“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.”
A Busy Mom's Honest Review Of Calm
It's 3 am and I can't sleep! Work presentations, mental grocery lists, whether or not I remembered to sign my daughter's permission slip for the field trip next week, you name it, and I can guarantee that it's running through my head. I've tried every trick in the book; didn't have any coffee past 4 pm and limited my screen time in the hours leading up to bed but nothing seemed to work. My lack of sleep was beginning to affect my day to day life. I was losing concentration at work, started forgetting little things here and there, and my overall mood was just not good. Plus when I'm exhausted, I'm more likely to eat junk food or skip the gym. A few months ago, at my Saturday morning yoga class, I was complaining about how tired I was to a friend when she told me about Calm, an audio app designed to help with sleep and anxiety, that had completely transformed her insomnia.
I downloaded Calm and started the 7-day free trial, I was impressed with how many different features they have to help you with stressful areas of your life. Their sleep section, which my friend described as her "saving grace" offers a huge variety of different audio recordings. Just like a spa, they have everything from soothing rain, starry nights, and waves crashing at the ocean. There's also music playlists curated especially for relaxation, Sleep Stories, a library with over 100 tales being read by some well-known celebrities and experts. I wasn't really sure that any of this would help me sleep, but I decided it wouldn't hurt to try. They add new stories, playlists, and even meditation classes every week, so I was hopeful that I would find something that would work for me. Plus, I loved the idea of having so many features all in one place on my phone, ready to use at the touch of a button.
The following week, after a particularly stressful day at the office followed by an anxious journey home, I was really looking forward to trying Calm that evening. I always loved being read a story by my mom when I was a kid, so I decided to start with the Sleep Stories feature. I selected Blue Gold, which is narrated by Stephen Fry and tells the tale of a calming journey through the lavender fields and quiet villages of Provence. Calm carefully constructs their stories, taking into consideration everything from the pitch of the noise to the pace of the story being told, all based on extensive neuroscientific research about putting you to sleep. The story is 25 minutes long, but I was asleep after just 15! I slept through most of the night and woke up feeling refreshed and well rested. I haven't slept that well in as long as I can remember. The next day was awesome at work, and I was really excited to try a new story that night.
I've been using Calm for a few months now, and I can't remember what I did before it. I eventually signed up for the annual plan, and I have access to everything. You can cancel anytime, but I honestly use this app a few times a week. Their sleep stories help me fall asleep within 20 minutes, and if I wake up at 3 am, I play some rain sounds and I'm back asleep in 10 minutes (not 2 hours). I'm really enjoying exploring all of the other features that the app offers, too. I now meditate a few times a week with the app and find the meditation helps me control my emotions and feel balanced and in control all day. I finally get the amount of sleep that I need to be a functioning human (because, no, sleep is not a luxury), and I can't wait to see what new features and stories they have coming in the next few months.
Update: If you're looking for relaxation on the go, our friends at Calm are offering you a free 7-day trial! Click here and get started today!
