After seeing their fortunes surge during the deadly coronavirus pandemic, America’s 719 billionaires are now collectively worth $4.56 trillion—making them over four times wealthier than the roughly 165 million people in the bottom half of U.S. society combined, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness.

“It’s not just during the pandemic—billionaires have been running up the score on average Americans for decades.”
—Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness

The two groups found that the wealth of U.S. billionaires grew by $1.62 trillion—55%—between March 18, 2020 and April 12, 2021, a period in which millions lost their jobs and more than 500,000 Americans lost their lives to Covid-19.

The 165 million people at the bottom of the wealth distribution, meanwhile, collectively own around $1.01 trillion, far less than the nation’s hundreds of billionaires.

IPS and ATF note that in 1990, “the situation was reversed”—adjusted for inflation, the bottom 50% owned $380 billion in combined wealth while the nation’s 66 billionaires owned $240 billion.

“It’s not just during the pandemic—billionaires have been running up the score on average Americans for […]