Topline New data available from the U.S. Federal Reserve shows that the wealth gap in America has widened and economic inequality increased in 2020 amidst a coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately impacted low-wage service workers and people of color, which coincides with a report published earlier this week showing that global billionaire wealth has concurrently skyrocketed at an unprecedented rate. Tesla head Elon Musk talks to the press as he arrives to to have a look at the construction site of … [+] the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 3, 2020. Maja Hitij/Getty Images Key Facts According to the latest Fed data, the top 1% of Americans have a combined net worth of $34.2 trillion (or 30.4% of all household wealth in the U.S.), while the bottom 50% of the population holds just $2.1 trillion combined (or 1.9% of all wealth). A study published earlier this week by Swiss bank UBS and accounting firm PwC found that the total wealth of the world’s 2,189 billionaires soared to a record-setting high of $10.2 trillion in late July, obliterating the previous record of $8.9 trillion recorded at the end of 2017. American billionaires have grown significantly richer during the pandemic, led by Elon Musk, who crossed the $100 billion benchmark i… Click below to read the full story from Forbes
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