Coronavirus: Fortunes of American billionaires soared 29% in six months

The richest 643 Americans have seen their fortunes increase by 29% overall since March 18, the date on which the world began to confine itself to face the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to updated figures from a report from the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing think tank, and Americans for Tax Fairness, an organization for tax justice, these billionaires have raised $ 845 billion in assets in six months, or $ 4.7 billion per day.

As of September 15, their global wealth stands at $ 3.8 trillion, compared to $ 2.95 trillion on March 18.

+ 274% for Elon Musk

Among the most notable beneficiaries, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos.

The founder of Amazon, a platform to which confinement has been profitable, has seen his assets climb 65% since the start of the crisis to stand at $ 186.2 billion.

Tesla boss Elon Musk, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft creator Bill Gates posted gains of 274%, 84% and 19% respectively.

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The report's authors used data from Forbes magazine, which publishes a billionaire ranking each year.

At the same time, they point out that more than 50 million Americans have lost their jobs and that 14 million of them are still unemployed.

"Make billionaires pay"

In the United States, several voices have recently been raised to demand a wealth tax.

So, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor to Bill Clinton.

"Jeff Bezos could give $ 105,000 to every Amazon employee and still be as rich as before the pandemic," he also wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Jeff Bezos could give every Amazon employee $ 105,000 and still be as rich as he was before the pandemic.

If that doesn't convince you we need a wealth tax, I'm not sure what will.

- Robert Reich (@RBReich) September 15, 2020

Bernie Sanders, senator and former candidate for the Democratic primary, introduced a bill in August to "make billionaires pay".

Last Monday, he returned to Twitter: “In a time of massive wealth and income inequality, we must not only repeal all of Trump's tax breaks for the richest 1% and big business, but we need to tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires made during the pandemic and extend Medicare to everyone.

"

At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, not only do we need to repeal all of the Trump tax breaks for the top 1% and large corporations, we need to tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during the pandemic and expand Medicare to all.

- Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 15, 2020