Wealth Of US Billionaires Up $308B In Last Four Weeks

The Guardian reports:

Some of the richest people in the US have been at the front of the queue as the government has handed out trillions of dollars to prop up an economy it shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the billionaire class has added $308 Bto its wealth in four weeks – even as a record 26 million people lost their jobs.

According to a new report from the  Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, between 18 March and 22 April the wealth of America’s plutocrats grew 10.5%. After the last recession, it took over two years for total billionaire wealth to get back to the levels they enjoyed in 2007.

The billionaire bonanza comes as a flotilla of big businesses, millionaires and billionaires sail through loopholes in a $349B bailout meant to save hard-hit small businesses. The banks that were the largest recipients of bailout cash in the last recession have also done well, raking in $10B in fees from the government loans.

Among those whose net worth has increased by at least a billion in the last month are Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the founder of Zoom.

NOTE: Steve Mnuchin is “only” worth $400M but I used his photo above as he is overseeing the stimulus grants.