Updates: Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses and Pandemic Profiteers

By Chuck Collins

For the reason that starting of the pandemic, the Institute for Coverage Research has tracked the explosive development of U.S. billionaire wealth — one of the crucial disturbing indicators of inequality throughout a disaster that has devastated extraordinary households.

November 21, 2022 replace

Billionaire Wealth Slips, However Nonetheless 50 % Acquire Since Pandemic Begin

US billionaires have seen their wealth features roll up and down over the past 12 months.

Right here at Inequality.org we often take a snapshot to see how the U.S. billionaire class is faring.  Whereas some billionaires have seen wealth evaporate, their mixed belongings are nonetheless 50 p.c greater than March 18, 2020.

As of Monday, November 21, there are 728 billionaires with mixed wealth of $4.48 trillion, a rise of $1.5 trillion in comparison with mid-March 2020, drawing on Forbes’ billionaire database. Mixed U.S. billionaire wealth previous to the pandemic was slightly below $3 trillion.

A 12 months in the past, on the finish of October 2021, U.S. billionaire wealth hit a high-water mark.  The 745 billionaires had a mixed $5.1 trillion, a achieve of $2.1 trillion, greater than 70 p.c over pre-pandemic belongings.  Final Might, that achieve had declined to $1.7 trillion.

Monitoring the fortunes of among the wealthiest billionaires:

On March 18, 2020, Elon Musk had wealth valued slightly below $25 billion.  By Might 2022, his web value had surged to $255 billion.  As of Monday, November 21, 2022, Musk is at $183. billion.

Jeff Bezos noticed his wealth rise from $113 billion to $150 billion between March 18, 2020 and Might 4, 2022.  As of Monday, November 21, 2022, Bezos is at $114 billion, just about the place he began earlier than the pandemic.

Three Walton members of the family – Jim, Alice and Rob – noticed their mixed asset rise from $161.1 billion to $207.7 billion between March 18, 2020 and Might 4, 2022.  As of Monday, November 21, 2022, their mixed wealth is at $188 billion.

Might 4, 2022 replace

Billionaire Wealth up $1.7 Trillion as U.S. Passes 1 Million Covid Deaths Milestone

Because the U.S. crosses the grim milestone of 1 million deaths from Covid-19, U.S. billionaires have seen their mixed wealth rise over $1.7 trillion, a achieve of over 58 p.c in the course of the pandemic.

This troubling juxtaposition underscores the story of unequal loss and sacrifice in the course of the worst pandemic in a century. Whereas billionaires have seen their wealth surge, tens of millions have misplaced their lives and livelihoods.

On March 18, 2020, at first of the formal lockdown, U.S. billionaires held a mixed $2.947 trillion. On Might 4, 2022, because the U.S. crossed the 1 million loss of life mark, in line with an evaluation by NBC, 727 U.S. billionaires have been value $1.71 trillion extra, in line with Forbes.

Elon Musk, who had wealth valued slightly below $25 billion on March 18, 2020, has seen his wealth improve to $255 billion as of Might 4, 2022.

Between March 18, 2020 and Might 4, 2022, the next will increase in wealth have occurred:

• Jeff Bezos noticed his wealth rise from $113 billion to $150 billion.

• Invoice Gates skilled a wealth improve from $98 billion to $129.8 billion.

• Three members of the Walton household — Jim, Alice, and Rob — have seen their mixed belongings rise from $163.1 billion to $207.7 billion.

Complete U.S. billionaire pandemic wealth features are down barely from their peak due to market losses in latest months. As of October 2021, the rise of their mixed wealth stood at $2.1 trillion, in line with a report by Individuals for Tax Equity and the Institute for Coverage Research.

See under for extra particulars on the trajectory of U.S. billionaire wealth in the course of the pandemic.

October 18, 2021 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surged by 70%, or $2.1 Trillion, Throughout Pandemic. They Are Now Price a Mixed $5 Trillion 

America’s billionaires have grown $2.1 trillion richer in the course of the pandemic, their collective fortune skyrocketing by 70 p.c — from simply in need of $3 trillion at the beginning of the COVID disaster on March 18, 2020, to over $5 trillion on October 15 of this 12 months, in line with Forbes knowledge analyzed by Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research Program on Inequality (IPS).

Not solely did the wealth of U.S. billionaires develop, however so did their numbers: in March of final 12 months, there have been 614 Individuals with 10-figure financial institution accounts. Right this moment there are 745.

The $5 trillion in wealth now held by 745 billionaires is two-thirds greater than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the underside 50 p.c of U.S. households estimated by the Federal Reserve Board.

The highest 5 billionaires have seen their fortunes increase much more quickly than the U.S. billionaire class as a complete.

The nice luck of those billionaires over the previous 19 months is even starker when contrasted with the devastating impression of coronavirus on working individuals. Virtually 89 million Individuals have misplaced jobs, over 44.9 million have been sickened by the virus, and over 724,000 have died from it.

To place this extraordinary wealth development in perspective, the $2.1 trillion achieve over 19 months by U.S. billionaires is the same as:

• 60 p.c of the $3.5 trillion 10-year value of President Biden’s Construct Again Higher plan.
• Your complete $2.1 trillion in new revenues over 10 years accepted by the Home Methods and Means Committee to assist pay for President Biden’s Construct Again Higher (BBB) funding plan.

Sixty-seven nationwide organizations have despatched a letter to Congress expressing concern that neither the Methods and Means committee plan nor President Biden’s plan will adequately tax billionaires. They  advocate that Billionaires Revenue Tax (BIT) laws below growth by Sen. Ron Wyden, chairman of the Finance Committee be included in last BBB laws. President Biden additionally helps this tax reform.

Most of those big billionaires’ features will go untaxed below present guidelines and can disappear fully for tax functions once they’re handed onto the subsequent era. Underneath Wyden’s BIT, billionaires will begin paying taxes on their elevated wealth annually similar to employees pay taxes on their paychecks annually.

The tax will apply solely to taxpayers whose wealth exceeds $1 billion: about 700 households. Will probably be assessed yearly on tradable belongings, comparable to shares, the place the worth of the asset is thought at first and finish of the 12 months. For non-tradable belongings, comparable to possession in a enterprise or actual property holdings, taxes might be deferred till the asset is offered.

Public assist for the Billionaire Revenue Tax could be very sturdy. When proposed as a technique to pay for President Biden’s $3.5 trillion funding bundle, it will increase assist for that bundle by 20 to 40 factors amongst voters in battleground districts and states.

Among the many particular person tales behind the massive numbers:

• Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame shouldn’t be solely beating Jeff Bezos in area, he has rocketed previous him within the billionaires membership. Nineteen months in the past, Bezos was practically 5 instances richer than Musk. Now, after a meteoric eight-fold improve in his wealth, Musk is value $209 billion and Bezos $192 billion. Bezos’s wealth nonetheless grew by a really giant 70 p.c over the interval.
• Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Web page are actually value $237 billion mixed, a 137 p.c improve from their mixed wealth of $100 billion at first of the pandemic.
• Nike head Phil Knight has practically doubled his fortune from $29.5 billion to virtually $58 billion. Perhaps that’s partly as a result of Nike didn’t pay a dime of federal revenue taxes in 2020 on its $2.9 billion in earnings; and between 2018 and 2020 the company paid only a 3.3 p.c tax price on $9 billion in earnings.
• MacKenzie Scott, former spouse of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has seen her wealth improve by $19.5 billion, or 54 p.c, because the pandemic started, even after making a gift of $8.6 billion of her wealth to charity.

See Chuck Collins’s longer evaluation of the info.

August 23, 2021 replace

U.S. Billionaires 62% Richer Throughout Pandemic, up $1.8 Trillion; Wealth achieve might pay for half of Biden’s $3.5 trillion bundle

U.S billionaires have seen their wealth surge $1.8 trillion in the course of the pandemic, their collective fortune skyrocketing by practically two-thirds (62 p.c) from simply in need of $3 trillion at the beginning of the COVID disaster on March 18, 2020, to $4.8 trillion on August 17, 2021, in line with a report from Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research Program on Inequality (IPS). A desk of the highest 15 billionaires is under and the full knowledge set is right here.

Elon Musk has seen his wealth improve by an eye-popping $150 billion in the course of the pandemic, a achieve of over 600 p.c.

America’s billionaire bonanza demonstrates the issues in our present financial and tax methods President Biden and Democrats in Congress are attempting to treatment by advancing a $3.5 trillion funds bundle, which has already handed the U.S. Senate and is being thought-about within the U.S. Home at the moment. If it turns into regulation via the funds reconciliation course of this fall, it should support communities and dealing households by making healthcare, eldercare, childcare, housing and schooling extra reasonably priced, investing in clear vitality, increasing the Little one Tax Credit score and offering 12 weeks of paid household and medical depart. Will probably be paid for by making the rich and firms pay their fair proportion of taxes, and it’ll not increase taxes on anybody making below $400,000 a 12 months.

Not solely did the wealth of billionaires develop, however so did their numbers: in March of final 12 months, there have been 614 Individuals with 10-figure financial institution accounts; this August, there are 708. Their $1.8 trillion of elevated wealth alone over 17 months, which won’t be taxed until they promote their belongings, would pay for greater than half of Biden’s 10-year $3.5 trillion funding bundle.

The nice luck of those billionaires over the previous 17 months is all of the extra appalling when contrasted with the devastating impression of coronavirus on working individuals. Over 86 million Individuals have misplaced jobs, virtually 38 million have been sickened by the virus, and over 625,000 have died from it.

President Biden’s funding proposals contained within the Senate-passed funds decision would considerably enhance Individuals well being by making personal insurance coverage within the Reasonably priced Care Act (ACA) exchanges extra reasonably priced; closing the Medicaid protection hole in 12 states that refuse to increase protection below the ACA; increasing Medicare to cowl dental, imaginative and prescient and listening to advantages; growing long-term care advantages to assist individuals afford house and community-based companies; and decreasing the price of pharmaceuticals by giving Medicare the authority to barter decrease drug costs with drug firms.

Biden’s proposed investments would cut back medical health insurance premiums for 9 million individuals, in line with the White Home, saving a mean 60-year-old making $55,000 a 12 months a whole lot of {dollars} a month on their ACA insurance coverage coverage premium, in line with the Kaiser Household Basis. The price of extending these subsidies is $163 billion over 10 years, per the Treasury Division. Which means the $1.8 trillion improve in American billionaire wealth over the past 17 months might pay the whole 10-year value of creating healthcare extra reasonably priced for 9 million individuals greater than 10 instances over.

Whereas these investments in healthcare would profit tens of millions of Individuals and lower your expenses in the long term, the ballooning wealth of billionaires advantages nobody however the super-rich. That’s as a result of the present tax code is riddled with loopholes and particular breaks that enable the tremendous rich to keep away from paying their fair proportion of taxes.

Because of one of many code’s largest loopholes, elevated wealth loved by billionaires and different members of the richest 1 p.c—for whom such wealth development is the first supply of revenue—can go untaxed ceaselessly. The digital tax-free standing of billionaire wealth development was highlighted lately by a report from ProPublica. It estimated that 25 prime billionaires paid on common simply 3.4 p.c of their wealth-growth in federal revenue taxes and that a number of, together with Jeff Bezos (value $188 billion on August 17, 2021) and Elon Musk (value $175 billion on August 17, 2021), went a number of latest years paying zero federal revenue tax.

Even when taxed, the highest tax price on wealth-growth revenue is simply about half that of wage revenue—20 p.c vs. 37 p.c. President Biden would finish these particular breaks on the wealth-growth revenue of millionaires and billionaires as a part of his tax-reform bundle. Following are Biden’s tax reforms which might be anticipated to be part of funds reconciliation laws to be voted on within the fall, a lot of which can guarantee billionaires begin paying nearer to their fair proportion of taxes:

• Tax wealth like work. Folks with greater than $1 million a 12 months in revenue should pay a prime tax price on the sale of inventory and different belongings that’s the similar as the highest price employees pay on wages. Biden additionally will shut a loophole that always permits the rich to keep away from paying taxes on funding features for his or her whole lives. These reforms will increase $325 billion.
• Restore the highest particular person tax price to 39.6 p.c and cease avoidance of taxes by rich enterprise homeowners which might be used to fund healthcare. These two reforms will collectively increase $370 billion.
• Crack down on tax evasion by the rich, which can increase $700 billion. 
• Increase the company tax price from 21 p.c to twenty-eight p.c, leaving it nonetheless far under the 35 p.c price in 2017. Company taxes are largely paid by the homeowners of firms, which implies the stockholders. Billionaires are among the many wealthiest 1 p.c that personal over half of all company inventory. This reform will increase practically $900 billion.
• Curb offshore company tax dodging by eliminating incentives to outsource jobs and shift earnings to tax havens. This reform will increase greater than $1 trillion.

A extra direct technique to tax billionaire wealth is to tax the wealth itself as an alternative of simply its development. If the wealth tax proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren had been in impact in 2020, the nation’s billionaires alone would have paid $114 billion for that 12 months—and would pay an estimated mixed whole of $1.4 trillion over 10 years.

Ballot after ballot exhibits that Individuals of all political persuasions and by giant majorities imagine that the rich and large firms want to begin paying their fair proportion of taxes. A June ballot by ALG Analysis and Hart Analysis exhibits 62 p.c of voters assist Biden’s proposed $4 trillion (on the time) investments in healthcare, childcare, schooling, clear vitality and extra—paid for by greater taxes on the wealthy and firms.

July 14, 2021 replace

U.S. Billionaires Pandemic Wealth Features: $1.8 Trillion; Wealth achieve might pay for President’s household funding plan

Over the past 16 months, because the formal starting of the pandemic lockdown, the mixed wealth of 713 U.S. billionaires has surged by $1.8 trillion, a achieve of virtually 60 p.c.  The entire mixed wealth of U.S. billionaires elevated from $2.9 trillion on March 18, 2020 to $4.7 trillion on July 9, 2021.

Billionaire wealth has steadily elevated since 1990, however one-third of their wealth features have occurred in the course of the pandemic.  U.S. Billionaire wealth elevated 19-fold over the past 31 years, from an inflation adjusted $240 billion in 1990 to $4.7 trillion in 2021.

See the total evaluation ready by the Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research (IPS) analyzing Forbes wealth knowledge right here. A desk of the Forbes knowledge may be discovered right here and a desk of the highest 15 billionaires is under.

April 15, 2021 replace

U.S. Billionaire Pandemic Wealth Will increase by $1.6 Trillion, or 55%; Represents One-third of Features over the Final 31 Years.

Whether or not measured over 13 months or 31 years, the expansion of U.S. billionaire wealth is each astounding and troubling based mostly on Forbes knowledge as of April 12, 2021. Billionaire wealth development has perversely accelerated over the 13 months of worldwide pandemic. However the piling up of fortunes on the prime has proceeded at a speedy clip for many years at the same time as the web value of working Individuals lagged and public companies deteriorated.

Our full evaluation, in collaboration with Individuals for Tax Equity, together with a desk of prime billionaires and illustrative charts may be discovered right here. Listed below are among the key findings:

• Between March 18, 2020, and April 12, 2021,the collective wealth of American billionaires leapt by $1.62 trillion, or 55%, from $2.95 trillion to $4.56 trillion. [See data table here].
• On April 12, America’s 719 billionaires held over 4 instances extra wealth ($4.56 trillion) than all of the roughly 165 million Individuals in society’s backside half ($1.01 trillion). In 1990, the scenario was reversed — billionaires have been value $240 billion and the underside 50 p.c had $380 billion in mixed wealth.
• U.S. billionaires’ pandemic-era wealth development comes on prime of a 19-fold improve in billionaire wealth over 31 years—from an inflation-adjusted $240 billion in 1990 to $4.56 trillion in 2021.
• One-third of U.S. billionaires’ wealth development over the past 31 years got here in the course of the pandemic.
• There are about 11 instances the variety of billionaires now (719) as there have been in 1990 (66).
• As of April 12, there have been six American “centi-billionaires”—people every value not less than $100 billion. That’s greater than the scale of the economic system of every of 13 of the nation’s states. Right here’s how the wealth of those ultra-billionaires grew in the course of the pandemic:

• • Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, virtually a “double-centi-billionaire” with a web value of practically $197 billion, is up 74% over the past 13 months. If he was nonetheless married to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, collectively they’d be value one other $60 billion or so—giving the couple a web value of 1 / 4 trillion {dollars}.
  • Elon Musk, founding father of Tesla and House-X, with $172 billion, up an astounding 599% in the course of the pandemic.
  • Invoice Gates, founding father of Microsoft, value $130 billion, up 33% since March 2020.
  • Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Fb, has $113.5 billion, a fortune that greater than doubled (up 108%) in 13 months.
  • Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett is value $101 billion, a rise of fifty% in the course of the pandemic.
  • Larry Ellison, founding father of Oracle, can be value $101 billion, up 71% since March 2020.

March 18 is used because the unofficial starting of the disaster as a result of by then most federal and state financial restrictions responding to the virus have been in place. March 18 was additionally the date that Forbes picked to measure billionaire wealth for the 2020 version of its annual billionaires report, which supplied a baseline that we and Individuals for Tax Equity examine periodically with real-time knowledge from the Forbes web site. PolitiFact has favorably reviewed this system.

February 24, 2021 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Grows $1.3 trillion Since Mid-March 2020

As the USA crosses the edge of half one million deaths from the Covid pandemic, the nation’s billionaires proceed to reap extraordinary monetary features.  After 11 months of pandemic distress, the place tens of millions have misplaced their jobs, well being and wealth, whole U.S. billionaire wealth elevated $1.3 trillion since mid-March, 2020, a rise of 44 p.c.

As of the market shut on Friday, February 19, the nation’s 664 billionaires now have mixed wealth of $4.3 trillion, up from slightly below $3 trillion on March 18, 2020.   These findings based mostly on Forbes knowledge compiled in this report by Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research (IPS). [See table of top 15 billionaires at the end.]

March 18 is used because the unofficial starting of the disaster as a result of by then most federal and state financial restrictions responding to the virus have been in place. March 18 was additionally the date that Forbes picked to measure billionaire wealth for the 2020 version of its annual billionaires report, which supplied a baseline that ATF and IPS examine periodically with real-time knowledge from the Forbes web site. PolitiFact has favorably reviewed this system.

The billionaires’ $1.3 trillion pandemic wealth achieve alone might pay for over two-thirds of President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID rescue bundle, which Congressional Republicans have attacked as too expensive. At $4.2 trillion, the overall wealth of America’s 664 billionaires can be greater than two-thirds greater than the $2.4 trillion in whole wealth held by the underside half of the inhabitants, 165 million Individuals.

The $1.3 trillion wealth achieve by U.S. billionaires since March 2020 might pay for a stimulus examine of greater than $3,900 for each one of many roughly 331 million individuals in the USA. A household of 4 would obtain over $15,000. Republicans in Congress resisted sending households stimulus checks most of final 12 months, claiming we couldn’t afford them.

Certainly, extraordinary Individuals haven’t fared in addition to billionaires over the previous 11 months:

• Over 28 million have fallen ailing with the virus and greater than half one million have died from it. [Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center]
• Collective work revenue of rank-and-file private-sector workers—all hours labored instances the hourly wages of the whole backside 82% of the workforce—declined by virtually 3% in actual phrases from mid-March to mid-January, in line with Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge.
• Over 76 million misplaced work between Mar. 21, 2020, and Jan. 23, 2021. [S. Department of Labor]
• 18 million have been amassing unemployment on Jan. 30, 2021. [S. Department of Labor]
• Practically 100,000 companies have completely closed. [Yelp/CNBC]
• 12 million employees had possible misplaced employer-sponsored medical health insurance in the course of the pandemic as of August 26, 2020. [Economic Policy Institute]
• Some 24 million adults reported between Jan. 20-Feb. 1 that their family had not had sufficient meals previously week. From Jan. 6-18, between 7 and 11 million youngsters lived in a family the place children didn’t eat sufficient as a result of the family couldn’t afford to completely feed them. [Center on Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP)]
• 2 million adults—virtually 1 in 5 renters—reported in January being behind of their hire. [CBPP]

Due to long-standing racial and gender disparities, low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises. Latinos usually tend to turn out to be contaminated with Covid-19 and Blacks to die from the illness than are white individuals. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

The inventory market surge and lock-down economic system have been a boon to tech monopolies and helped create a number of U.S. “centi-billionaires.” Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Invoice Gates have been every value greater than $100 billion on Feb. 19 (and Mark Zuckerberg was shut, at virtually $96 billion). Previous to this 12 months, Bezos had been the one U.S. centi-billionaire, reaching that peak in 2018. Bezos and different billionaires have seen significantly astonishing will increase in wealth over the previous 11 months:

• Elon Musk’s wealth grew by practically $158 billion, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $182.6 billion on Feb. 19, an almost eight-fold improve, boosted by his Tesla The increase in wealth of the SpaceX founder over the previous 11 months is greater than twice that of every other billionaire. That $154 billion development in wealth can be about seven instances NASA’s $22.6 billion funds in FY2020, the federal company Musk has credited with saving his firm with a giant federal contract when the agency’s rockets have been failing and it confronted chapter.
• Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew from $113 billion on March 18 to $189.3 billion, a rise of over two-thirds. Including in his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott’s wealth of $57 billion on Feb. 19, the 2 had a mixed wealth of virtually 1 / 4 of a trillion {dollars} because of their Amazon If Bezos’s $76.3 billion development in wealth was distributed to all his 810,000 U.S. workers, every would get a windfall bonus of over $94,000 and Bezos wouldn’t be any “poorer” than he was 11 months in the past.
• Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth grew from $54.7 billion on March 18 to $96 billion, a three-quarter’s improve fueled by his Fb

January 25, 2021 replace

U.S. billionaire wealth surpasses $1.1 trillion achieve since mid-March, 2020. The 660 Billionaires Have Seen Their Wealth Rise 40 p.c.

The collective wealth of all U.S. billionaires has elevated over $1.1 trillion since mid-March 2020, an almost 40% leap in the course of the previous 10 months of nationwide emergency.

This wealth windfall might pay for all of the aid for working households contained within the $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bundle proposed by President Biden, whereas leaving the nation’s richest households no worse off than they have been earlier than COVID-19 hit.

The mixed fortune of the nation’s 660 billionaires as of Monday, January 18, 2021 was $4.1 trillion, up 38.6% from their collective web value of slightly below $3 trillion on March 18, 2020, the tough begin of the pandemic, based mostly on Forbes knowledge compiled in this report by the Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research (IPS). There have been 46 newly minted billionaires because the starting of the pandemic, when there have been 614.

At $4.1 trillion, the overall wealth of America’s 660 billionaires is two-thirds greater than the $2.4 trillion in whole wealth held by the underside half of the inhabitants, 165 million Individuals.

March 18 is used because the unofficial starting of the pandemic as a result of by then most federal and state financial restrictions responding to the virus have been in place. Furthermore, March 18 was additionally the publication date of Forbes’ annual billionaires report in 2020. It supplied an in depth baseline that ATF and IPS have been evaluating periodically with real-time knowledge from the Forbes web site. This technique has been favorably reviewed by PolitiFact.

The $1.1 trillion wealth achieve by 660 U.S. billionaires since March 2020 might pay for:

• All the aid for working households contained in President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue bundle, which incorporates $1,400 in direct funds to people, $400-a-week dietary supplements to unemployment advantages, and an expanded baby tax credit score. (See desk under)
• A stimulus examine of greater than $3,400 for each one of many roughly 331 million individuals in the USA. A household of 4 would obtain over $13,000. Republicans in Congress resisted sending households stimulus checks most of final 12 months, claiming we couldn’t afford them.

Abnormal Individuals haven’t fared in addition to billionaires in the course of the pandemic:

• Over 25 million have fallen ailing with the virus and greater than 420,000 have died from it. [Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center]
• Collective work revenue of rank-and-file private-sector workers—all hours labored instances the hourly wages of the whole backside 82% of the workforce—declined by 1% in actual phrases from mid-March to mid-December, in line with Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge.
• Over 73 million misplaced work between Mar. 21 and Dec. 26, 2020. [S. Department of Labor]
• 16 million have been amassing unemployment on Jan. 2, 2021. [S. Department of Labor]
• Practically 100,000 companies have completely closed. [Yelp/CNBC]
• 12 million employees have possible misplaced employer-sponsored medical health insurance in the course of the pandemic as of August 26, 2020. [Economic Policy Institute]
• Some 29 million adults reported between Dec. 9-21 that their family had not had sufficient meals previously week. From Nov. 25-Dec. 7, between 8 and 12 million youngsters lived in a family the place children didn’t eat sufficient as a result of the family couldn’t afford to completely feed them. [Center on Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP)]
• 14 million adults—1 in 5 renters—reported in December being behind of their hire. [CBPP]

Due to long-standing racial and gender disparities, low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises of 2020. Latinos usually tend to turn out to be contaminated with Covid-19 and Blacks to die from the illness than are white individuals. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

The inventory market surge and lock-down economic system have been a boon to tech monopolies and helped create a number of U.S. “centi-billionaires.” Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Invoice Gates have been every value greater than $100 billion on Jan. 18. Previous to this 12 months, Bezos had been the one U.S. centi-billionaire, reaching that peak in 2018. Bezos and different billionaires have seen significantly astonishing will increase in wealth over the previous 10 months:

• Elon Musk’s wealth grew by over $154 billion, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $179.2 billion on Jan. 18, an almost eight-fold improve, boosted by his Tesla The increase in wealth of the SpaceX founder over the previous 10 months is greater than twice that of every other billionaire. That $154 billion development in wealth can be about seven instances NASA’s $22.6 billion funds in FY2020, the federal company Musk has credited with saving his firm with a giant federal contract when the agency’s rockets have been failing and it confronted chapter.
• Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew from $113 billion on March 18 to $182 billion, a rise of 61%. Including in his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott’s wealth of $55 billion on Jan. 18, the 2 had a mixed wealth of virtually 1 / 4 of a trillion {dollars} because of their Amazon If Bezos’s $68.6 billion development in wealth was distributed to all his 810,000 U.S. workers, every would get a windfall bonus of virtually $85,000 and Bezos wouldn’t be any “poorer” than he was 10 months in the past.
• Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth grew from $54.7 billion on March 18 to $92 billion, a rise of over two-thirds fueled by his Fb

Tax reform that ensures the rich pay their fair proportion—the precept the Biden tax plan is constructed on—would rework an excellent chunk of these big billionaire features into public income to assist heal a hurting nation. However getting at that huge increase in billionaire fortunes shouldn’t be so simple as elevating tax charges: tax guidelines let the wealthy delay, diminish and even in the end keep away from any tax on the expansion of their wealth. What’s wanted is structural change to how wealth is taxed.

Essentially the most direct method is an annual wealth tax on the largest fortunes, proposed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, amongst others. Another choice is the annual taxation of funding features on shares and different tradable belongings, an concept superior by the new Senate Finance Committee chair, Ron Wyden. Even below the present discounted tax charges for funding revenue, if Wyden’s plan had been in impact in 2020, America’s billionaires could be paying a whole lot of billions of {dollars} in further taxes this spring because of their gargantuan pandemic earnings final 12 months.

December 9, 2020 replace  

U.S. Billionaires Complete Wealth Grows to $4 Trillion –Over $1 Trillion since Starting of Pandemic

In response to a new report by the Institute for Coverage Research (IPS) and Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF), the collective wealth of America’s 651 billionaires has jumped by over $1 trillion since roughly the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to a complete of $4 trillion at market shut on Monday, December 7, 2020. Mixed, simply the highest 10 billionaires are actually value greater than $1 trillion.

Their wealth development since March is greater than the $908 billion in pandemic aid proposed by a bipartisan group of members of Congress, which is more likely to be the bundle that strikes ahead for a vote within the subsequent week, however has been stalled over Republican considerations that it’s too expensive.

The entire web value of the nation’s 651 billionaires rose from $2.95 trillion on March 18—the tough begin of the pandemic shutdowns—to $4.01 trillion on Dec. 7, a leap of 36%, based mostly on an evaluation of Forbes magazines analysis on billionaires. By round March 18 most federal and state financial restrictions in response to the virus have been in place.

Forbes’ annual world billionaires report was printed March 18, and ATF and IPS collected the real-time knowledge on Dec. 7 from the Forbes web site. The methodology of this evaluation has been favorably reviewed by PolitiFact. The ATF-IPS evaluation additionally appears at wealth development since February 2019—the date of Forbes’ instantly earlier annual billionaires report printed nicely earlier than the beginning of the pandemic and ensuing market gyrations.

The $1 trillion wealth achieve by 651 U.S. billionaires since mid-March is:

At $4 trillion the overall wealth of all U.S. billionaires at the moment is sort of double the $2.1 trillion in whole wealth held by the underside half of the inhabitants, or 165 million Individuals.

“By no means earlier than has America seen such an accumulation of wealth in so few arms,” mentioned Frank Clemente, government director of Individuals for Tax Equity. “As tens of tens of millions of Individuals endure from the well being and financial ravages of this pandemic, just a few hundred billionaires add to their  huge fortunes. Their pandemic earnings are so immense that America’s billionaires might pay for a significant COVID aid invoice and nonetheless not lose a dime of their pre-virus riches. Their wealth development is so nice that they alone might present a $3,000 stimulus fee to each man, lady and baby within the nation, and nonetheless be richer than they have been 9 months in the past. Joe Biden received a tax-fairness mandate in November. We stay up for working with him and Congress to ship on that mandate by taxing the huge wealth of those billionaires.”

“The updraft of wealth to the billionaire class is disturbing at a time when tens of millions face eviction, destitution, and loss,” mentioned Chuck Collins of the Institute for Coverage Research and co-author of Billionaire Bonanza 2020, a report pandemic profiteering and billionaire wealth. “Billionaires are extracting wealth at a time when important employees are pushed into the viral line of fireside.”

Abnormal Individuals haven’t fared in addition to billionaires in the course of the pandemic:

• Practically 14.9 million have fallen ailing with the virus and 284,000 have died from it. [Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center]
• Collective work revenue of rank-and-file private-sector workers—all hours labored instances the hourly wages of the whole backside 82% of the workforce—declined by 2.3% from mid-March to mid-October, in line with Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge.
• Practically 67 million misplaced work between Mar. 21 and Oct. 7, 2020. [S. Department of Labor]
• 20 million have been amassing unemployment on Nov. 14, 2020. [S. Department of Labor]
• 98,000 companies have completely closed. [Yelp/CNBC]
• 12 million employees have misplaced employer-sponsored medical health insurance in the course of the pandemic as of August 26, 2020. [Economic Policy Institute]
• Practically 26 million adults reported their family not having sufficient meals previously week between Nov. 11-23. From Oct. 28 to Nov. 7, between 7 and 11 million youngsters lived in a family the place children didn’t eat sufficient as a result of the family couldn’t afford it. [Center on Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP)]
• 4 million adults—1 in 6 renters—reported in November being behind of their hire. [CBPP]

With out a federal fiscal aid bundle, employees will face even better lack of jobs and companies than they’ve already suffered. The Financial Coverage Institute predicts that with out extra federal support 5.3 million public-sector jobs—together with these of lecturers, public security workers and well being care employees—might be misplaced by the tip of 2021.

Due to long-standing racial and gender disparities, low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises of 2020. Blacks and Latinos are way more more likely to turn out to be contaminated with Covid-19 and to die from the illness. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

The inventory market surge and lock-down economic system have been a boon to tech monopolies and helped create 4 U.S. “centi-billionaires.” Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Invoice Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are actually every value greater than $100 billion. Previous to this 12 months, Bezos had been the one U.S. centi-billionaire, reaching that peak in 2018. Bezos and different billionaires have seen significantly astonishing will increase in wealth between March 18 and Dec. 7:

• Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew from $113 billion on March 18 to $184 billion, a rise of 63%. Including in his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott’s wealth of $60 billion on that day, the 2 had a mixed wealth of virtually 1 / 4 of a trillion {dollars} because of their Amazon If Bezos’s $71.4 billion development in wealth was distributed to all his 810,000 U.S. workers, every would get a windfall bonus of over $88,000 and Bezos wouldn’t be any “poorer” than he was 9 months in the past.
• Elon Musk’s wealth grew by practically $119 billion, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $143 billion, an almost five-fold improve, boosted by his Tesla SpaceX founder Musk has loved one of many largest boosts in web value of any billionaire. That $119 billion development in wealth is greater than 5 instances NASA’s $22.6 billion funds in FY2020, the

federal company Musk has credited with saving his firm with a giant federal contract when the agency’s rockets have been failing and it confronted chapter.

• Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth grew from $54.7 billion on March 18 to $105 billion, a rise of 92%, fueled by his Fb
• Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, noticed his wealth rocket by 543%, from $6.5 billion to $41.8 billion, the second largest share improve of all of the billionaires.

About ATF: Individuals for Tax Equity is a various marketing campaign of greater than 420 nationwide, state and native endorsing organizations united in assist of a good tax system that works for all Individuals. It has come collectively based mostly on the idea that the nation wants complete, progressive tax reform that ends in better income to satisfy our rising wants.

About IPS: The Institute for Coverage Research is a multi-issue analysis middle that has performed ground-breaking analysis on inequality for greater than 20 years. The IPS Program on Inequality and the Widespread Good, and the Inequality.org web site, present analysis, advocacy and coverage growth on points associated to financial inequality.

November 25, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges Previous $1 Trillion Since Starting of Pandemic

It’s going to be a Billionaire Thanksgiving.  The mixed wealth of U.S. billionaires surpassed $1 trillion in features since March 2020 and the start of the pandemic, a rise of over 34 p.c.

Tuesday, November 24, because the Dow crossed the 30,000 mark, the wealth of 650 U.S. billionaires approached a complete of $4 trillion, with $1.008 trillion in development since March 2020.

Of this group, 29 billionaires have seen their wealth double since March 2020.  There are 36 extra billionaires within the U.S. since March 2020.  There are 47 new people on the listing, with 11 going off the listing as a consequence of loss of life or monetary decline.

A number of the huge features embody:

• Elon Musk’s wealth grew over $100 billion because the begin of the pandemic, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $126 billion on November 24, a rise of 413%, boosted by his Tesla inventory.  His wealth now surpasses Invoice Gates of Microsoft
• Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew virtually $70 billion from $113 billion on March 18 to $182.4 billion.
• Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, noticed his wealth rocket by over $37 billion, from $6.5 billion in March to $43.9 billion on November 24, 2020, a rise of 575 p.c.

Discover our most up-to-date evaluation of billionaire wealth right here.

The virtually $4 trillion owned by U.S. billionaires is about 3.5 p.c of all privately held wealth within the U.S., estimated at $112 trillion.  Billionaire wealth is twice the quantity of wealth held by the underside 50 p.c of households mixed, roughly 160 million individuals.

In response to the Federal Reserve, 2020 Second Quarter Distribution of Monetary Accounts, the distribution of $112 trillion in whole personal wealth is that this: The highest 1% has $34.23 trillion; The highest 90-99 percentile have 43.09’ The 50-90 percentile have $32.65 trillion; and, the underside 50% have $2.08 trillion.

This isn’t regular or predetermined by any means.  In response to IPS evaluation, U.S. billionaires noticed their fortunes decline within the years after the 2008 Nice Recession together with everybody else. It wasn’t till virtually 4 years later, in September 2012, that the overall wealth of the Forbes 400 exceeded its 2008 pre-Nice Recession ranges (see under).

Forbes 400 Complete Wealth

October 20, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaires Wealth Surges $931 Billion since Starting of Pandemic as Demise Toll Surpasses 220,000 and Thousands and thousands Lose their Well being, Wealth, and Livelihoods

With solely two weeks till a nationwide election, the unseemly juxtaposition between the fortunes of U.S. billionaires and the dire circumstances of tens of millions of working households couldn’t be extra hanging. In the meantime Trump and Senate inaction are worsening this divide.

For the reason that starting of the pandemic, the wealth of U.S. billionaires has surged $931 billion, in line with evaluation by the Individuals for Tax Equity and the Institute for Coverage Research. This updates ongoing analysis by the Institute for Coverage Research begun with the report, Billionaire Bonanza 2020: Wealth Windfalls, Tumbling Taxes and Pandemic Profiteers.

Between March 18 –the tough begin of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and October 13, the overall wealth of 644 U.S. billionaires elevated from $2.95 trillion to $3.88 trillion, an increase of 31.6 p.c. (See an in depth spreadsheet of all billionaires, based mostly on evaluation of Forbes billionaire knowledge).

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 220,000 Individuals and destroyed the well being, wealth and livelihood of tens of millions of households. The U.S. Senate’s failure to go one other emergency aid invoice has elevated desperation for a lot of households and localities – as some areas enter a second wave of infections with winter approaching. Unemployment is rising once more as many companies are being shuttered, some completely. States and localities are reeling from declining income and dealing with funds shortfalls simply on the time when strong state and federal motion is required.

Whereas the wealth of billionaires tracks the rises and falls of the inventory market, a gaggle of “pandemic profiteers” have seen their wealth surge to unimaginable heights throughout a time of misfortune for many of their neighbors. Lots of them are taking advantage of growing dependence on cloud-based applied sciences, on-line retail, drug analysis, telemedicine, video-conferencing – companies which have turn out to be important companies in the course of the pandemic. Wall Avenue is anticipating an extra focus of company possession and rewarding these greatest positioned to reap these rewards.

The growth of retail large Amazon comes on the expense of tens of millions of bricks-and-mortar small companies pressured to shut to foot site visitors. Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew from $113 billion on March 18 to $203 billion on Oct. 13, a rise of 80 p.c. Including in his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott’s wealth of $65.7 billion on that day and the 2 had a mixed wealth of greater than 1 / 4 of a trillion {dollars} because of their Amazon inventory.

Elon Musk’s wealth has greater than tripled because the starting of the pandemic. Because of Musk’s applied sciences, comparable to Tesla, his wealth grew from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $92.8 billion on Oct. 13, a rise of 277 p.c. Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth grew from $54.7 billion on March 18 to $101 billion on Oct. 13, a rise of 85 p.c, fueled by his Fb inventory.

Video convention applied sciences have turn out to be important companies in the course of the pandemic. Zoom’s Eric Yaun wasn’t even a billionaire in 2019. Now’s wealth is over $22 billion, a rise of over 300 p.c since March 18th. Steve Ballmer, a significant proprietor of Microsoft and its TEAMS video conferencing, has seen his wealth improve by $22 billion since March 18, a rise of 43.4 p.c

The growing dependence of on-line monetary companies and telemedicine have boosted some fortunes. Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, noticed his wealth rocket by 656 p.c, to $49.2 billion from $6.5 billion 7 months earlier.

Not all billionaires have seen their fortunes growth. Main homeowners within the fossil gasoline vitality sector have seen their wealth decline.

What may be achieved? In Billionaire Bonanza 2020, IPS recommends quite a few actions to deal with pandemic profiteering. These embody:

• Set up a Pandemic Profiteering Oversight Committee that goes past oversight of stimulus funds.
• Discourage wealth hiding via passage of the Company Transparency Act.
• Levy an emergency 10 p.c Millionaire Revenue Surtax.
• Unleash a Charity Stimulus to mandate payouts of donor-advised funds and emergency 10 p.c payout for personal foundations for 3 years.
• Make the federal property tax extra progressive and institute a wealth tax.
• Shut down the worldwide hidden wealth system.

For the reason that publication of the report, members of Congress have launched an emergency billionaire wealth tax to seize a portion of those features and direct to well being and state and native aide.

Why March 18? Forbes’ annual billionaires report was printed March 18, 2020, and the real-time knowledge was collected Oct. 13 from the Forbes web site. This evaluation was lately favorably reviewed by PolitiFact. The ATF-IPS evaluation additionally appears at wealth development since February 2019, nicely earlier than the beginning of the pandemic and the earlier date of Forbes’ annual billionaires report. In roughly 20 months, many of those similar billionaires have seen unprecedented features.

Full press launch.

Sources: All knowledge in desk is from Forbes and out there right here.
March 18, 2020 knowledge: Forbes, “Forbes Publishes thirty fourth Annual Listing Of International Billionaires,” April 7, 2020
Oct. 13, 2020 knowledge: Forbes, “The World’s Actual-Time Billionaires, Right this moment’s Winners and Losers,” accessed Oct. 13, 2020
Feb. 8, 2019 knowledge: Forbes 2019 World Billionaires Report, March 5, 2019

October 8, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Up $850 billion Since March 18th, International billionaires up $1.5 trillion

The mixed wealth of U.S. billionaires elevated by $850 billion since March 18th, 2020, the start of the pandemic, a rise of over 28 p.c.

On March 18, 2020, U.S. billionaires had mixed wealth of $2.947 trillion.  By October eighth, their wealth has surged to $3.8 trillion ($3.798 billion to be actual).

The inventory market has been going up and down in latest weeks with billionaires holding regular.  On September 18, whole billionaire wealth was $845 billion.  Billionaires have seen big features over the past six months as tens of millions of Individuals have misplaced their jobs, well being and financial savings, if not their lives.

On the world stage, billionaires are huge winners in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.  In response to a latest UBS report, the roughly 2,189 world billionaires now have $10.2 trillion.  That is an estimated improve of $1.5 trillion in the course of the pandemic each UBS and Forbes billionaire knowledge from 2019.

This updates our Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report that checked out “pandemic profiteers” and put ahead quite a few coverage suggestions.  One new advice is for an emergency pandemic billionaire wealth tax to fund pressing well being care and state and native aide.

September 18, 2020 replace

Billionaire wealth grew by $845 billion, or 29%, as America struggled via first six months of pandemic

Half a 12 months right into a paralyzing pandemic that has value tens of millions of Individuals their livelihoods and lives, America’s billionaires have reached a startling milestone of wealth accumulation – at the same time as particular federal aid is drying up for tens of millions of unemployed employees and for hard-pressed state and native governments struggling to offer very important companies. Billionaire figures are from Forbes analyzed in a brand new report by Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research (IPS).

Between March 18—the tough begin date of the pandemic shutdown, when most federal and state financial restrictions have been in place—and Sept. 15, the overall web value of the nation’s billionaires rose from $2.95 trillion to $3.8 trillion (see desk under and this spreadsheet of all billionaires). That works out to features of $141 billion a month, $32 billion per week, or $4.7 billion a day. Forbes’ annual billionaires report was printed March 18, 2020, and the real-time knowledge was collected Sept. 15 from the Forbes web site.

For sure, extraordinary employees didn’t fare as nicely. From mid-March to mid-August, the collective work revenue of rank-and-file private-sector workers—all hours labored instances the hourly wages of the whole backside 82% of the workforce—declined by 4.4.%, in line with Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge.

The truth is, this billionaires’ bonanza occurred in opposition to a common backdrop of working-class ache:

The inventory market through which billionaires have a lot of their cash invested dropped sharply within the month earlier than the pandemic lockdown. However the six months of features that adopted weren’t merely a reversal of these losses: billionaires are additionally $680 billion, or 22%, richer at the moment than they have been in February 2019, the discharge date of the newest earlier Forbes annual report (see desk under).

“Each candidate on this marketing campaign season, from presidential hopeful down, who’s pledging to guide us out of the coronavirus disaster should deal with this stark divergence between the nation’s wealthiest elite and their struggling fellow residents,” mentioned Frank Clemente, government director of Individuals for Tax Equity. “The reply begins with making a fair proportion tax system that narrows obscene wealth gaps and raises the trillions of {dollars} wanted to deal with the current emergency and spend money on our households and communities over the long-term.”

“The billionaire economic system has been turbocharged by policymakers who are actually stalling on aid for the actual economic system,” mentioned Chuck Collins, director of the Institute for Coverage Research’ Program on Inequality and co-author of the report “Billionaire Bonanza 2020.” “The distinction is stark between earnings for billionaires and the widespread financial distress in our nation. Clearly, the priorities of our elected officers in Washington, DC are utterly the other way up.”

Even amongst billionaires, wealth is very concentrated. Roughly $400 billion, or solely rather less than half of the overall features, have been captured by simply the 15 wealthiest on the billionaires listing. The highest three gainers alone—Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk—loved absolutely 16% of the spoils, or a collective wealth surge of $137 billion. One billionaire from Michigan, Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans, noticed his wealth improve an astonishing 672%, rising from $6.5 billion to $50.2 billion.

The entire wealth of all of the billionaires—$3.8 trillion at the moment—is two-and-a-half instances the $1.5 trillion in whole wealth held by the underside half of the inhabitants, or 165 million Individuals.

The $845 billion wealth achieve by 643 billionaires over the previous six months far exceeds the:

Low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises due to long-standing racial and gender disparities. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

Home Democrats handed a aid invoice again in Might that provided a lifeline to Individuals not sharing within the billionaires’ luck in the course of the pandemic. Amongst its provisions:

All the above knowledge is offered in a single desk right here.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have launched laws for a 60% tax on the pandemic wealth features of billionaires between March 18 and the tip of the 12 months and use the proceeds to assist working Individuals cowl healthcare prices.

September 4, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Has Surged $970 billion since starting of Pandemic

Complete U.S. billionaire wealth has elevated over $970 billion since March 18, 2020, a rise of 32.9 p.c over 24 weeks.

On March 18, whole U.S. billionaire wealth was $2.947 trillion.  As of September 3,  whole U.S. billionaire wealth has risen to $3.917 trillion.

Jeff Bezos whole wealth is now $206.4 billion, in comparison with $113 billion on March 18.

Elon Musk has seen his wealth triple since March 18, rising from $24.6 billion to $93.3 billion.

Since March 18, the variety of U.S. billionaires has elevated from 614 to 638, a rise of 24 new billionaires.

We date our knowledge to March 18, the day that Forbes printed is 2020 annual International Billionaire Survey.  This date additionally marks the start of the pandemic lockdown in lots of states, the primary unemployment filings over 6 million, and the start of Federal Reserve actions to stabilize the economic system.  The Institute for Coverage Research and Individuals For Tax Reform posted a response to criticisms that we use this begin date.  Collectively, now we have been publishing common updates on billionaire wealth that may be discovered right here.

August 6, 2020 replace

U.S. billionaire wealth went up by $685 billion 

Between March 18 and August 5, 2020, the overall wealth of U.S. billionaires went up $685 billion (together with those who have misplaced funds), based mostly on an evaluation of Forbes knowledge.  U.S. billionaires have whole mixed wealth of over $3.65 trillion.

Over this similar interval, over 158,000 individuals have died from the Covid-19 virus and over 30 million stay on unemployment.

Impressed by the Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report and subsequent reviews on billionaire wealth will increase, Senator Bernie Sanders has launched the “Make Billionaires Pay Act.” This Act would levy levying a 60% tax on the expansion in wealth of these 467 billionaires whose wealth has elevated since March 18^th, based mostly on our Institute for Coverage Research/Individuals for Tax Equity evaluation.

The entire wealth of this group grew $732 billion, or 30 p.c, because the begin of the pandemic.  This tax would increase $422 billion if it have been levied based mostly on at the moment’s wealth.  Sanders would use the income to cowl the out-of-pocket medical bills of all of the uninsured and the under-insured Medicare beneficiaries over the subsequent 12 months in the course of the COVID-19 disaster.

“An emergency wealth tax on billionaires is what the physique politic requires,” mentioned Chuck Collins, coauthor of Billionaire Bonanza 2020 and director of the Institute for Coverage Research – Program on Inequality. “These billionaires will stay billions richer than a 12 months in the past—and a portion of their excessive wealth features might be deployed to deal with the pandemic disaster.”

Nobody value lower than a billion {dollars} would pay a cent below Sanders’s invoice and billionaires who’ve misplaced cash could be exempt. And even after paying the one-time tax, they’d nonetheless be 40% richer than they have been earlier than the virus hit.

July 23, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges by $755 billion After 4 Months into the Pandemic

Between March 18 and July 23, U.S. billionaire whole wealth has elevated over $755 billion, a rise of 25.6 p.c.  March 18 marks the start of nationwide pandemic lockdowns and the publication of Forbes annual world billionaire survey.

“At this price, in 6 weeks (by early September), the billionaire class will achieve a trillion {dollars} in wealth since mid-March,” noticed Omar Ocampo, researcher on the Institute for Coverage Research and coauthor of Billionaire Bonanza 2020.

Complete U.S. Billionaire wealth is now $3.7 trillion.

For extra billionaire knowledge, see www.billionairesus.org, a brand new internet portal created by the Individuals for Tax Equity and the Institute for Coverage Research.

Over the identical 18 weeks, between March 18 and July 23, over 52.4 million (1.4 million filed in at the moment’s report) individuals filed for unemployment. Practically 32 million are at present receiving jobless advantages.

Over 141,660 individuals have died of Covid-19 within the U.S., as of July 22 at 5 pm, in line with the Middle for Illness Management.

“The U.S. billionaire class continues to see its wealth surge throughout a resurgence within the Covid-19 virus,” mentioned Chuck Collins, co-author of Billionaire Bonanza 2020.  This disconnection between their wealth and the financial and well being insecurity of the good mass of individuals is unseemly.”

June 18, 2020 replace

U.S. billionaire wealth surges to $584 Billion, or 20 p.c, because the starting of the pandemic

Because the Federal Reserve reported in the course of the week of June tenth, greater than $6.5 trillion in family wealth vanished in the course of the first three months of this 12 months because the pandemic tightened its maintain on the worldwide economic system.

“That is the largest financial shock within the U.S. and on the planet, actually, in residing reminiscence,” Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell informed reporters on June tenth. “We went from the bottom stage of unemployment in 50 years to the best stage in near 90 years, and we did it in two months.”

Since March 18th, the U.S. billionaire class has seen their wealth improve by 20%, or $584 billion, because the tough starting of the pandemic, as 45.5 million Individuals filed for unemployment and the economic system cratered, in line with a brand new evaluation by Individuals for Tax Equity (ATF) and the Institute for Coverage Research – Program on Inequality (IPS), constructing on the IPS Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report.

Total, between March 18—the tough begin date of the pandemic shutdown, when most federal and state financial restrictions have been in place—and June 17, the overall web value of the 640-plus U.S. billionaires jumped from $2.948 trillion to $3.531 trillion, based mostly on the two teams’ evaluation of Forbes knowledge. Since March 18, the date Forbes launched its annual report on billionaires’ wealth, the U.S. added 29 extra billionaires, growing from 614 to 643. Throughout the identical three months, over 45.5 million individuals filed for unemployment, in line with the Division of Labor.

The highest 5 billionaires—Jeff Bezos, Invoice Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison—noticed their wealth develop by a complete of $101.7 billion, or 26%. They captured 17.4% of the overall wealth development of all 600-plus billionaires within the final three months. The fortunes of Bezos and Zuckerberg collectively grew by practically $76 billion, or 13% of the $584 billion whole.

“This orgy of wealth exhibits how basically flawed our financial system is,” mentioned Frank Clemente, ATF’s government director. “In three months about 600 billionaires elevated their wealth by excess of the nation’s governors say their states want in fiscal help to maintain delivering companies to 330 million residents. Their wealth elevated twice as a lot because the federal authorities paid out in one-time checks to greater than 150 million Individuals. If this pandemic reveals something, it’s how unequal our society has turn out to be and the way drastically it should change.”

“The very last thing U.S. society wants is extra financial and racial polarization,” mentioned Chuck Collins, director of the Institute for Coverage Research Program on Inequality and co-author of the Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report. “The surge in billionaire wealth and pandemic profiteering undermines the unity and solidarity that the American individuals would require to get better and develop collectively, not pull additional aside.”

Throughout the identical approximate three-month interval practically 2.1 million Individuals fell ailing with the virus and about 118,000 died from it. Amongst different pandemic victims are 27 million Individuals who could lose their employer-provided healthcare protection. Low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

Wealth development of different choose billionaires within the prime 30 on the Forbes June 17 listing is under.

Remarkably, 12 billionaires greater than doubled their wealth over the past three months. One in every of them, Trevor Milton, the founding father of Nikola Motor that’s constructing semi-trucks powered by batteries and hydrogen, elevated his wealth greater than 5 instances.

A long time of tax cuts for the wealthy have fueled the expansion of billionaires and their wealth. Even within the midst of the best nationwide emergency since World Battle II, tax handouts to the rich have continued—most lately within the type of the “Millionaire Giveaways” slipped into the CARES pandemic aid regulation enacted in late March.

The lately handed Home HEROES Act would repeal this tax break that’s giving a mean tax reduce of $1.6 million this 12 months to 43,000 millionaires and billionaires, in line with the Joint Committee on Taxation. JCT estimates closing this loophole would increase $246 billion, an enormous sum that could possibly be used for pandemic aid.

June 11, 2020 replace

U.S. Billionaire Wealth up $637 billion Since March 18, a Acquire of over 21.5 p.c

Between March 18 and June 11, the cumulative whole wealth of U.S. billionaires has elevated $637 billion, a rise of 21.5 p.c. Over 630 billionaires have a mixed wealth of $3.584 trillion {dollars}.

If Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos have been nonetheless married they’d have a mixed web value of $210.4 billion.

Over the identical 12 weeks, over 44.1 million Individuals have filed for unemployment and over 110,000 have died from COVID-19.

With the June 11 unemployment announcement, 1.5 million extra individuals filed for unemployment, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This doesn’t embody tens of millions extra employees who’ve utilized for assist as self-employed employees.

June 4, 2020 replace

As 42.6 million Individuals file for unemployment, billionaires add half a trillion {dollars} to their cumulative wealth

In a turbulent week throughout the nation, the wealth of U.S. billionaires surged previous half a trillion {dollars} because the starting of the pandemic unemployment.

The announcement on June 4th that a further 1.9 million extra have filed for unemployment within the final week implies that 42.6 million Individuals have filed since March 18, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This doesn’t embody the tens of millions extra who’ve utilized for assist as self-employed employees.

Over these similar 11 weeks, between March 18 and June 4, the cumulative whole wealth of U.S. billionaires has elevated $565 billion, a rise of 19.15 p.c.

Might 28, 2020 replace 

Unemployment tops 40 million as billionaire wealth surge approaches half a trillion

Throughout a pandemic, billionaire wealth is surging on the similar time that tens of millions face struggling, hardship and lack of life. This can be a grotesque indicator of the deep inequalities in U.S. society.

There are three vital numbers to grasp in our unequal pandemic instances: 100 and 40 and 485.

Over 100 thousand individuals now have died from Covid-19.

Since March 18, over 40.7 million individuals have filed for unemployment in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This doesn’t embody tens of millions extra who’ve utilized for assist as self-employed employees.

Thousands and thousands of those individuals have misplaced their medical health insurance that was linked to their jobs.

Over the identical 10 weeks, between March 18 and Might 28, the wealth of U.S. billionaires has surged $485 billion, virtually half a trillion {dollars} — a rise of 16.5 p.c. There are additionally 16 extra billionaires within the U.S. than there have been ten weeks in the past.

Two billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, have seen their mixed wealth improve over $63 billion since March 18.

The surge in billionaire wealth throughout a world pandemic underscores the grotesque nature of unequal sacrifice.   Whereas tens of millions threat their lives and livelihoods as first responders and entrance line employees, these billionaires profit from an economic system and tax system that’s wired to funnel wealth to the highest.

We pinpoint March 18 as a date for monitoring wealth as a result of that’s the date tied to this 12 months’s annual Forbes International Billionaire survey, printed on April seventh.

This 12 months Forbes reported that whole U.S. billionaire wealth had declined from its 2019 ranges, from $3.111 trillion right down to $2.947 trillion.  However inside weeks, our Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report discovered these losses have been erased. As of Might 28, whole U.S. billionaire wealth is $3.439 trillion, a $485 billion improve over March 18 and a $328 billion improve over final 12 months’s Forbes 2019 world billionaire survey.

Might 21, 2020 Replace

The variety of U.S. residents submitting for unemployment elevated to 38.6 million since March 18, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Over the identical two months, the wealth of U.S. billionaires has surged $434 billion – a rise of 15 p.c.

The mixed fortunes of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg alone grew by practically $60 billion throughout these two months, in line with a brand new evaluation, collectively launched by Individuals for Tax Equity and the Institute for Coverage Research, which launched Billionaire Bonanza 2020 in April to look at billionaire wealth in the course of the first month of the pandemic.

Between March 18 and Might 19, the overall web value of the 600-plus U.S. billionaires rose from $2.948 trillion to $3.382 trillion.  In March, there have been 614 billionaires on the Forbes listing. There are 630 two months later, together with newcomer Kanye West at $1.3 billion.

Amongst different COVID-19 victims are the greater than 16 million Individuals who’ve possible misplaced employer-provided healthcare protection. Low-wage employees, individuals of shade and ladies have suffered disproportionately within the mixed medical and financial crises. Billionaires are overwhelmingly white males.

Wealth development of different choose billionaires within the prime 30 on the Forbes Might 19 listing are under.

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Sources: All knowledge analyzed by ATF and IPS is from Forbes and out there right here.
March 18, 2020, knowledge is from the Forbes World’s Billionaires Listing: The Richest in 2020.
Might 19, 2020 knowledge was taken from Forbes real-time estimates of value that day.

Might 14, 2020 replace

Between March 18 and Might 14, 2020, over 36 million U.S. employees misplaced their jobs, with 2.98 million claims in at the moment’s announcement. Over these similar eight weeks, U.S. billionaires noticed their wealth improve by $368.8 billion, a 12.51 p.c improve.

On March 18, U.S. billionaires had a mixed $2.947 trillion, down from $3.111 trillion a 12 months earlier, in accordance to Forbes annual world billionaire survey. As of Might 14, whole U.S. billionaire wealth has elevated to $3.316 trillion.  Within the final eight weeks, 14 new billionaires joined the U.S. billionaire listing, which elevated from 614 to 628.

Even with a decline in markets, Elon Musk’s wealth elevated $3.5 billion within the final week, since Might 6. Jeff Bezos’ wealth elevated by $900 million and Eric Yuan noticed his wealth improve by $800 million.  Mike Bloomberg noticed his wealth improve by $400 million.

Between March 18, when Forbes printed their 2020 annual International Billionaire Survey, and the morning of Thursday, Might 14, these billionaires have seen their wealth surge:

• Jeff Bezos – up $30 billion
• Mark Zuckerberg – up $21 billion
• Steve Ballmer – up $11.6 billion
• Elon Musk – up $11.3 billion
• Michael Bloomberg – up $10 billion

Learn extra about IPS’s methodology in our report and on this truth examine by USA Right this moment.

April 30, 2020 replace

Between March 18 and April 30, 2020, over 30 million U.S. employees misplaced their jobs. Over these similar weeks, U.S. billionaires noticed their wealth improve $406 billion, a rise in 13.8 p.c improve.

On March 18, U.S. billionaires had a mixed $2.947 trillion, down from $3.111 trillion a 12 months earlier, in line with Forbes annual world billionaire challenge.

As of April 29, whole U.S. billionaire wealth had elevated to $3.353 trillion.  This can be a increase of $406.2 billion, a 13.78 p.c improve in six weeks.

Between April 22 and April 29, billionaire wealth elevated $98.1 billion, a 3 p.c improve.

The Attain of Billionaire Bonanza 2020

Previous to the pandemic, the Institute for Coverage Research was already exposing the expansion of billionaire wealth and the impression on our society and democracy. Our Billionaire Bonanza 2020 report struck a nerve around the globe with over 200 media tales in U.S. and world press. See the total report, Billionaire Bonanza 2020: Wealth Windfalls, Tumbling Taxes, and Pandemic Profiteers

Highlights of protection embody: Reuters, Newsweek, New York Publish, The New York Occasions, Washington Publish, Fox Information, Investing.com, Nasdaq, GQ,  US Information & World Report,  Fortune,  The Week, Enterprise Insider , Futurism, Invoice Moyers.com, LA Progressive. In These Occasions, Yahoo Finance, Gizmondo, and GQ Journal, and Jacobin.

A number of function items embody:

Quick Firm, “American Billionaires Have Gotten $280 billion richer because the begin of the Covid-19 pandemic,”

Capital & Principal: “Story of Two Pandemics: The Wealthy Are Getting Richer”

Sunday Guardian (UK): “Heads we win, tails you lose; America’s wealthy have turned pandemic into revenue.”

Enterprise Insider did 4 totally different tales, together with: “9 mind-blowing information about America’s richest individuals”.

New Republic, “Billionaires Are Consuming the Financial system,” Might 7, 2020

We have been fact-checked as true by USA Right this moment, which resulted in probably the greatest tales about our methodology. See: USA Right this moment:  Molly Stellino, “Reality Verify: The tremendous wealthy did certainly get richer in early weeks of coronavirus pandemic,” Might 7, 2020.

Billionaire Bonanza made a splash within the sports activities reporting world, together with this story in Soccer Occasions, “Arsenal proprietor Stan Kroenke’s wealth will increase by £323m as gamers take wage reduce”, Might 6, 2020.  James Benge wrote, “ The wealth of Arsenal proprietor Stan Kroenke has elevated by over £300million because the begin of 2020, a research by a number one American assume tank has revealed.”

Pattern of worldwide protection: Straits Occasions (Singapore) Observador (Portugal), Every day Mail (Australia), Regina Chief Publish (Saskatchewa, Canada), Sunday Occasions (South Africa) “Corona increase for richest within the U.S.”  Worldwide Enterprise Occasions. La Jornada (Mexico), Publico (Spain),

Our personal commentaries appeared in CNN and The Guardian.  An op-ed by report co-authors, Omar Ocampo and Chuck Collins, “Wealthy Getting Richer Regardless of Pandemic,” has been syndicated in over 60 U.S. newspapers by the Tribune Information Service/ Progressive Media Mission, together with in Houma Right this moment (LA), Every day Comet (Lafayette, LA), Tyler Paper (TX) The Derrick (Oil Metropolis, PA), Bozeman Every day Chronicle (MT).

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