The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, just became worth more than $200 billion. The founder of Amazon.com gets most of his wealth from Amazon stock. Many criticize his (and other billionaires’) extreme wealth as unethical, as his rise to be a centi-billionaire likely meant the exploitation of the labor of the masses. Bezos’ wealth increase is a huge contradiction to what others face during what may be the most disruptive time to our economy and general livelihood.

In the time between March and June, the combined wealth of U.S. billionaires has increased by $637 billion. This happened at the same time 40 million Americans filed for unemployment. Why is this happening? A lot of it is due to government aid going to big businesses versus small businesses. The government has disproportionately given more aid to large corporations, even though many of them had the financial reserve to last on their own for months. The wealthiest businesses continued to have money to invest and profit from while small businesses struggled to pay rent.

Small businesses have been struggling to stay afloat during this pandemic. Thousands of businesses have closed since the beginning of March. Essential businesses had no choice but to shut down or drastically dial back during the height of the quarantine. Nearly 100,000 small businesses have shut down permanently. This is because most small businesses don’t have the financial reserves to survive for months on end. Even though federal aid was given to businesses to stay open, many owners didn’t receive enough to keep up with paying salaries, bills, and rent.

This problem especially hurts communities of color, specifically the Latino and Black population. Black businesses in particular were not expected to survive well during COVID-19. Nearly 40 percent of Black-owned businesses have been shut down due to the pandemic, compared to 17 percent of the white-owned business. The effect the pandemic has had on these businesses is devastating and it will likely continue to worsen as there is no end in sight to the pandemic in the U.S.

The pandemic has highlighted and widened the huge disparity of wealth in the U.S. Many Americans are facing evictions, hunger, and job loss. The problems with wealth inequality in the U.S. are evident and continue to worsen. As billionaires hoard the wealth created by others it’s time for us to do something to reverse income inequality. Until that happens the rich will continue to get richer, while the poor get poorer.

Destiny Blanchard is a junior management major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or dblanchard@eiu.edu.