Some choice quotes:

  • “If you are a high income earner, even in the private sector, hardly any of them have lost work[...] So this recession is going to dramatically and directly exacerbate wealth inequality, there is no doubt about that.”
  • America’s billionaires saw their fortunes soar by $434 billion during the U.S. pandemic lockdown between mid-March and mid-May.
  • 40 per cent of Canadians under the age of 55 had only one week’s worth or less of savings to cover costs like food or rent if they lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
  • “So the government is coming in and subsidizing the poor, but the money doesn’t stay with them but goes to the rich, who are just not spending any money[...] They are accumulating the money in their accounts.”
  • “Inequality is now greater than the 1920s"
  • Today, the wealthiest 20 per cent of Canadians control 67.4 per cent of the nation’s wealth — while the 20 per cent poorest control no wealth and are, in fact, underwater with debt.
  • Moreover, evidence suggests the rich emerge from recessions even wealthier.
  • Between 2010-2019, companies in the S&P 500 Index distributed $5.3 trillion (U.S.) or 54 per cent of their profits, to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks.
  • "[...]assuming that the wealth of the world has not somehow collapsed there must be one group that is accumulating wealth more quickly and that’s the rich”