Oxfam: Billionaires increased their wealth by $5 trillion during the pandemic

London
CNN business
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Billionaires increased their wealth by $5 trillion during the pandemic, according to Oxfam, and the pandemic pushed millions of people around the world into poverty and exacerbated economic inequality.

Using data compiled by Forbes, Oxfam found in a new report that total billionaire wealth will jump from $8.6 trillion in March 2020 to $13.8 trillion in November 2021, more than the past 14 years combined. also said to be a significant increase. The total wealth of his 10 richest men in the world more than doubled, and he surged by $1.3 billion per day.

The report was released ahead of the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda. The Davos Agenda takes place this week after the group’s annual face-to-face meeting was postponed due to Omicron. Oxfam says the government should tax the profits made by the ultra-rich during the pandemic and use the money to fund health care, pay for vaccines, fight discrimination and tackle the climate crisis. I’m here.

“Billionaires have been hit by a terrifying pandemic. Central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, but much of it has gone into billionaire pockets on the stock market boom.” I’m here.

According to a report, the total wealth of the top 10 billionaires, including Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, doubled during the pandemic and is now Six times the wealth of the world’s poorest 3.1 billion people. .

“This inequality of pace and magnitude is caused by choice, not by chance,” said Butcher. “Not only has our economic structure made us all less safe from this pandemic, it has also made it difficult for people who are already very wealthy and powerful to use this crisis to their advantage. We actively make it possible.”

The pandemic was not the “great equalizer” some predicted.

The World Bank estimates that 97 million people worldwide will be in extreme poverty in 2020 and are currently living on less than $2 a day. The number of the world’s poorest people also increased for the first time in more than 20 years.

Vaccine inequality has increased as many of the world’s richest countries hoard immunizations, buying enough to vaccinate their populations multiple times, failing to keep promises to share with developing countries. It’s a big problem.

Billionaires are called upon to use their wealth to help the less fortunate.

David Beasley, director of the United Nations World Food Program, has urged billionaires, including Bezos and Musk, to “step up now, once and for all” to help solve world hunger in November. I called out.

Musk later tweeted that if the organization could explain “exactly” how to solve the problem with fundraising, he would “sell Tesla stock now and do it.”

The CEO didn’t react officially when the UN announced the plan.