The social stratification by wealth in the United States is deeper and more dangerous than by income, according to a report by the nonprofit organization Oxfam America.
According to the organization, the combined wealth of U.S. billionaires has grown by nearly a third since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 and by 86.3% since 2013, to $4.51 trillion. Their number has increased by nearly 60% in 10 years to more than 700.
“The surge in wealth during the pandemic followed the injection of trillions of dollars into financial markets to save them from collapse,” the report noted. – “This new money, albeit much needed to sustain economies, ended up in the hands of the super-rich, who took advantage of the spike in stock prices in the absence of barriers in the form of fairer taxation that would have distributed this wealth more evenly.
In addition, the U.S. has a “permanent underclass”: nearly one-third of all workers and half of employed women of color earn less than $15 an hour, Oxfam points out. The disparity in wealth between races has widened since the 1980s and is approaching that of the 1950s.
“To reduce and eliminate the structural barriers that exist in our economy and to ensure that opportunities are open to everyone, it is vital to impose a super wealth tax,” the organization stresses.
