The COVID pandemic has been a worldwide disaster in terms of people who died and economic wealth that’s been lost.
Lockdowns crushed almost half of US small businesses while people stayed home.
However, now a surprising fact is coming out from Credit Suisse about an unexpected outcome of the crisis: new millionaires.
In fact, the banking giant says that 5.2 million new millionaires were created in 2020 during the COVID crisis. They got rich, in particular, from inflating home prices and surging stocks.
Wealth Inequality Spikes
As you can imagine, populists on the left and right are angry about the widening wealth inequality and they have a point, to be fair.
Many people benefited from government relief checks who didn’t need them; some people used the time off (when the economy was crumbling) to buy up pieces of the pie with generational wealth and take advantage of those in an even worse position.
When the crap hits the fan, the vultures come out, and humanity has seen that in every crisis.
What an interesting coinkidink pic.twitter.com/wUoAooSZyu
— clarabstract 💫 b((s)|(t))he(?(3)yb|b) (@clarabstract) June 17, 2021
Other of these new millionaires likely went about it the old-fashioned and honest way: through hard work and enterprise.
Let’s not make the mistake that the left does and just inherently stigmatize wealth: there’s no shame in being rich!
Although, the left and populist right are still missing something about this…
They’re missing an even more crucial factor hidden underneath these numbers: the danger of runaway inflation.
If money starts losing its value, then these millionaires won’t matter. Their buying power could be reduced to almost nothing, and that’s not even to mention all the normal people like you and I.
How Many Millionaires Overall?
Around the world, there are now 56.1 million millionaires according to Credit Suisse; those at the lower end of the scale had an even worse time of it, descending further down the ladder.
Around 30% of the world’s millionaires are right here in America, with Germany in second place.
I’d say that’s something we can be proud of, what about you?
Vulnerable Groups Hit Hard
While these new millionaires were being minted, the world’s poor weren’t exactly doing great. Although the impact has been a bit less here at home, thanks to eviction delays and government relief, globally, it’s been pretty bad.
World gained 5.2m millionaires last year in Covid crisis.
Wealth gap has widened as rich cash in on rising shares and house prices, says Credit Suisse.
Eat. The. Rich.
🤬— Pucci D 🔥 ANTIFA (@adpucci) June 22, 2021
Stocks surged at various points of 2020, helping out those who owned shares; although, for those without access to proper healthcare (or any way to get by on basic income or loss of income), the pandemic made them even poorer.
In many ways, this has sort of been like pouring fuel on the fire.
Still, if you ask me we should celebrate these new millionaires. We should also encourage them to stay right here in the USA and use that wealth to create new jobs for the rest of us.
