Pandemic Panjandrums

They say it's an ill wind that blows no good. The Covid-19 pandemic, has impoverished millions of people but the world's richest men have been to speak 'coining it'. For example, the world's 10 richest men (and they are men) have seen their fortunes grow by £284bn. The most striking example is Elon Musk, who was worth 'only' $25bn in March but has seen his fortune grow to $153bn, due to speculation. In deed, American's 651 billionaires have increased their total worth by $1.1tn over the course of the pandemic (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/19/ten-billionaires-reap-400bn-boost-to-wealth-during-pandemic). I like to illustrate how hard it is to become a billionaire with the topical (it's almost Christmas) observation. If you were immortal and were born on the day that Jesus is said to have died, you would have to have an untaxed weekly salary of more than £9,520,000 and zero living expenses to become a billionaire today! Surprisingly, there are a lot of them about and Covid increases their share of the pie.