Bloomberg’s year – end report on the wealth of billionaires in the world shows that the richest 500 people on the planet added $ 1.8 trillion to their combined wealth by 2020, accumulating a total net worth of $ 7.6 trillion.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index recorded its largest annual profit in the history of the list last year, with a 31% increase in the wealth of the richest people.
The historic storage of wealth took place when the world faced the coronavirus pandemic and the corresponding economic crisis, which warned the United Nations last month that it was a “tipping point” for more than 207 million extra people in the next decade in extreme poverty – the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2030 to one billion.
Even in the richest country in the world, the United States, the rapidly widening gap between the richest and poorest people became particularly strong in 2020.
As Dan Price, an entrepreneur and fair wage advocate, tweeted, by 2020 the 500 richest people in the world will have amassed as much wealth as ‘the poorest 165 million Americans who have earned in their entire lives’.
Nine of the ten richest people in the world live in the United States and own more than $ 1.5 billion dollars. Meanwhile, with more than half of American adults living in households losing their pandemics due to the pandemic, nearly 26 million Americans reported in November that they did not have enough food and other groceries – which contributed to shoplifting of essential goods, including diapers and baby formula. It is estimated that about 12 million tenants will owe almost $ 6,000 rent after the new year.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk experienced a historic growth in wealth last year, becoming the second richest person in the world, beating Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to third place. Musk’s total net worth grew by $ 142 billion to $ 170 billion in 2020 – the fastest-growing personal wealth creation in history, according to Bloomberg.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops the list, with a net worth of $ 190 billion. Bezos added more than $ 75 billion to its prosperity in 2020 as the public became dependent on online shopping due to COVID-19 restrictions and public health concerns.
While Bezos and a few electives in the U.S. have made historic gains in personal wealth over the past year, the federal government has yet to make much effort to help sensible Americans. The Republican Senate on Friday proceeded with the stoning of a vote on legislation that would send $ 2,000 checks to many U.S. households.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced the proposal as ‘socialism for rich people’, even though the plan includes a breakdown structure and only individuals earning up to $ 115,000 a year – not those with the highest tax bracket. not – would receive checks.
“The rise of billionaires’ wealth hits a painful nerve for the millions of people who have lost loved ones and experienced deterioration in their health, prosperity and livelihood,” said Chuck Collins, director of the Inequality and General Goods Program at the Institute for Policy Studies. , told Bloomberg this week. “Worse, it undermines the sense that we are ‘in this together’ – the solidarity needed to withstand the difficult months ahead.”