Tag: rich getting richer

Billionaires’ Net Worth Rises During Pandemic As Millions Go Unemployed: Report

U.S. billionaires’ wealth grew 15% while over 38 million Americans filed for unemployment amid the coronavirus crisis.

U.S. billionaires’ wealth grew substantially over the last two months even as tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs, providing stark proof of the unequal impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the related economic crisis.

From March 18 — when much of the U.S. was under an economic shutdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 — to May 19, the total net worth of the more than 600 billionaires in the U.S. grew by 15%, or $434 billion, per a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies. The report, released by the progressive think tank on Thursday, relied on data from Forbes’ tracking of Americans’ net worth.

Over the same nine-week period, more than 38 million people in the U.S. filed for unemployment benefits. That figure doesn’t include those who were unable to file and those deemed ineligible for the benefits, including millions of undocumented immigrants.  Continue reading.

Billionaires Have More Wealth Than 60% of the World’s Population, Report Finds

A new report found that the world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than 4.6 billion people, underscoring the degree of global inequality.

The Oxfam International study, released Monday and dubbed “Time to Care,” shows that the number of billionaires has doubled in the past decade. The authors add that these fortunes have largely been amassed while everyday people, especially poor women, continue to struggle.

“The gap between rich and poor can’t be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies, and too few governments are committed to these,” Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said in a press statement. “Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big business at the expense of ordinary men and women. No wonder people are starting to question whether billionaires should even exist.” Continue reading.

Trump’s Economic Policies Only Benefit Those At The Top

Trump may try to tout his economic policies, but the reality is that they have only benefited those at the top. Trump’s tax law led to the national debt surpassing $22 trillion for the first time in history, and did nothing to benefit workers.

The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time in history, in part because of Trump’s tax law, and could jeopardize our economic security.

USA Today: “The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, a milestone that experts warned is further proof the country is on an unsustainable financial path that could jeopardize the economic security of every American.”

Axios: “That figure has climbed at a faster pace following the enactment of President Trump’s tax cut bill in December 2017.”

Trump promised that his tax law would raise wages. Instead, after touting one-time bonuses, corporations continue to buy back billions in stock.

NBC News: “Corporations are using savings from the 2017 tax law to continue to buy back billions in stock after trumpeting employee bonuses and benefits.”

NBC News: “For many of those same companies, a tiny fraction of the total number of U.S. businesses, executives haven’t yet announced another round of bonuses or wage increases with the same fanfare — even though the tax law continues to mean billions for their bottom lines. … Most American businesses that announced bonuses and wage increases seem to be more like Emerson, which has ‘no plans to make an additional 401(k) contribution this year,’ a company spokeswoman said. That’s what has made the promise of higher compensation so far elusive.”

A record 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their auto loan payments, which economists warn is a red flag.

Washington Post: “A record 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their auto loan payments, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday, even more than during the wake of the financial crisis. Economists warn that this is a red flag.”

The Federal Reserve chair warned that income inequality was the biggest challenge in the next 10 years as income growth for working-class Americans “has really decreased.”

Washington Post: “Powell, who was appointed by President Trump but has been a frequent target of Trump’s ire, said he was concerned that income growth for middle- and working-class Americans ‘has really decreased,’ while ‘growth at the top has been very strong.’ Powell pointed out that the United States used to be a global leader in mobility — the ability of people born into poverty to move up to the middle class or even the wealthiest echelons of society. But that is no longer true.”

The State of the Trump Economy

Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests during an event in Warren, Michigan, on March 4, 2016. Credit: Scott Olson, Getty

The longest partial federal government shutdown in American history may be over, but the economic consequences for people across the country endure. Decades of conservative rhetoric about smaller government were tested in real time, with disastrous costs for individuals, families, and businesses. On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump will deliver a State of the Union address that is sure to pass the blame for his shutdown onto others while he takes credit for an economy that has been growing for nine years. In his two years in office, President Trump has done everything in his power to set American workers and families back and place the country on the road to a low-wage, high-cost economy in which a few hands hold all the economic power. The 35-day shutdown is just the latest in a series of actions that hurt everyone except the wealthy and those with political connections.

Trump’s shutdown cost American families

The shutdown is the latest example of the Trump administration’s disregard for American workers and families. The Congressional Budget Office calculated that the five-week shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, $3 billion of which will never be recouped. But for millions of Americans, the shutdown’s effect on their paychecks was more apparent. About 800,000 federal workers were furloughed or worked without pay, and as many as 1.2 million contractors felt the impact—and may not receive back pay. In addition, shutdowns have a disproportionate effect on black workers and families. In fact, the proportion of federal workers who are black women is twice as high in the federal government as it is in the greater civilian workforce. At the beginning of the shutdown, about half of all federal workers were still required to show up to work without pay; yet that number grew as the Trump administration played favorites with agencies in response to lobbying from some industries. Continue reading “The State of the Trump Economy”