RAB Source Entry 1 – Ludovic

Source Entry #1

Part 1 MLA Citation 

Chase Peterson – Withorn. “How Much Money America’s Billionaires Have Made During The Covid-19 Pandemic.” Forbes 30 April 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2021/04/30/american-billionaires-have-gotten-12-trillion-richer-during-the-pandemic/?sh=659bcbfcf557

Part 2 Summary 

The passage, “How Much Money America’s Billionaires Have Made During The Covid-19 Pandemic” by Chase Peterson – Withorn discusses how the pandemic has made US billionaires about 1.2 trillion richer while the average Americans lost their jobs. In one case, the author covers how Amazon’s stock increased during the Covid-19 lockdown in one instance. As Americans were quarantined, they primarily purchased goods online, which increased Amazon’s sales and Jeff Bezos’s wealth as the company’s CEO at the time. Despite more than a year of lockdowns and higher unemployment, the stock market rose during the pandemic. Billionaires who have a large portion of their wealth invested in individual companies or portfolios of investments like private equity and hedge funds that average Americans do not have significantly increased their investments. Peterson – Withorn also pointed out when the pandemic began, wealthy people of all income levels became wealthy. Numerous well-known figures such as Kim Kardashian, Tyler Perry, have become billionaires, including those who invented cryptocurrencies and financed pharmaceutical companies. 

Part 3A: Reflection 

I genuinely believed that the wealthy increased their net worth during the pandemic. As I saw the stock market soared to the roof on my robinhood account I was also convinced. But I have a few questions about his information. He addresses the billionaire financial spike based on the mass internet consumers during the pandemic, leading to Amazon, Tesla, and SpaceX stocks to increase in value. I would ask Peterson Withorn how tech companies revenue increased while millions of Americans were unemployed during the pandemic. 

Part 4 Rhetorical Analysis 

Chase Peterson – Withorn covers the most successful entrepreneurs doing the biggest deals on the planet. As deputy wealth editor, his credibility helped put together the Forbes 400 and World’s Billionaires lists and oversee Forbes’ coverage of billionaires. The article is credible since  it was published in Forbes magazine. The author’s writing style is factual, with reliable analysis of market growth during the pandemic. His intended audience is American citizens and economic analyzers. The genre of the article is effective, it gives a clear understanding of how each billionaire such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bdezos and new billionaires, Kim Kardashian and Tyler Perry increased their wealth. 

Part 5 Notable Quotes 

“U.S. billionaires have gotten about $1.2 trillion richer during the pandemic.” (Chase 1). 

“Billionaires aren’t just richer since the pandemic began, there are also more of them. A record 493 new faces joined Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list this year—roughly one new billionaire every 17 hours between March 2020 and March 2021.” (Chase 2). 

“The S&P 500 climbed by 0.68% on Thursday, following the speech. American billionaire wealth, meanwhile, rose by nearly 5%—making the country’s billionaires a collective $200 billion richer in a single day.” (Chase 3).