Billionaires Have Made Half a Trillion Dollars While Tens of Millions File for Unemployment
Jose Nino
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As the number of Americans filing for unemployment approaches 40 million, America’s billionaires are cruising along without any worries.
According to a CNBC report, billionaire fortunes climbed by a total of $434 billion since the middle of March.
At the top of the list are Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, whose respective fortunes increased by $34.6 and $25 billion, according to the Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies’ Program for Inequality. Zerohedge noted that both organizations came to this conclusion “based on Forbes data for America’s over 600 billionaires collected between March 18 and May 19.”
Tyler Durden highlighted the following stats:
Percentage-wise, Elon Musk’s wealth grew 48% to $36 billion, while Zuckerberg clocked in at 46%. Bezos’ wealth grew 31% to $147 billion. His ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, saw her wealth increase by roughly 33% to $48 billion. On average, American billionaires saw their net worth grow 15% during the two-month period from $2.948 trillion to $3.382 trillion.
Bezos, Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, Buffett and Larry Ellison saw their wealth increase by a total of $76 billion.
“The surge in billionaire wealth during a global pandemic underscores the grotesque nature of unequal sacrifice,” declared Chuck Collins, director of the IPS Program on Inequality and co-author of the Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report. “While millions risk their lives and livelihoods as first responders and front line workers, these billionaires benefit from an economy and tax system that is wired to funnel wealth to the top.”
Still, the pandemic hasn’t been kind to other billionaires – whose yacht upgrades may need to wait. Those in travel and retail have taken a beating. Ralph Lauren saw his wealth drop by $100 million to $5.6 billion, while hotelier John Pritzker has seen a $34 million drop to $2.56 billion. We know, time to get a collection going.
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