U.S. billionaires’ wealth grew substantially over the last two months even as tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs, providing stark proof of the unequal impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the related economic crisis.
From March 18 — when much of the U.S. was under an economic shutdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 — to May 19, the total net worth of the more than 600 billionaires in the U.S. grew by 15%, or $434 billion, per a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies. The report, released by the progressive think tank on Thursday, relied on data from Forbes’ tracking of Americans’ net worth.
Over the same nine-week period, more than 38 million people in the U.S. filed for unemployment benefits. That figure doesn’t include those who were unable to file and those deemed ineligible for the benefits, including millions of undocumented immigrants. Continue reading.