The vast majority of America's billionaires have not just proven immune to the pandemic, they have been thriving in it. New research by Chuck Collins at the Institute for Policy Studies shows that U.S. billionaires have grown their wealth by $1 trillion, more than 34%, since March of this year. This was not the case during previous economic catastrophes such as the 2008 financial crisis when it took Forbes' 400 richest people close to three years to recoup their losses from the Great Recession. The latest findings highlight a wealth gain by a mere 650 individuals that seems obscene at a time when nearly 7 million Americans are at risk of eviction when moratoriums expire at the end of 2020.
Out of the 650 billionaires on the list, 29 doubled their wealth between March 18 and November 24. Meanwhile, there are 36 additional billionaires present with 47 new arrivals and 11 dropping off of the list due to financial decline or death. There have been numerous impressive financial gains among notable billionaires with Jeff Bezos growing his wealth by $70 billion between March 18 and November 24. The Amazon
According to the analysis, U.S. billionaires now own nearly $4 trillion, approximately 3.5% of all privately held household wealth in the country. Billionaire wealth is now twice the amount of wealth held by the bottom 50% of U.S. households combined - around 160 million people. The Federal Reserve estimates that the amount of privately held wealth in the U.S. currently stands at $112 trillion. Of that sum, the top 1% has $34.23 trillion, the top 90-99 percentile has $43.09 trillion, the 50-90 percentile has $32.65 trillion and the bottom 50% has just $2.08 trillion.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
Change in the weath of U.S. billionaires since the beginning of the pandemic.
