The wealthiest people in the U.S. watched their net worth increase by about $1 trillion last year, even though so many suffered financial hardships due to the virus outbreak.
The Washington Post reported that two of the top earners included its boss, Jeff Bezos, and Tesla’s Elon Musk. Bezos earned $70 billion last year, bringing his net worth to about $186 billion, and Musk’s net worth increased by $132 billion to settle at about $159 billion. The paper reported that most of those fortunes are tied up in company stocks.
The paper tried to put their wealth into perspective and reported that $25 billion would be enough to end all hunger in the U.S. eight times over, according to one estimate. The report also seemed to portray Bezos and Musk as two unlikely candidates to make such a donation.
The paper reported an analysis in June of charitable giving by the country’s richest showed that Bezos donated $25 million to “All in WA,” which the paper described as a “statewide relief effort,” and $100 million to “Feeding America.” The amount is equivalent to an average American cutting a check for $85 to a charity.
TRENDPOST: While the billionaires are getting richer, some eight million Americans have fallen into poverty. A report from analysts at the University of Chicago released last month said the poverty rate in the U.S. went from 9.7 percent in June to 11.7 percent in November – the biggest yearly increase since the federal government began tracking the poverty rate in 1960.
There are ten million less jobs since politicians launched the COVID War, and there have been 70 million new claims for unemployment benefits. Eighty-five million Americans say they don’t have the money to pay for basic needs such as food and rent.
