Even though the coronavirus pandemic has been a major disruptor to the global economy for the last 2 years, a new study found that the super-rich managed to increase their wealth by trillions while most of the world has been financially devastated.
CNN’s Christine Romans took time on Tuesday to look at a study from Oxfam International, and she determined that the pandemic has been a “profit machine for the world’s richest people.” The study says that in the last 21 months, the total wealth of billionaires has shot up by more than $5 trillion, and the world’s ten richest men have seen their combined fortunes rise from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion.
“When times are tough, the rich get richer. When times are good, the rich get richer,” Romans summarized. “All told, their total worth is 6 times greater than the world’s poorest 3.1 billion people. It’s almost mind-boggling.”
Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher used the study to point out that while the rich saw their wealth grow during the pandemic, 99 percent of humanity witnessed their income decline over the health crisis, and the pandemic has been a major driver for economic inequality and poverty. She recommended that governments should tax the gains made by the super-wealthy in order to fund endeavors like boosting global vaccine production, providing universal healthcare and social protection, and addressing climate
From Bucher:
Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to billions of people. The result is that every kind of inequality imaginable risks rising. The predictability of it is sickening. The consequences of it kill.
Watch above, via CNN.