Fun Financial Facts:
Since the start of the pandemic, ten of the world’s richest people doubled their collective personal wealth – increasing it from o/a $700 billion to $1.5 trillion – all while personal incomes/resources of o/a 80% of the rest of the planet fell during that same time – even more fun facts, the same pandemic that stimulated their wealth, forced more than 160 million people into poverty, out of their homes, jobs, and reduced their available resources.
So, while the economy for average income folks struggles mightily, the stock market rallied exponentially – this was in part due to monetary policies kicked in by the Federal Reserve leading to massive (often untaxed) wealth gains for those with deeper than most “market pockets” – market leaders continue to insist these measures will stimulate trickle down spending/wages – but in reality, these measures have left average wage earners (who don’t have the same market pockets) behind in the continued compromised economy.
The wealth of these “lucky” few increased at a rate of o/a $15K per second – so…
one thousand one = $15K –
one thousand two = $15K –
one thousand three = $15K –
…you get my point – remember, $15K is equal to the annual income of a minimum wage worker – which is also way less than a realistic living wage – seems fair.
But wait, the fun continues, if these ten people were to lose 99% of their wealth, they would still have more wealth than 99% of the rest of the people on the planet – seriously, do the math, it’s important to see the disparity.
But wait, there’s more – the average American household paid 14% of their income in federal income taxes – that’s real money out of their bank accounts (I wish my taxes were that low) – in contrast, the wealthiest 25 Americans paid an average of 3.4% of their income in federal income taxes – wait, so the wealthiest Americans pay an average of 3.4%, which (as it turns out) is only 10% of my personal income taxed percentage – not really a shocker, but I wanted to paint the picture – this gap is due to amazing and magical tax loopholes available to “all” Americans, right? Those dumb unwealthy Americans must not be doing their taxes correctly, right?
Finally, a fun quote stated by hundreds of economists, politicians, bankers, market specialists, tax experts, and yours truly, “One of the single most powerful tools we have to address the gross level of egregious and deadly income inequality is to tax the rich justly.” Ever wonder why this seems so simple but impossible to achieve?
To conclude, warm hugs to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffett (yes, these are the ten) – hang tough fellas, the pandemic has been challenging for us all (insert repulsed face here).
Statistics/facts published and partnered by World Banks, Forbes, Oxfam, ProPuiblica, US Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Reserve.
Kevin's Thoughts 