“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime” ... French novelist Honoré de Balzac
No one disputes the fact that the global pandemic threw us all under the bus. Some of us got sick. Some of us lost loved ones. Others lost jobs. Others reaped the benefits. At Inequality.org, journalist Chuck Collins recently shared some statistics concerning the ever-increasing disparity between billionaires and average folks. In a nutshell, the rich not only got richer – they got a lot richer.
Pandemic profiteers like Musk and Bezos made out like bandits and the figures are jaw-dropping. At the start of the pandemic, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was worth about $25 billion dollars; two years into the pandemic his wealth had surged to $255 billion. When last checked – March 18, 2024 – Musk is at $188.5 billion. That’s more than a seven-fold increase in four years.
At the same time, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ wealth has soared from $113 billion to 192.8 billion – even after donating tens of billions to charity and paying out tens of billions more in a divorce settlement with his now ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
Speaking of Ms. Scott, she’s the only billionaire on the 2020 top 15 wealthiest Americans list to see a decline in her wealth decline from a net worth of $36 billion in 2020 to $35.4 billion due to her generous giving to charity. At least someone has their values in check.
In 2022 the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics summed up one study of COVID’s impact on those of us who were just trying to keep our heads above the water line:
The pandemic disrupted lower-paid, service-sector employment
most, disadvantaging women and lower income groups at least
temporarily, and this may have scarring effects...Higher-paid
workers tend to gain more from continuing opportunities to
telework. Less-advantaged students suffered greater educational
setbacks from school closures. School and daycare closures
disrupted the work of many parents, particularly mothers. We
conclude that the pandemic is likely to widen income inequality
over the long run, because the lasting changes in work patterns,
consumer demand, and production will benefit higher income
groups and erode opportunities for some less advantaged groups.
The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics got it right. Income inequality grew like cancer cells in the course of the pandemic. Collins’ data tells us that in March 2020 the U. S. harbored 614 billionaires worth $2.947 trillion. In March 2024 the number of billionaires had grown to 737 billionaires worth $5.529 trillion.
If not always illegal, this vast increase in billionaires' wealth has deadly consequences.
In 2022 Oxfam International published Inequality Kills, a report detailing how inequality “is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds. This is a conservative finding based on deaths globally from lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger, and climate breakdown.”
Oxfam’s International Executive Director Gabriela Bucher made it quite clear just what led to that perilous state of affairs:
Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets
to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the
pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines
were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed
pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to
billions of people. The result is that every kind of inequality
imaginable risks rising. The predictability of it is sickening.
Fixing – or at least ameliorating – inequality is no easy task. The recommendations of the Peterson Institute for International Economics include: governments need to address inequality directly and specifically; taxes and spending programs must be progressive and benefit others than the wealthy; novel approaches must replace tired, by-the-book policy.
Whatever remedies one favors to deal with the obscene inequality of wealth here and elsewhere, the time to act is now. As Oxfam’s Bucher says: “The consequences of it kill.”
Basic Homeowners Insurance Surprisingly Doesn't Cover These Things
Raising a family in my own home has been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember...even before I met my wife. Once I took the plunge and bought a house, got a mortgage, and we purchased homeowner's insurance because it was a requirement. Unfortunately, I signed a policy without looking too deeply at the fine print. It turns out, a lot of people think homeowner's insurance covers all their needs, but that's a myth.
So, when my wife's parents got a home warranty plan from TotalHome Warranty by HomeServe, she wanted to get one too. At first, I thought my wife was being overly dramatic, and we had everything we needed taken care of by our homeowner's insurance. Boy was I wrong! I started looking into it and discovered that problems which usually happen to due wear and tear around the home aren't even covered by basic homeowners' insurance.
In doing my research, I realized that TotalHome Warranty offers a home warranty plan for the covered repair or replacement on appliances and home systems - such as refrigerators, washer/dryers, and electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems. A plan is relatively inexpensive and having one in place can help avoid home repair headaches down the line. Plus, the best thing is that TotalHome Warranty finds a technician for you, and they have a 24-hour hotline you can call any time of the day or night.
Here are four common issues that most basic homeowner's insurance won't help you with:
1. Appliance Breakdowns
Laundry isn't optional. When your washer or dryer isn't working, your entire household comes to a standstill. Same can be said for major appliances. For example, can you imagine life with 3 kids without a working refrigerator, oven, or dishwasher? With an appliance plan from TotalHome Warranty, you'll feel good knowing that a breakdown may be covered, and my family can still get a hot meal, and have clean clothes.
2. Heating/Cooling System Failure
When my central AC went down in the middle of last summer, things got pretty uncomfortable pretty fast. I was stuck waiting while my family got overheated in more ways than one (let's just say there were a lot of arguments that summer). I ended up having to dig into our savings to get it fixed. I was kicking myself knowing that I should have been prepared before my AC went on the fritz. Now that I have a plan from TotalHome Warranty, I have peace of mind knowing covered repairs will be taken care of.
3. Burst Water Pipes
In my opinion, there's nothing worse than water damage in a home. And having to deal with burst water pipes can cause some serious homeowner stress. And the biggest stress of all for me is that I hate dealing with plumbers because I never know if I can trust their estimates. Having a plan from TotalHome Warranty in place before something happens makes me feel at ease as I know that they have trusted, local, licensed technicians that I can call 24/7, 365 days a year and they can help me with a covered repair.
4. Electrical Problems
I live in a beautiful old house, with much of the same architecture as when it was built in the 1900s. But the circuits in older homes just aren't made to handle the many electric gadgets we use in modern life. We're starting to notice that the circuit breaker flips far more often than usual, and sometimes we get dips or sags in power. It's a huge bother, but back then, I didn't want to call an electrician because I was afraid it would cost thousands to fix properly. Now that we have a home warranty plan in place, I feel more at ease and less homeowner stress when I think about future electrical problems with my antique home.
All said and done, I can't believe how many common household problems caused by normal wear and tear were not covered by most basic homeowners' insurance. Now that I have a plan from TotalHome Warranty by HomeServe, I don't hesitate to call when I have a covered problem with my appliances, interior plumbing, electric, heating or cooling systems.
Update:Follow this link or call 1-866-765-4207 to enroll in TotalHome Warranty today.