Elon Musk and the millionaires who earned the most this year 1:22
New York (CNN Business) -
Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of America's billionaires saw their fortunes skyrocket in the past six months during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans now earn less than they did before the coronavirus crisis began, according to a new study.
The latest Billionaire Bonanza report from the Institute for Policy Studies on wealth inequality shows that the 643 richest Americans have amassed a whopping $ 845 billion.
This, in combined assets between March 18 and September 15, increasing your combined wealth by 29%.
The study notes that rapidly rising wealth has increased total net worth among the nation's highest-earning people from $ 2.95 trillion to $ 3.8 trillion.
The top earners list includes Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The study is based on people's net worth data tracked by Forbes.
Chuck Collins, director of the Inequality Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, who co-authored the report, said he was somewhat shocked by the numbers.
He added that the covid crisis is "overloading the existing inequalities in the United States."
"I thought maybe six months after this things would have shaken up, that everyone would take a hit," Collins told CNN Business.
“The difference is stark between the earnings of billionaires and the widespread economic misery in our nation.
It somehow dramatizes the unequal sacrifice and profit element of wealth accumulation at the top.
Collins also noted the marked opposite effect of the covid economy on the average American worker.
The pandemic ushered in the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression.
The unemployment rate reached 14.7% in April before dropping to 8.4% in August.
The country has still lost 11.5 million jobs since February.
Claims for unemployment benefits have declined, but are still more than four times higher than the pre-pandemic level.
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Big winnings for Bezos, Waltons, Page and Musk
Many of the jumps in the billionaires' assets were tied to the fortunes of the company.
Amazon shares are up more than 60% this year.
As a result, the director, Jeff Bezos, whose personal wealth is tied to Amazon shares, saw his net worth increase by $ 55.2 billion since Feb. 8, according to IPS.
(With a total net worth of $ 200 billion, he is the richest person in the world.)
The combined net worth of Alice, Jim and Rob Walton, whose family founded Walmart, has grown by more than $ 60 billion since February.
As the retail giant's profits soared nearly 80% year-over-year to $ 6.4 billion in the second quarter of 2020.
The assets of Google co-founder Larry Page have grown by more than $ 18 billion since February, while the fortune of Tesla CEO Elon Musk increased by about $ 70 billion over the same period.
He became the third richest person on the planet.
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: Elon Musk and the other millionaires who earned the most this year
Six months after the pandemic, Collins has been amazed at how uneven the economic burden has been for the poor and the middle class versus the rich compared to the Great Recession.
He said Congress must fix what's broken with political solutions that empower working Americans rather than the investing class.
Otherwise, he said, the current concentration of wealth will transform America in terrible and irreparable ways.
"Some people are going to have extreme power to shape the economy, politics and the media," Collins said.
“None of us are going to want to live in a society like that, where the main street no longer has 100 stores.
It only has one Amazon freight depot.
Elon musk jeff bezos
