While unemployment and food lines grew during the pandemic, New York billionaires saw their wealth increase by $77bn to a total of $600bn.

Justin Hendrix

Justin Hendrix, cofounder and CEO of Tech Policy Press, a non-profit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy, re-tweeted an article on a group of lawyers and advocates protesting for billionaires and the wealthy to pay higher taxes in the wake of New York facing a Covid-caused financial crisis.

Legislators and grassroots organisations rallied outside the Gov. Cuomo’s Manhattan office, an Invest In Our New York Campaign initiative, to lift the state out of the financial crisis caused by the growing pandemic by closing the loopholes enjoyed by wealthy New Yorkers and raising revenue through updating the tax code.

The progressive leaders also called out the passage for the Invest in Our New York Act, a legislative package that will support the state in its economic recovery, reduce budget deficits, and enable in re-building New York with at least $50bn in revenue. The package will push six bills to create a tax system where the wealthy will pay higher taxes and will also apply new levies on income earned from stocks.

Konstantina Beleli

Konstantina Beleli, an economist, re-tweeted about how the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for a massive, immediate, and round-the-clock effort to vaccinate the public in a TV address. He challenged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ensure that the UK is the first country in the world to vaccinate its entire population against the coronavirus disease.

As England entered into its third phase of the lockdown, Starmer demanded a new contract between the government and the UK citizens that while people stayed home, the government should be able to deliver the vaccines.

Aiming to be the first country in the world to have its entire population vaccinated, the Labour leader stated that millions of vaccines would be arriving in every village, town, street, and at every general practitioner (GP) surgery by the end of the month.

Reports suggest that approximately 1.3 million people across the UK have received one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, among which 23% of those are aged above 80 years.

Catherine Swift

Catherine Swift, an economist, re-tweeted an article comparing Canada with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries on Covid deaths and gross domestic product (GDP) change. The article highlighted that the country was not doing as well as expected when compared to other countries.

The fight against Covid-19 was conducted against several rounds to understand the impact of the health crisis in high-income advanced economies. Data revealed that by the end of the third round, that is, between January and September 2020, Canada reported 246 deaths per million with a GDP change of -4.6%.

The report also found that nine countries including Australia, Denmark, Austria, Germany, South Korea, Finland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Norway had fared better than Canada in fighting the pandemic after the three rounds, reporting a smaller decline in GDP and lower Covid deaths.

Economists are further evaluating a fourth round to compare the performance of countries in their battle against the Covid-19 crisis. Experts believe that countries have initially failed in their border control, mass testing, restrictions, and contract testing strategies to curb cases and deaths, and are now having to impose severe lockdowns while at the same time having to provide monetary and fiscal support to fight the virus spread.

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