The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the global economy, with workers and businesses suffering immensely by the mandatory lockdowns. But the virus has not affected American billionaires the least. In fact, not only have they been immune to its effects, but have also been thriving in it, drastically increasing their collective wealth.
An analysis by Chuck Collins at the Institute for Policy Studies found that American billionaires have seen their wealth grow by $1 trillion since March of this year – more than 34 percent. That was not the case during the 2008 financial crisis when it took Forbes’ 400 richest people three years to recoup their losses from the Great Recession. Collins’ findings highlight a wealth gain by a mere 650 individuals that seems obscene at a time when nearly 7 million Americans are at risk of eviction when moratoriums expire at the end of the year.
There are 650 billionaires on the list, out of which 47 are new arrivals with 11 dropping out due to death or financial decline. There were numerous impressive financial gains among notable billionaires on the lit with Jeff Bezos growing his fortune by $69.4 billion between March 17 and November 24. The Amazon boss and richest man on the planet is now with $182.4 billion. The most impressive gain on the list was recorded by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who has seen his fortune experience a meteoric rise. In the above period, his wealth surged a whopping 414 percent, climbing from “just” $24.6 billion to $126.2 billion, making him the world’s second-richest man after Bezos.
Illustrating the gulf in financial inequality in the U.S. today, the analysis states that U.S. billionaires own $4 trillion, 3.5 percent of all privately held wealth in the country. Billionaire wealth is now twice the amount of wealth held by the bottom 50 percent of all American households combined, approximately 160 million people.
source statsta
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