“It shows how delinked the stock market is from the real economy and the experience of most people,” Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies and a co-author of the report, told CBS MoneyWatch. “I would argue that it has a social cost [because] it undermines the solidarity we need to get through the pandemic.”
The nation’s 644 billionaires have enjoyed a staggering rise in wealth since the pandemic shuttered the economy in March, with the group gaining almost $1 trillion in total net worth, according to a new analysis. The spike in wealth coincides with what some economists are calling a K-shaped recovery, with the rich regaining their footing while poorer Americans struggle with lost wages and jobs.
The wealth of the nation’s billionaires rose to $3.88 trillion as of October 13, a jump of $931 billion from March, an analysis from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies, two left-leaning groups, found. That’s almost twice the $2.1 trillion in wealth held by the bottom half of the U.S. population, or about 165 million people, they added.
- A CBSN special looks at the state of the economy as a second round of federal stimulus checks hangs in the balance. Download the CBS News app to stream “A Nation in Need: A Stimulus Check List” on CBSN Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
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