Study used cherry picked data to prove a false conclusion

Study used cherry picked data to prove a false conclusion

A widely publicized “study” claimed that billionaires increased their net worth by $434 billion due to the pandemic.

The “study”, however, cherry picked the start date to remove their losses and show only their gains. Once their losses are included in the tally, they lost money like everyone else.

From a propaganda perspective, this was very effective at shaping public opinion that billionaires are all evil people. It was, however, a fake study with cherry picked data, and the media morons fell for it citing the activist organizations as if they were authorities (the “appeal to authority” approach). The message further inflames emotions – how dare they make money while 1 in 4 have been laid off from work. The study is so poorly done that it is basically a lie. The effect is to further the perpetual culture of outrage crowd.

Source: No, America’s billionaires didn’t get $434 billion richer during the pandemic — quite the opposite, in fact – MarketWatch

The “study” that claimed billionaires made hundreds of billions of dollars due to the pandemic arbitrarily chose March 18th (the long vertical line, below) as the starting point rather than choosing the market’s peak in February. Thus, the “study” removed their losses and then measured only their growth afterwards. A completely bogus “Study” designed to influence public opinion. The selection of March 18th was arbitrary:

“Between March 18—the rough start date of the pandemic shutdown, when most federal and state economic restrictions were in place—and May 19, the total net worth of the 600-plus U.S. billionaires jumped by $434 billion or 15%, based on the group’s analysis of Forbes data. The billionaires’ worth rose from $2.948 trillion to $3.382 trillion.”

In fact, lots and lots of investors were watching the pandemic play out as far back as the end of January (see the actions of US Congressional members unloading stock based on secret intelligence briefings) and by February, many investors were taking actions to reduce their investment risk. Hence, the market valuations began falling in February. This is not surprising at all. In fact, the first week of March I was canceling several upcoming trips from March into July, well aware of what was about to transpire.

Reality

Most billionaires (with some exceptions) lost money during the pandemic – up to now.

The Americans for Tax Fairness should be put on the list of organizations having no credibility what so ever and their future output should be permanently ignored.

This garbage fake study is akin to the news reports that proclaim a large natural disaster will be good for the economy due to the funds spent on rebuilding. That is a bogus assertion that ignores the destruction of wealth prior to rebuilding. This fake economic rebound occurs because their economic statistics measure only the recovery and ignore the initial destruction.

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