07/07/2020 / By Lance D Johnson
During the covid-19 pandemic, a historic transfer of wealth occurred in plain sight, under the guise of “protecting public health.”
Since the government lockdowns began, unemployment has soared and small businesses have suffered, leaving the general population waving their hands to the sky, begging for helicopter cash. As Americans received $1,200 checks, vaccine makers raked in hundreds of millions and the world’s top billionaires amassed hundreds of billions more in wealth.
Bill Gates the “philanthropist” was already in position to profit from the pandemic before it ever began. In fact, he negotiated a $100 billion contact tracing deal with a democratic Congressman three months before governments started tracking people down.
As opportunities were stolen from ordinary Americans, the billionaire class grew extraordinarily richer. Since March 18, U.S. billionaires saw their wealth grow by $434 billion.
As Americans suffered under perpetual lockdowns and economic restrictions, the top five billionaires saw their fortunes surge by 19 percent, as Americans were forced to rely on technology and submit their taxpayer money to the pharmaceutical industry.
Based on findings from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies’ Program for Inequality, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Elison saw their combined fortune rise by $75.5 billion. The economic inequalities that existed before only multiplied during the lockdowns.
As economies continue to be corrupted by central bankers and corporate oligarchs, the United Kingdom was busy funneling £1 billion to the world’s largest chemicals company, BASF. This chemical company, which pumps out agricultural, industrial and automotive chemicals, owns eight UK plants, and could easily operate without such large sums of welfare.
However, central bankers at the Bank of England made sure to support one of the wealthiest companies so they can continue to enjoy their monopoly, while pumping the world full of chemicals. BASF shareholders are on the verge of taking a vote that could distribute up to three times the amount they received to their own bank accounts in the form of dividends.
BASF wasn’t the only chemical giant that received a massive payout during the historic covid-19 wealth transfer. Bayer was supported with a £600 million payout that will ensure they can continue to pay out damages to human immune systems caused by their chemicals, including but not limited to: glyphosate, the primary ingredient in roundup. Regardless, company shareholders for Bayer recently approved a plan to distribute £2.75 billion worth of dividends to themselves.
Oil and gas service firms made bank, too. Baker Hughes collected £600m and Schlumberger raked in £150m. In addition, the Bank of England handed out £1.6 billion to Honda, Rolls Royce, Toyota and Nissan, with no incentives to clean up their industries and with no stakeholder responsibilities to give back to their communities, workforce and environment.
During covid-19, the rich got extraordinarily richer, hyper-inflation became an afterthought, vaccine makers and chemical manufacturers became more powerful, as shareholders made out big and monopolies grew mightier.
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