
- Google co-founder Sergey Brin – $106 billion
- Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg – $92.3 billion
- Investor and América Móvil founder Carlos Slim – $90.3 billion
- L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers – $87.2 billion
- Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani – $83.7 billion
- Inditex founder Amancio Ortega – $67.1 billion
- Walmart heir Jim Walton – $66.6 billion
- Walmart heir Rob Walton – $64.9 billion
- Walmart heiress Alice Walton – $63.8 billion
- Adani Group founder and Chairman Gautum Adani – $63.4 billion
- Mars candy heiress Jacqueline Badger Mars – $61.7 billion
- Mars heir and Chairman John Mars – $61.7 billion