American Billionaires and their fortunes had a better year than most. Especially with their wallets growing 70% more, according to the newest reports.
American Billionaires: Richer than ever before
The rich are growing richer, according to the new report from Americans for Tax fairness and Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). Tracking gains between mid-March of 2020 and mid-October of 2021, the report analyzed data from Forbes on how much the members of the 10-figure club made. The report revealed that American billionaires added a total of $2.1 trillion to their fortunes during the pandemic.
The report’s latest edition also reveals that the world’s richest grew not only in ranks but also in fortunes. Additionally, according to Wealth-X, a research firm the number of billionaires in the world is a new record. Our planet is now home to over 3,000 billionaires. The US alone houses 745 billionaires as of this month. The difference is shocking compared to the 614 American billionaires in March 2020.
Who’s who on the list
The world’s richest billionaires include Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg among others. However, the biggest gains were seen by Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO. He surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest man in March. He also tweeted a silver medal emoji as a reply to Bezos’ tweet on Amazon’s progress. Musk made over $184 billion whereas Bezos’s fortune only grew by a little over $79 billion.
The top 1 percent surpassed the middle class with all the fortune they have accumulated. Unfortunately, these gains come with extreme inequality. After all the pandemic only exacerbated America’s wealth inequality. Across the US, thousands of workers are demanding better work conditions and pay. Additionally, millions of Americans are quitting the workforce en mass and driving up wages with the record quits.
