The $1.2 trillion gained by America’s wealthiest would be enough for two more payments of $1,400 to every single American with change left to spare.
As millions of Americans call for further stimulus checks and a growing number of lawmakers urge President Biden to support more direct payments, billionaires‘ pandemic profits alone could easily fund two more direct payments to all Americans with change left to spare. Congress has thus far approved three rounds of direct stimulus checks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the first for $1,200 being approved in March 2020 followed by a second payment of $600 in December. Under President Joe Biden ’s American Rescue Plan, which was passed and signed in March, most Americans received another $1,400 payment. Now more than 2 million Americans have signed a Change.org petition calling for recurring monthly stimulus checks of $2,000 as dozens of lawmakers have urged Biden to support a similar proposal. Meanwhile, data from Forbes —which tracks the net worths of the wealthy—finds that America’s 722 billionaires saw their wealth grow by 35 percent between January of last year and April 28 of this year. Their collective net worths have increased from $3.
