On average, the wealthiest 15 billionaires’ fortunes increased 58.7%, while some, such as Elon Musk, are up more than 500%. At the start of the pandemic, there were 614 billionaires in the United States; that number has increased to 660, with 46 new billionaires being minted over the past ten months. That’s the largest increase since the 1960s and is nearly double the largest annual increase in poverty over the last 50 years. That’s the total amount of wealth held by the 165 million Americans that make up the bottom half of the population, which is $1.7 trillion less than the wealth of the county’s 660 billionaires. Further Reading:Billionaire Wealth Up Almost 40%, 10 Months into Crisis (IPS)US suffers sharpest rise in poverty rate in more than 50 years (Chicago Tribune)Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus

Source: Forbes January 26, 2021 18:00 UTC