Billionaires Are Getting Richer During The COVID-19 Pandemic While Most Americans Suffer
By Jack Kelly.

Billionaires are not in the same boat with the rest of us, as we try to navigate the treacherous currents of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re smoothly sailing in luxury yachts, while most Americans are doing the doggy paddle, treading water and just trying to stay afloat.

According to the Institute for Policy Studies, billionaire wealth has boomed, while over 26 million people have filed for unemployment since mid-March. The percentage of taxes paid by billionaires has fallen 79% since 1980. From the start of March to now, the group of billionaires’ total wealth has increased by $308 billion. Billionaires boast a combined net worth of $3.229 trillion and their collective wealth skyrocketed up 1,130% between 1990 and 2020.

As of April 15, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' already incredible wealth soared an additional $25 billion during the pandemic—after being down for a bit during the early days of the outbreak and the stock market’s initial free fall. Eric Yuan, the founder and CEO of Zoom, the now ubiquitous online video conferencing technology company, realized a rapid rise in his wealth throughout the outbreak and is reported to be worth about $2.58 billion.

Billionaires, including Bezos, his ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos, Eric Yuan, former Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer and Elon Musk, each saw their fortunes jump by more than $1billion dollars. Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have as much money as the bottom half of all American households. This is juxtaposed with roughly 78% of people in the United States living paycheck to paycheck, 20% with no or negative net worth and lack three months worth of emergency funds.

In addition to the billionaires, the rich are getting richer too. The multi-trillion dollar stimulus plan included financial help to small business owners in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program. The program was corrupted by large companies taking a lion share of the proceeds.
The banks that processed the $349 billion loan program made out very well, booking over $10 billion in fees, according to NPR. The banks charged up to 5% in fees, although there was little or no risk to them, as the loans are guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.

While Americans are scraping over buying toilet paper and necessities, homeschooling their children, caring for sick family members or just trying to make it through the day, the uber-wealthy have taken to their yachts and private jets.

David Geffen, a music and film icon, who is worth $7.7 billion according to Forbes, exemplified the disconnect between the ultra rich and everyone else by literally sailing away. Geffen, on his now-deleted Instagram account, wrote, “Isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.”

Article culled from forbes.com

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