Looks like the pandemic was a profitable time for the world’s wealthiest people.
According to a new report from Oxfam, the world’s 10 richest men actually doubled their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic – from a combined total of $700 billion to more than $1.5 trillion.
The list includes people like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett.
The ten richest billionaires have doubled their wealth during the pandemic, while 99% of people are worse off and 160 million have been pushed into poverty.
There is something fundamentally wrong with our economic system. https://t.co/WS7WTNOnIW
— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) January 17, 2022
Oxfam says money pumped into the economy by central banks during the pandemic “ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom”.
Why did billionaires get richer during the pandemic?
