The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 22, 2020

As Millions Lose Jobs, the Billionaire Class Sees Wealth Soar by $434 Billion During Pandemic
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New data from the Census Bureau found nearly half of all American adults
say they or a member of their household had lost employment income since
mid-March. But not all Americans have suffered. One new report found the
wealth of the nation's billionaires has increased by $434 billion, or
15%, since the pandemic began. This is Chuck Collins of the Institute
for Policy Studies.

Chuck Collins: "Since March 18th, 38.5 million people have filed for
unemployment. Over that same two months, billionaire wealth has surged -
$434 billion in that short time. And we're seeing the billionaire class
in the United States, overall, seeing their wealth accelerate in the
last couple months. Even Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg's wealth
combined has gone up $60 billion since March 18th."



.