Billionaires regain wealth as workers suffer
Difference in recoveries reflects economic disparities in COVID-19 pandemic
Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook have already regained much of the wealth they lost in the stock market in the coronavirus crash, while the jobless continue to look for work. (Wikimedia Commons/Anthony Quintano)
By Ted Cox
America’s billionaires have largely regained the wealth they lost on the stock market to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the nation’s working families continue to suffer.
The Inequality.org website, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies, released its latest Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report last week finding that U.S. billionaires had seen their wealth increase by a total of $565 billion since mid-March, while 42.6 millions U.S. workers were filing for unemployment benefits.
The report explained that it selected March 18 as a cutoff date, because it was the same date used by Forbes magazine in compiling its annual World’s Billionaires List, making it easier to track changes since.
To be fair to the billionaires, that was also right about when the stock market was first crashing in the collapse prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just to cite the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a benchmark, it approached 30,000 in February, dropped to just above 25,000 in mid-March, briefly rallied, then plummeted below 20,000 a month later. More recently, it has rallied to between 25,000 and 30,000, although it dropped again Wednesday.
Even so, the most recent Billionaire Bonanza report on “Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses, and Pandemic Profiteers” found that U.S. billionaires had increased their wealth by $565 billion since March 18, an increase of almost 20 percent. Over the same 11 weeks of the pandemic, 42.6 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment, with the latest 1.9 million last Thursday.
According to the report, “two billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, have seen their combined wealth increase over $63 billion” by the end of May. Bezos, of course, owns Amazon, while Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook.
Meanwhile, the latest May jobless figures released Friday found the unemployment rate actually dropping to 13.3 percent, from 14.7 percent in April, reflecting a surprising increase in rehiring even as idled workers continued to file for benefits. The New York Times reported this week, however, that part of that improvement stemmed from methodology, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics relies on surveys to arrive at the unemployment rate, unlike the U.S. Department of Labor, which relies on raw data from states in compiling the number of those filing for benefits. According to the Times, “the pandemic is causing many people not to look for work because of fears about getting sick or responsibilities like caring for children. If we include all those people who say they want a job, regardless of their job-hunt status, the rate increases to 17.9 percent.”
Regardless, the data show that billionaires have done much better in regaining their wealth in the stock market — thanks in large part to the Federal Reserve backstopping huge loans for major corporations in pandemic relief measures — than workers have in regaining their jobs lost to the pandemic.
On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted: “NASDAQ HITS ALL-TIME HIGH. Tremendous progress being made, way ahead of schedule. USA!” That came as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continued to stymie the latest coronavirus relief package, the HEROES Act, which would allot a new round of stimulus payments to U.S. citizens, while providing relief funds to state and local governments along with other measures. It has already passed the U.S. House, but is still waiting for action in the Senate.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release the latest weekly report on unemployment filings on Thursday.