Who is getting richer?

[Forgetmenot157]

During the massive economic crash the world is heading towards.. who benefits? I know nothing about economics so generally just wandering this.

What I mean is that money just doesn't disappear so everyone, every company and country is poorer. Somewhere along the line someone must be much richer to make everyone else poorer? When I say everyone else I'm talking countries not individuals.

Or is that the point that in fact there isn't many people benifitting and just the money is staying still. Which is why they predict a fast bounce back once restrictions are lifted?

I may sound like an idiot, I just didn't have a clue.

Jeff Bezos. He always gets richer.

Amazon, Deliveroo, Pensioners.

Tesco has made an absolute storm through the pandemic. Amazon too! The fat cats at the top must be lapping it up.

I’ve been getting richer. I’ve saved a ton of money not going on holiday, not buying new clothes, going out to eat.

I use to buy 2 coffees a day at Starbucks or Pret or Costa and now don’t buy any as I work from home and brought a Nespresso.

I have saved £5k since March on luxuries like these.

I can’t stand the masks so avoid shops, buying new clothes feels pointless and I’m not getting through make up or cosmetics like I use to. It all adds up.

Equally me saving is bad for the economy and this I feel guilty for. If they stopped the mask thing I would be more inclined to go back shopping.

Pals of Boris are getting richer seemingly for doing piss all

How are pensioners getting richer? Genuine question as my dm has been getting less pension

If anyone can help me get rich I’d appreciate it!

Saying that I work in a super market and the profits are huge.. Good bonuses for staff for the year etc and lots of pointless works being carried out around the store. (assuming they are offsetting profits for tax purposes there.)

Working from home also saved on travel costs. So I have saved £1k from that alone.

I would say supermarkets and online big businesses ie Amazon etc

Pals of Boris are getting richer seemingly for doing piss all hmm

And this yes

Some consultants in charge if test and trace were (allegedly ) on 7k a day.
Dettol, carex....any manufacturer of anti bacterial stuff is probably doing quite well.
People who make signs, stickers etc. People with shares in zoom. Probably square, izettle etc as more small businesses adopt contactless payment

Lots of Tory donors with property development companies who will benefit from planning changes sneaked through.
MPs who accept backhanded gifts.
JRM
Tory Croneys with newly set up companies being gifted huge contracts without competition in tendering.
Dyson
Weatherspoons
Hobby craft
Amazon
DPD
Ocado
Unilever
Lots of companies. Lots of individuals.

The virus has accelerated many themes which were already in progress. The move away from the high street towards digital shopping.

WFH. Remote doctoring etc.

Plus a big move towards electric vehicles. This will increase if Biden gets elected.

What I mean is that money just doesn't disappear

No, the huge amounts of money the Government is having to spend this year is mainly for the furlough scheme (paying employees out of work), eat out to help out (restaurants), the nhs, nightingale hospitals, Universal Credit, unemployment benefit etc

So the answer to your question is: the money goes to those who need it this year.

And the longer lockdowns are, the more the Government has to spend on compensation
these businesses and employees.

People buying property whilst the stamp duty has been frozen.
Most of the government ( probably)
My son on fares and bus fares ( about 3 k so far I think ) his now wfh.
A few 'disaster capitalists. '
Amazon and online businesses.
Take away shops.

People who sell packaging. People who make thermometers.

Money does disappear. If the stock market crashes, everyone who has invested in it (ie owns shares in a company) has less money than they did before. The thing that makes it hard to understand is that they don't own the money in notes and coins, they own it in share certificates, but those share certificates are worth less than they were before the crash. If there's a global crash then lots of countries can be poorer without anyone really benefiting.

The whole world or whole countries can get poorer, just as the whole world or whole countries can get poorer.

The amount of "money" is irrelevant as the value of money can go down (inflation) or up (deflation). What matters for national/global income is the amount of goods and services being produced. That is much lower than usual at the moment in most places. That's pretty clear. And just because one country's income is lower doesn't mean another's will be higher.

What matters for national/global wealth is whether assets are being built up or run down. That's a more nebulous concept as it's not clear what should count as an asset (how do you deal with knowledge, human capital, brands as well as physical assets). For global wealth only those real assets count, not financial. Financial assets are ultimately just claims to real assets. They determine how those assets are distributed. So a country or individual will get richer or poorer according to what financial assets it has.

Wealth will change much more slowly. I'm not sure whether the world as a whole will actually be running down its assets significantly. But the distribution is changing. When a country runs of trade surplus it acquires claims on the assets of another country and the opposite for a deficit. Germany and China tend to have big surpluses. US and UK tend to have bit deficits. Not sure what the current situation is.

First sentence should obviously have ended with "get richer"!

My plumber says he has done more business than ever this year, especially an increase in people wanting new boilers...is it people spending money on the home because they are not going out, and working from home etc?

China mostly

I don't have a problem with Jeff Bezos getting richer. Without Amazon, I'd have been well and truly fucked during lockdown.

I think potentially people who have not seen a decrease in their income but have spent less (eg not eaten out, not gone to cinema, whatever, wherever they go) are getting richer. Not massively so on a personal level, but it all adds up for the establishments they would have been at.

Supermarkets massively so, particularly whilst mcdonalds, pret, subway and those kind of grab food places were shut, but still now that office workers aren't in city centres.

The world economy is NOT a zero sum game. This is really really important. This is the way people like Trump seem to think. It is very destructive.

The rich. It's always the rich who get richer, the poor never stand a chance.

The IFS says it's higher income groups. Https:www.ifs.org.uk/publications/15146