SOME INTERESTING DATA....I FEEL REALLY SORRY FOR BUFFET THOUGH...he may
qualify for some Food Stamps !!!
Fouad
Just 12 US Billionaires Now Own More Than $1 Trillion in Combined Wealth
by Jake JohnsonNew research published Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that
the dozen richest American billionaires now collectively own more than $1
trillion in wealth, a finding one analyst described as "a disturbing
milestone in the U.S. history of concentrated wealth and power."
According to IPS, a progressive think tank, the 12 top U.S. billionaires
have seen their combined wealth soar by 40%-or $283 billion-since the
coronavirus began spreading rapidly across the U.S. in mid-March, sparking
widespread economic shutdowns and mass job loss.
"During the first stage of the pandemic, between January 1 and March 18, the
collective wealth of the Oligarchic Dozen declined by $96 billion," wrote
IPS researchers Chuck Collins and Omar Ocampo. "But their wealth quickly
rebounded and surpassed their September 2019 Forbes 400 wealth level. The
only exception is Warren Buffett, who is still $2 billion below his
September 2019 wealth, but is currently worth $80 billion."
Last Thursday, the billionaires' combined wealth reached $1.015 trillion-the
first time in U.S. history that the collective net worth of the top 12
American billionaires has topped the trillion-dollar mark. According to IPS,
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seen his wealth jump by $48.5 billion
since mid-March, making him the "biggest pandemic profiteer" of the group.
"This is simply too much economic and political power in the hands of twelve
people," Collins, director of IPS' Program on Inequality and the Common
Good, said in a statement.
The dozen wealthiest U.S. billionaires and their respective net worth as of
August 13 are listed below:
Jeff Bezos-$189.5 billion
Bill Gates-$114.1 billion
Mark Zuckerberg-$95.5 billion
Warren Buffett-$80.6 billion
Elon Musk-$73.1 billion
Steve Ballmer-$71.5 billion
Larry Ellison-$70.9 billion
Larry Page-$67.4 billion
Sergey Brin-$65.6 billion
Alice Walton-$62.6 billion
Jim Walton-$62.3 billion
Rob Walton-$62.03 billion
"The total wealth of the Oligarchic Dozen is greater than the GDP of Belgium
and Austria combined," said Ocampo. "Meanwhile, tens of millions of
Americans are unemployed or living paycheck to paycheck, and 170,000 people
have died from Covid-19 in the United States."