The COVID-19 pandemic saw a number of changes to day-to-day life. Nearly everyone was affected by layoffs, unemployment, empty store shelves, the stock market crashing, extremely high prices, and the rising cost of living. And that's not to mention the intense health and social impacts!
However, not everyone fared so negatively.
A new study from Oxfam found that those who already had money gained more of it between 2020-2022. There are now 573 new billionaires on the planet – one was created every 30 hours for the last two years!
And that’s just the beginning. Another wave of 253 millionaires is expected to rise to the level of billionaire this year, too. How is this possible?
Executives in the pharmaceutical, food, technology, and energy sectors made incredible amounts of money over the last two years by finding new ways to increase their profits on vaccines, life-saving medicines, and consumer goods.
At the same time, most working-class people were dealing with empty store shelves, unemployment, a loss of wages, and lack of access to life-saving medical care.
According to Quartz, billionaires now account for over 14% of global wealth, and during the pandemic inequality got MUCH worse.
The already-rich used the public’s need for food, medicine, and everyday necessities to make huge profits, all while everyday working-class folks were left to fend for ourselves.