The trend continues as billionaires continue to reap massive profits since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to a recent study for the Institute of Tax Fairness, the collective wealth of U.S. billionaires has increased $1.7 billion since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. At the same time, the number of U.S. billionaires has increased from 614 to 707 and most of the wealth gained goes to the rich tax-free.
Sources: March 18, 2020 data: Forbes, “Forbes Publishes 34th Annual List Of Global Billionaires” April 7, 2020; March 10, 2022 data: Forbes, “The World’s Real-Time Billionaires, Today’s Winners and Losers.”
The data has shown that the billionaires have done exceptionally well with respect to increasing their own personal wealth during the pandemic. At the same time the average American worker is struggling to keep up with inflation as their real wages are declining. The capitalists are able to accumulate massive hordes of wealth due to their private ownership over the means of production. Billionaires such as Musk, Gates, Bezos and Buffett privately own the means of production and they are able to reap massive profits as they exploit workers from around the world. As long as the capitalist system continues to exist the oligarchs will continue to amass massive gains at the expense of the working class.