The Crisis has Been Very Good for the Super-Capitalists By James Reed
Of course, they can be generous in throwing money at BLM since the super-capitalists have benefitted by the corona madness eliminating many small businesses.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/worlds-richest-billionaires-risk-turning-22288193
“The wealth of the top 1% has soared during lockdown, but the booming fortunes of tech billionaires like Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos reveal deep faultlines in society. The coronavirus pandemic has directly cost some 500,000 lives. But the damage it has wreaked on the world economy will cost many more. In America, the unemployment rate in April was 14.7%, up from just 4.4% in March. In real terms that’s at least 44 million people laid off. Between March 29 and April 4 alone, 6.6 million Americans registered as unemployed. More than 27 million Americans stand to lose their employer-provided healthcare coverage as a result of the pandemic, at a time when they might need it most. But it’s not affecting all Americans equally. The wealth of the very richest has soared during the pandemic. America's top five billionaires – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison – enjoyed a 26% surge in their wealth since the outbreak began. Between them they’ve gained over a hundred billion dollars. Amazon’s business has been booming with most of America cooped up at home and according to figures from Forbes, boss Jeff Bezos is worth 38.6% more – an extra $43.7 billion – between March 18 and June 17.
“World’s richest person Jeff Bezos did not cease to mint money even amid coronavirus, with the multi-billionaire adding nearly $40 billion to his fortunes during the lockdown. The Amazon founder now has a total net worth of $155 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, making him a part of one of the world’s elitist clubs. A large chunk of Jeff Bezos’ wealth comes from Amazon’s soaring share price. While companies struggled to make ends meet, Amazon had a stellar performance in the stock market. In fact, Amazon share price hovered over $2,000-mark throughout the pandemic. Amazon stock was trading at $2,572, up 1.09% from the previous close at the time of publishing. Meanwhile, the closest competitor to Jeff Bezos is Microsoft-founder Bill Gates, with a total net worth of $111 billion. The company also reported a major hike in demand in its first quarter earnings call as the world grappled with the coronavirus pandemic. With growing demand, the e-tailer went on a recruitment spree to tackle additional inflow of orders. The same also took place in India with the company posting job offers for about 50,000 temporary workers for various positions. “We’re opening close to 50,000 seasonal roles across our operations network to meet the surge in demand and to provide critical service in this difficult time. We’re committed to creating as many job opportunities while providing a safe working environment,” Amit Agarwal, Amazon India Head, said in late-May.”
Naturally, with people locked down, hunkered in their kennels, Amazon’s mail delivery, and movies, enabled them to be entertained, and likewise for the other super-capitalists who had their fingers in other finger buns. So, it is natural that many would look forward to lockdowns continuing, as Gates said, until there is a vaccine. Strange that not much is said about the vaccine, when the media was telling us we should have one by now. Stanger, that.
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