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Sputnik International
COVID Windfall for Billionaires Could Fully Fund Relief for the Working Class
People participate in a March on Billionaires event on July 17, 2020, in New York City.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The $1.1 trillion in wealth that America’s billionaires have collectively gained during ten months of pandemic and economic crisis could fully pay for key relief measures that President Joe Biden proposed in his recently released coronavirus aid package, including the $1,400 direct payments, the increase in unemployment benefits, and the boost to nutrition assistance.
That’s one finding of a new report published Tuesday morning by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), progressive organizations whose analysis of wealth data shows that America’s 660 billionaires have seen their combined fortunes soar to $4.1 trillion an increase of nearly 40% since last March, the approximate beginning of the coronavirus crisis in the United States.
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Two crossed lines that form an X . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. Elon Musk saw a huge increase in his wealth during the pandemic. Reuters
American billionaires have added $1.1 trillion to their collective wealth during the pandemic.
That brings the collective net worth of America s billionaires including 46 new ones to $4.1 trillion.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans remain unemployed and have fallen into poverty.
American billionaires saw their collective net worth grow by $1.1 trillion over the past 10 months, according to a new report from the the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF).
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Two crossed lines that form an X . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. A group of BLM demonstrators protest the Federal Reserve Bank about $15 minimum wage in NYC to solidarity nationwide in Lower Manhattan at the financial district in New York, United States on July 20, 2020 Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A $15 minimum wage will be including in the pandemic reconciliation package.
Some fear a raise would hurt businesses or employment, but it would likely have a minimal effect.
And for workers currently making less than $15 an hour, it would be life-changing.