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Covid

Who is getting richer?

89 replies

Forgetmenot157 · 29/10/2020 19:47

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.

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110APiccadilly · 29/10/2020 20:32

Personally I think it's whoever makes the distancing floor stickers.

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echt · 29/10/2020 20:32

StatisticalSense would you care to show how pensioners are getting richer?

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Forgetmenot157 · 29/10/2020 20:35

Thank you all, it's very interesting. I actually just read that an estimated 92% of the world's money is digital and as physical cash, it doesn't exist. Just seems crazy.

So are most countries just assets rich and cash poor? Are there any countries that are cash rich aswell? I. E no debt at all.

Again sorry if I seem ditsy, I have just never really thought about it properly.

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Forgetmenot157 · 29/10/2020 20:40

Also with the country just borrowing more from the bank of England, will there ever be a point where the BoE just says no? Is the money we are borrowing actually owned by the bank? I'm guessing so as isn't that what lead to hyper inflation in Germany after the war? Making more money that didn't really exist?

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SquishySquirmy · 29/10/2020 20:41

Some people will certainly be doing well out of this.

However it is not the case that if some people get poorer, others get richer by the same amount. There is not a fixed, finite amount of wealth in the world.
The net wealth in the world can increase (as it does normally, with innovation and discovery and people making things and growing things) or it can decrease.
This disaster will have made the world as a whole poorer, but there will still be a few getting richer.

As a pp said, it is not a zero sum game.

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Sedih · 29/10/2020 20:41

Norway is cash rich and asset rich. It’s very well managed financially

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cyclingmad · 29/10/2020 20:44

Plenty of gains made in pharma shares

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DianaT1969 · 29/10/2020 20:54

An extra 30 friends of Boris got a golden welcome to the house of lords this year. That's 800+ people in there now claiming around £3-5k per month of public money.
Any company that set up quickly (Tory friends) to put massive planters on the roads to create 'Low' Traffic Neighbourhoods. I say low with sarcasm, as the vehicles are just idling and polluting on nearby can congested streets instead now.

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Forgetmenot157 · 29/10/2020 20:55

@SquishySquirmy

Some people will certainly be doing well out of this.

However it is not the case that if some people get poorer, others get richer by the same amount. There is not a fixed, finite amount of wealth in the world.
The net wealth in the world can increase (as it does normally, with innovation and discovery and people making things and growing things) or it can decrease.
This disaster will have made the world as a whole poorer, but there will still be a few getting richer.

As a pp said, it is not a zero sum game.

That's a good way of putting it simply... I can't believe we are not forced to take a GCSE in economics... Even if its a half one like RE.
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MereDintofPandiculation · 29/10/2020 20:59

Billionaires have increased their wealth by 27% during the pandemic
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54446285

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Christmasfairy2020 · 29/10/2020 21:07

Tbh I had a pay rise of 2 % this month. Nurse in a private company - we have saved.money on not hiring rooms etc. The company if a billion pound company overall and i work for a franchise. They from my understanding helped the nhs with staff the first time round. We have worked remotely telephoning patients (who prefer it) also zoom groups etc which again they prefer.

Our pay review was due in march and happened in October and was back dated to this month :)

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IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 29/10/2020 21:13

I don’t begrudge Amazon or the supermarkets making extra. Amazon have always been good and never let us down and managed to get so much from them when things were really bad. They employed extra drivers and warehouse staff too iirc so created jobs.

I think tradesmen/gardeners have done well judging by how it takes to book one now.

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Stellaris22 · 29/10/2020 21:15

Jeff Bezos. And it's exactly why I refuse to use any Amazon service, horrible man.

There are alternatives to Amazon when buying online.

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StatisticalSense · 29/10/2020 21:48

@echt
The joke that is the triple lock that guarantees pensioners an above inflation earnings rise whatever happens to the economy. And that's before considering the money saved by not going on cruises, to the bingo etc.

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Elcantador · 29/10/2020 21:55

Businesses selling spare parts for gym maschines. DP works in a gym and the sanitizing spray fucks up certain parts of the equipment so they are waiting on new parts. Supplier said it is an issue which is affecting alot of gyms in the country, demand and waiting list for those particular parts is huge.

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SheepandCow · 29/10/2020 21:59

@StatisticalSense

Amazon, Deliveroo, Pensioners.

How do pensioners benefit? Confused
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SheepandCow · 29/10/2020 22:05

[quote StatisticalSense]@echt
The joke that is the triple lock that guarantees pensioners an above inflation earnings rise whatever happens to the economy. And that's before considering the money saved by not going on cruises, to the bingo etc.[/quote]
Yeh. All the pensioners are one homogeneous group. All the same. All of them.

Hang on - actually, no they're not.

Many are struggling financially. Equally there are millionaires under 30.

Fewer pensioners can afford cruises than can. And they're the generation who, unlike younger people, didn't jet off on regular foreign holidays.

Every generation is diverse.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/18/elderly-poverty-risen-fivefold-since-80s-pensions

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CountFosco · 29/10/2020 22:18

I have more cash in my pocket due to not spending on petrol, clothes, days out, children's activities. But my stocks and shares and pension are in a dismal state. At least DH and I are in secure jobs (I'm in Pharma, we are doing very well at the moment and recruiting like crazy) so we're spending on the house until we get hit by the tax rises. Depending how this winter goes I might go back to FT work (PT was a lifesaver during lockdown).

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Saratustra78 · 29/10/2020 22:30

E-commerce companies obviously (Amazon etc), but also all the companies working around them: logistics, distribution centres, supply chain etc. Anything related to shopping from a distance!

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blueangel19 · 29/10/2020 22:40

Me! I have use the lockdown to educate myself on how to get richer. I have saved quite a bit because I am being much careful and with goals towards investment.

I also feel like without Amazon lockdown would have much worse so happy for then to make money.

I wonder how Uber is doing?

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Beecham · 29/10/2020 22:47

It's shocking that billionaires have got so much richer this year. How do they even sleep at night?

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idril · 29/10/2020 22:48

Money doesn't disappear but the value of assets, companies etc reduces.

The economy has shrunk so nobody is necessarily getting richer (although some people will be as resources are shifted around).

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grassisjeweled · 29/10/2020 22:49

Tupperware.

Up 2000% apparently

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areyoubeingserviced · 29/10/2020 22:50

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

I don’t begrudge Amazon or the supermarkets making extra. Amazon have always been good and never let us down and managed to get so much from them when things were really bad. They employed extra drivers and warehouse staff too iirc so created jobs.

I think tradesmen/gardeners have done well judging by how it takes to book one now.

Agree about tradesmen
I can’t get an electrician out at the moment.

As others have said. It’s the high income earners who are doing well. They are still getting paid great salaries . However, they are spending less. They are buying property/
Investing money in shares/ stocks ( long term)
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notdawn · 29/10/2020 22:52

Why?

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