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NEWS

Pandemic boosts super-rich share of global wealth

Washington, Jan 4 (Prensa Latina) In spite of the economic crisis fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, the world´s richest people collectively earned trillion in 2021, according to local press.

The 0,001% astronomical gains of the world’s population underscored the vastness of the wealth gap among workers, executives and shareholders, the reports warned.

For instance, Elon Musk, South African-born Canadian and US entrepreneur considered as the world´s richest person, earned nearly $118 billion in 2021, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index reported.

While the United Nations (UN) estimated that 150 million people fell into poverty in 2021, a select group of billionaires amassed wealth so hard to calculate.

Appreciation of other assets such as cryptocurrencies, commodities and real estate also soared, further bolstering the super-rich´s coffers.

Bloomberg added that the combined net worth of the 500 people included in its billionaire index now exceeds $8.4 trillion, more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any nations except the United States and China.

Throughout the year, US lawmakers’ proposals on the so-called Billionaires´ Tax were unsurprisingly ridiculed by super-millionaires like Elon Musk.

Tesla’s CEO, who recently paid little or no income tax and whose car business was built in part on government aid, was especially opposed to the Billionaires Tax that would serve to fund the safety net in the United States.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, billionaires here have seen their collective wealth skyrocketing over 70% to exceed $ 5 trillion, according to a report by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies Program on Inequality.

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