Here are two awful facts about the coronavirus pandemic: It has caused more than 419,000 deaths in the United States. And public health measures to contain it drove unemployment from 3.5 percent of the labor force to 6.7 percent, with lower-wage service workers hardest hit.
Now here’s one awkward fact: While all that was going on, a lot of people, including a lot of people who were already well off, got richer.
It isn’t too early to start talking about the implications of this reality, which could pose yet another source of populist discontent if not appropriately addressed.
The coronavirus windfall extends well beyond plutocrats such as Elon Musk, whose net worth grew from $24.6 billion in March to more than $170 billion in December, thanks to a run-up in the stock price of Tesla, his electric-vehicle company.
