Current Events > The real looting - billionaires get $637 billion richer during the pandemic

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-net-worth-increases-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-7

Congrats guys, meanwhile the rest of us didnt even get a second stimulus.

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Working as intended, carry on.

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Remember 1 million seconds is 11 days, 1 billion is 31 years. Just puts perspective on the absurdity of their wealth

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but the right wont talk about this theft....the theft that actually matters.

They earned that incomprehensible amount, leave them alone

Poop2 posted...

but the right wont talk about this theft....the theft that actually matters.

They worked hard for their money!

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Can't see because of my phone's adblocker settings

But let me guess. Stock prices went up, and people think that translates to money coming out of your pockets?

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but people are looting shoes and t shirts. Oof, they love bending over.

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meralonne posted...

Working as intended, carry on.

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Squall28 posted...

Can't see because of my phone's adblocker settings

But let me guess. Stock prices went up, and people think that translates to money coming out of your pockets?

no u

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Squall28 posted...

Can't see because of my phone's adblocker settings

But let me guess. Stock prices went up, and people think that translates to money coming out of your pockets?

Conversely, the right would have you believe that when the equity markets are up, everyone is getting richer. Which is, of course, absolute bullshit.

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meralonne posted...

Conversely, the right would have you believe that when the equity markets are up, everyone is getting richer. Which is, of course, absolute bullshit.

I'm not speaking for the right.

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We demand UBI

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Squall28 posted...

I'm not speaking for the right.

And the article is talking about government bailouts, not the equity market.

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Poop2 posted...

but the right wont talk about this theft....the theft that actually matters.

as small businesses have folded, giant corporations have grown wealthier

and who ran many of those small businesses? many of the conservative-leaning folk protesting the impact of stringent quarantine rules on their businesses earlier on.

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meralonne posted...

And the article is talking about government bailouts, not the equity market.

Did billionaires get a $637 billion bailout? Like I said I can't access the article on my phone.

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Squall28 posted...

Did billionaires get a $637 billion bailout? Like I said I can't access the article on my phone.

Come on, man. Seriously? Put in a little more effort than that.

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Heard about that from Bernie earlier this month

I will be introducing legislation tomorrow to tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during the public health crisis.

What I think many people do not fully understand is that not everyone is hurting in America. Not everyone needs the Senate to act.

While over 30 million Americans have seen their $600 a week in unemployment benefits expire, emergency actions taken by the Federal Reserve to prop up the stock market have meant that 467 billionaires saw their wealth go up by over $730 billion since the pandemic began.

Let me repeat that. 467 billionaires have seen their wealth go up by over $730 billion during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, during the last four months, while the very, very rich have become much richer, American households have seen their wealth go down by $6.5 trillion.

In all likelihood, in the midst of everything else, we are currently witnessing what is likely the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the very rich in the modern history of this country.

In other words, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of an economic meltdown for working families, in the midst of a great struggle regarding systemic racism and police brutality, in the midst of the existential threat of climate change...

In the midst of a president undermining democracy and moving us toward an authoritarian government, in the midst of all of that, we are seeing a massive increase in income and wealth inequality and the movement in this country toward oligarchy.

Let me give you a few examples of the incredible growth in inequality that is taking place during this horrific pandemic.

While Amazon is denying paid sick leave, hazard pay and personal protective equipment to 450,000 of its workers, Jeff Bezos has increased his wealth by over $70 billion.

While U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the starvation wages at Walmart, our nations largest private employer, the Walton family has made over $20 billion during the pandemic and now has a net worth of over $200 billion.

While 40 million Americans face eviction, Elon Musk has nearly tripled his wealth over the past four months and now has a net worth of more than $70 billion.

While millions of Americans are lining up at emergency food banks because they dont have enough money to put food on the table, Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook has increased his wealth by more than $37 billion during the pandemic and is now worth over $90 billion.

At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when so many our people are hurting, it is morally obscene for billionaires to use a global pandemic as an opportunity to make outrageous profits.

If we taxed 60% of the windfall gains 467 billionaires made from March 18th until August 3rd we could raise over $420 billion. Thats enough revenue to allow Medicare to pay all of the out-of-pocket health care expenses for everyone in America over the next 12 months.

Yes, by taxing 60% of the wealth gains made by just 467 billionaires during this pandemic, we could guarantee health care as a right for an entire year. And billionaires would still be able to pocket over $310 billion in gains during the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

In my view, we can no longer tolerate the three wealthiest people in America owning more wealth than the bottom 50 percent, while over 30 million Americans have lost their jobs and 92 million people are either uninsured or under-insured.

We have a choice to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer while everyone else gets poorer and poorer. Or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans.

It is time for the Senate to act on behalf of the working class who are hurting like they have never hurt before, not the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have never had it so good.

~https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1291152005445169153
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and they TOOK IT FROM MY BANK!

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Is there even any point to arguing with articles like these when they just continue to be written?

The stock market crashed in March then made amazing gains since then. Anyone who has money in the stock market (certainly many billionaire and CEOs of publicly traded companies in general) has made a lot of money since March.

However the CEO of a company like Boeing has probably lost a lot of money since 2019

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Reminder that Activision and Bobby Kotick do not pay taxes and are in fact subsidized with your tax dollars. They dont pay a CENT and get tax refunds in the hundreds of millions.

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People need to get over it, the government itself has made it priority that the rich remain rich and gain with their ever action and reaction being mad about it is a waste of time as there's never gonna be someone who would dare try to change or challenge this it's too deeply enriched in the culture of America

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*stock market tanks in March, net worth of these people declines*

clickbait media: ...

*stock market slowly recovers in the following months, net worth gradually rises back to where it was in the beginning

clickbait media: BILLIONAIRES ARE GETTING RICHER AREN'T YOU MAD BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BE

People on CE who think they're a lot smarter than they are and would never admit to falling for clickbait headlines: YES.

devilminion posted...

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1291152005445169153

Reminder that this clown and his zero-sum fallacies might seem popular when he's going after Bezos but it applies to everyone, including the immigrants he's spent his entire miserable life attacking.

The economy is not a zero-sum game.

Broseph_Stalin, shut the fuck up, you do not need to weigh in on literally anything because you are pretty much as wrong as a person can be about every single thing you try to talk about. Shut the hell up already. Nobody fucking cares.

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Bernie gets it. He's one of the best economic minds in Washington.

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Tactical_Spork posted...

Broseph_Stalin, shut the fuck up, you do not need to weigh in on literally anything because you are pretty much as wrong as a person can be about every single thing you try to talk about. Shut the hell up already. Nobody fucking cares.

When you're really angry but don't have the intellectual capacity to even attempt an argument.

Im not arguing with you Im telling you to stop posting lol

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Tactical_Spork posted...

Im not arguing with you Im telling you to stop posting lol

I know?

You don't like what I'm saying so you feel the need to confront me, you can't just let someone challenge your worldview. But at the same time you can't refute anything I say so all you have is this feeble meltdown.

You are the person people write these clickbait articles for. You're the mark.

Wow you mean stock prices are higher now than at the market bottom?

I'm shocked.

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TheMikh posted...

as small businesses have folded, giant corporations have grown wealthier

and who ran many of those small businesses? many of the conservative-leaning folk protesting the impact of stringent quarantine rules on their businesses earlier on.

sweetie that was h appening decades before covid

Broseph_Stalin posted...

Reminder that this clown and his zero-sum fallacies might seem popular when he's going after Bezos but it applies to everyone, including the immigrants he's spent his entire miserable life attacking.

The economy is not a zero-sum game.

Reminder that sephstalyn guy is a clown, lmao.

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Here's another one lol

Bootlickers gonna bootlick

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Does it have to come out of my pocket for it to affect me? Furthermore the widening gulf between the rich and everyone else does affect me as part of that everyone else. The increased economic and political power amassed by these people affects me as well. Living in a new Gilded Age definitely affects me.

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legendary_zell posted...

Does it have to come out of my pocket for it to affect me? Furthermore the widening gulf between the rich and everyone else does affect me as part of that everyone else. The increased economic and political power amassed by these people affects me as well. Living in a new Gilded Age definitely affects me.

damn, it's a shame you weren't born in a better time where you had more opportunity, voice and volition in your future

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Poop2 posted...

sweetie that was h appening decades before covid

https://i.imgur.com/SEz6HyI.jpg

nyt / us dept. commerce

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legendary_zell posted...

Does it have to come out of my pocket for it to affect me?

It definitely can in certain ways, but people don't actually pay attention to that funnily enough.

They're too concerned that the value of stock has risen because the company it represents provides a service that people willingly use. It's populist clickbait garbage.

Theon_Greyjoy posted...

Bootlickers gonna bootlick

When you throw out insults like this you sound exactly like Trump supporters saying libcuck

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that's because their critical thinking skills aren't any better than a trump supporter saying libcuck

Stupid poor people

Dont they know that all you have to do to make money is have money?

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The Trent posted...

damn, it's a shame you weren't born in a better time where you had more opportunity, voice and volition in your future

Thats sounds great in theory, but there are an awful lot of economically disadvantaged citizens that dont have the opportunities youre implying they have.

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meralonne posted...

Thats sounds great in theory, but there are an awful lot of economically disadvantaged citizens that dont have the opportunities youre implying they have.

what's the difference between privilege and opportunity then
because i'd argue we all have the opportunity, which is why you hear about people from indigent backgrounds becoming financial and professional success stories
we just don't all have the privilege for the opportunity to be easy

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TheGoldenEel posted...

Stupid poor people

Dont they know that all you have to do to make money is have money?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt0Xb5r9tg8

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The *real* looting? Gotta love this logic. "You should care more about billionaires making a bunch of money then small businesses getting destroyed". HAHAHA... no.

The Trent posted...

damn, it's a shame you weren't born in a better time where you had more opportunity, voice and volition in your future

I'm probably one of the most successful people on this board. That does not a system make. Any number of things outside of my control along racial, national, and class lines would have led me to very different results with the same personal qualities and the same amount of work.

Frederick Douglass was able to succeed in his time, does that mean his system was fair? That's not to say the level of inequality is the same then as it is now. The point is that there's always a few who break through, but most people are by definition average and the question is, how hard is it for the unremarkable person to have their needs met?

Living in a country where the obscenely wealthy control all political and economic power and all decisions are made to increase that wealth, with no thought given to everyone else is gonna make life harder for most people.

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meralonne posted...

Come on, man. Seriously? Put in a little more effort than that.

Sounds like I was right. Why were you trying to shame me like that man?

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republicans love giving billionaires more monewy but hate the poor the base they represent its funny tbh

tech companies are always raking in money

The system is working exactly as intended. Time to leave the rat race and aim higher.

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