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This seems rather misleadingly stated to me. "Between March 18 and June 17, the total net worth of 643 American billionaires increased…". They've picked "the bo

This seems rather misleadingly stated to me. "Between March 18 and June 17, the total net worth of 643 American billionaires increased…". They've picked "the bottom of the FTSE 100" as their start point, and could well simply have captured "the stock market has rebounded". They'd have a much more compelling argument if they could say something similar starting from 1st Jan.

barney54 6y ago
I came to make this exact point. It is no surprise that billionaires, whose wealth is tied up in the companies they own large shares of, do worse when the stock market falls and better when the stock market rises than people who don't have has much wealth in the stock market. The worrying part to me of the overall economic situation is that the actions of the Federal Reserve seems to help the stock market much more than the real economy.
igravious 6y ago
"U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surged During the Pandemic" – Misleading? Let's define Pandemic. From the onset of the first official death. That was Feb. 29 according to news sources. So taking a starting point on or around Feb. 29 seems reasonable. Unfortunately deaths start occurring, lockdowns start being put into place, a lot of businesses grind to a halt, stock market begins tanking. Between the Fed and Congress they deliberately pumped money into the market favoring top-down rather than bottom-up and large corporations over small to medium. Result? Stock market surge while millions (> 40 million?) remain unemployed and lines for free food grow all around the country. Why? Because let's say even if a large amount of pension funds are tied to the stock market that's of no benefit to someone suffering today through no fault of their own. And given that the top 11% (isn't it?) of Americans own 80% of stocks and I presume the tippy top of the 11% own a huge chunk of that in turn then hey presto it all looks a bit too much like a deliberate wealth transfer – crony capitalism taking advantage of a crisis as exhaustively documented by Naomi Klein in Shock Doctrine. Far from being misleading, these statistics reveal what we all know. The US has turned into a virtual oligarchic kleptocracy.
- syshum 6y ago
  So what was the $1200 to every American, and Unemployment base-lined to the point that people were making MORE with unemployment compensation than what they made at their normal job?
  - Ghjklov 6y ago
    Shush money so we don't revolt and put their heads on pikes.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

barney54 6y ago

I came to make this exact point. It is no surprise that billionaires, whose wealth is tied up in the companies they own large shares of, do worse when the stock market falls and better when the stock market rises than people who don't have has much wealth in the stock market. The worrying part to me of the overall economic situation is that the actions of the Federal Reserve seems to help the stock market much more than the real economy.

igravious 6y ago

"U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surged During the Pandemic" – Misleading? Let's define Pandemic. From the onset of the first official death. That was Feb. 29 according to news sources. So taking a starting point on or around Feb. 29 seems reasonable. Unfortunately deaths start occurring, lockdowns start being put into place, a lot of businesses grind to a halt, stock market begins tanking. Between the Fed and Congress they deliberately pumped money into the market favoring top-down rather than bottom-up and large corporations over small to medium. Result? Stock market surge while millions (> 40 million?) remain unemployed and lines for free food grow all around the country. Why? Because let's say even if a large amount of pension funds are tied to the stock market that's of no benefit to someone suffering today through no fault of their own. And given that the top 11% (isn't it?) of Americans own 80% of stocks and I presume the tippy top of the 11% own a huge chunk of that in turn then hey presto it all looks a bit too much like a deliberate wealth transfer – crony capitalism taking advantage of a crisis as exhaustively documented by Naomi Klein in Shock Doctrine. Far from being misleading, these statistics reveal what we all know. The US has turned into a virtual oligarchic kleptocracy.

syshum 6y ago
So what was the $1200 to every American, and Unemployment base-lined to the point that people were making MORE with unemployment compensation than what they made at their normal job?
- Ghjklov 6y ago
  Shush money so we don't revolt and put their heads on pikes.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]