Stephan: "The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual ranking swelled by 660 to 2,755 — a roughly 30 percent jump from a year ago — and 493 of them are first-timers. Seven of eight are richer than they were before the pandemic. Forbes calculates net worth by using stock prices and exchange rates from March 5."
I think this may be the most obscene and offputting sentence I have ever published. At the same time this was happening 8 million Americans were reduced to poverty.
Could there be a clearer proof that something is fundamentally wrong with the American social order that makes profit its only social priority?
Here is my prediction: As climate change stresses human civilization in a thousand ways, those societies which make wellbeing their priority, and adapt and create the post-carbon, post-pollution world it will demand, will prosper and change geopolitics
The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual ranking swelled by 660 to 2,755 — a roughly 30 percent jump from a year ago — and 493 of them are first-timers. Seven of eight are richer than they were before the pandemic. Forbes calculates net worth by using stock prices and exchange rates from March 5.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with an estimated fortune of $177 billion, topped the list for the fourth year running. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk came in at No. 2 at $151 billion. The shares of both companies soared last year, largely contributing to both men’s net worth and causing them to toggle for the “richest man” title on various lists.
Bezos, who will step down as Amazon CEO and become executive chairman later this year, owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company that is developing rockets for […]
Also, the only country with more billionaires than China with 698 is the USA with 724.
Teresa
on Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 8:14 am
That wealth is only on paper. Should we have a major depression, much of it will quickly disappear. We may be in for an even rougher ride, so hold onto your hats.
Fun fact: Vladimir Putin, reputedly the world’s richest man, is not on the list. See https://money.com/vladimir-putin-net-worth/
Also, the only country with more billionaires than China with 698 is the USA with 724.
That wealth is only on paper. Should we have a major depression, much of it will quickly disappear. We may be in for an even rougher ride, so hold onto your hats.