The wealthiest grow wealthier as low-paying jobs struggle to rebound from the pandemic

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During the pandemic, the net worth of billionaires in the United States has increased by $1.1 trillion. The wealth of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who became the richest person in the world this month, has grown more than 600%.
From April to June last year, Americans’ household wealth grew 7%, according to Federal Reserve data released last week. But that figure is a testament to growing economic inequality, as top-paying jobs are recovering more quickly than the lowest-paying jobs, which are still 16% below what they were before the pandemic.
The wealthiest 10% of Americans account for more than two-thirds of the wealth in the United States, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve.

Salt Lake City’s Civilian Review Board ruled that a police officer used excessive force when commanding a K-9 dog to attack a teenager. Last fall, the city suspended the department’s K-9 program after the Salt Lake Tribune published bodycam video of an officer ordering his dog to bite a Black man. The biting victim was on his knees with his hands in the air at the time of the attack. (Go deeper: Check out last year’s investigation into police dogs from The Marshall Project, AL.com, IndyStar and the Invisible Institute.)
Last year, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt ordered $2 million worth of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that Donald Trump and others pushed as a covid treatment without evidence that it actually worked. In June, the Food and Drug Administration reversed its approval for the drug to be used to treat covid patients, a decision that came several months after the agency warned the drug causes heart rhythm issues in coronavirus patients. Now Oklahoma aims to return its stockpile to a pharmaceutical wholesaler in California, The Frontier reported.

President Joe Biden’s first executive orders: What do they do, and how do they address the pandemic?
Is Biden’s vaccine plan robust enough?
Amazon wants to help with vaccine distribution. What has the company offered, and how could it take advantage of the situation?
We spoke with reporter Emma Castleberry, who recently wrote for Big If True about how workforce shortages in the health care industry have worsened during the pandemic.

Emma’s story was entirely funded by our readers. Give what you can or become a monthly donor to support our work.

Thank you for reading Hard Reset. Send me feedback, questions and tips: bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.

– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, Big If True