![]() And they're seeing their own - you know, we're thankful that some of them are in business and able to provide, you know, online retail services and food delivery. And that's one of the things I think we've been trying to point out in our reports is that these companies are benefiting from having their competition effectively shut down during the pandemic. But is the money that the companies are making being reflected in the pay or the protection of the workers who are making these services possible?ĬOLLINS: No. In that sense, it's no surprise that they're doing really well during the pandemic. GROSS: So some of the companies that have had their, you know, wealth increased vastly during the pandemic are providing services so many people are using, like Amazon and Instacart, helping people get what they need without having to go to stores where they could be exposed to the virus. So they are seeing their fortunes accelerate during the pandemic. households, you know, in the United States. billionaires now has a combined wealth of 4 trillion, which is double the wealth of the bottom half of all U.S. I mean, four billionaires - Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg - now have a net worth of about 550 billion combined. But some of these billionaires have just seen their wealth surge, you know, in the double digits or much higher than the market itself. The stock market has been steadily going up as well. It can go up, you know, hundreds of points or go down hundreds of points.ĬOLLINS: Yeah. GROSS: So is the numbers that you're giving us, is that linked to the stock market? - because the stock market fluctuates so much. But others have just seen - they've kind of delinked from the amount of wealth they had before. You know, some have ridden the stock market. And there's a guy, Dan Gilbert, who's the Quicken Loans founder, CEO, his wealth has gone up 600% - almost 38 billion. Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth go up about 74 billion, an increase of 65%. Elon Musk seen his wealth go up almost 500%, 120 billion. But there's a couple that have just seen their wealth surge. You know, 657 billionaires have seen their combined wealth go up a trillion since mid-March. GROSS: Who are the billionaires who made the most money since the start of the pandemic?ĬOLLINS: Well, there's an overall trend. His books include "Born On Third Base: A One Percenter Makes The Case For Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, And Committing To The Common Good" and the forthcoming "The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions." That book is scheduled for publication in March. Collins is the great-grandson of Oscar Mayer, the founder of the meatpacking company famous for its hot dogs, the Oscar Mayer wiener, and the Wienermobile.Ĭollins is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits. ![]() Economic inequality has been his subject since he was 26 and gave away his inheritance. My guest, Chuck Collins, has been writing about that and how the pandemic has increased income inequality in the U.S. Those billionaires include the principal owners of Amazon, Instacart, Walmart and Tyson Foods. While millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, the combined wealth of just 10 billionaires has increased by more than $127 billion since the beginning of the pandemic.
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