Billionaires get richer as the poor struggle amidst the pandemic

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Reports show that the world’s top wealthiest people such as Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Tesla’s Elon Musk, had a $540 billion net worth increase.
• The same report also showed that the total wealth of billionaires across the world went up to $3.9 trillion in ten months during 2020, accumulating to $11.95 trillion.
• Oxfam charity said the billionaires continue to accumulate wealth during the pandemic,  while poor families are pushed further into poverty.

On Monday, charitable organization Oxfam said that the world’s top billionaires including Elon Musk, Tesla founder, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, have witnessed an increase in their wealth during the  COVID-19 crisis while the poor anticipates more years of poverty. The group is also calling for a discussion about inequality.

As world leaders prepare for the online “Davos Dialogue,” World Economic Forum conference, countries have a slimming chance to create an impartial and green recovery, according to a published study called “The Inequality Virus.”

Oxfam International executive director, Gabriela Bucher, said in a statement that

“We stand to witness the greatest rise in inequality since records began,”

adding that they demand higher taxes for the wealthy and more protections for employees.

“Rigged economies are funneling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic — shop assistants, healthcare workers, and market vendors — are struggling to pay the bills,”

Bucher further noted.

Coronavirus has let loose an economic crisis that had a great impact on the poor and the most vulnerable, with females and sidelined laborers facing the worst of employment losses with the World Bank cautioning about 100 million individuals about to reach extreme poverty.

Oxfam explained that it would require over a decade to lessen the number of families at the edge of poverty back to normal.

According to the report, the combined riches of the billionaires worldwide jumped up to $3.9 trillion from March to December 2020, bringing it to $11.95 trillion.

Oxfam said the top 10 wealthiest men headlined by Musk and Bezos also listed Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and LVMH luxury group’s Bernard Arnault have seen a rise in their net worth by $540 billion in about the same period.

That amount would be sufficient to avoid poverty for anyone who was affected by the COVID19,  and the same total is also enough to cover the vaccine for all people in the world, as estimated by experts.

Speaking at a virtual conference of world leaders planned by the World Economic Forum on Monday, Bucher stressed the outbreak had underscored the effect of insistent racial inequities that governments did not prioritize.

“Nearly 22,000 Black and Hispanic people in the U.S. would still be alive if their COVID-19 mortality rates were the same as white people,”

Bucher further explained.

Source: Reuters