A year and a half of economic turmoil has led to a massive redistribution of wealth from the middle and working class to the wealthiest segments of the population, a process the beneficiaries have ironically dubbed “the great reset” of society
American billionaires have grown 55% richer since the pandemic began. Ultra-soft monetary policy and unchecked government spending have ensured a sharp rise in the value of financial assets and real estate – which has made the rich even richer.
The Fed’s balance sheet has doubled since 2019 – from 4 trillion to 8 trillion. The money supply of the dollar is increasing rapidly, inflation is at a 13-year high. It is those living paycheck to paycheck who suffer, as inflation eats into their savings.
Earlier this year, America was rocked by the news that Bill Gates had suddenly become the country’s biggest landowner. He’s quietly buying up farmland and already owns land in 19 states. The total area of his holdings exceeds 268,000 acres – or 1,080 km². Gates uses a simple and primitive scheme: he offers desperate farmers an above-market price.
Large hedge funds operate in the same way. One of them, BlackRock, is now buying up real estate massively in big cities, offering developers a 20-50% premium to outbid ordinary buyers. It is forming entire neighbourhoods where all the houses are owned solely by it and rented out.
BlackRock is one of the closest investment companies to the US government. Last year the Fed made it its key partner in bond-buying programmes. BlackRock is a direct beneficiary of the Fed’s policy and can crush any competitors at the expense of such state support.
Against the backdrop of wild inflation in the real estate market, the liberal press is already in full force urging many Americans to accept the fact that they will never become homeowners. And suggest they become a nation of tenants who own nothing and decide nothing.
A couple of years ago at the Davos Forum the formula for such a future was already voiced: “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy. It is true that such a “Great Reset”, with more and more wealth accumulated in the hands of the elites at the expense of the state and the rest of the population deprived of even the opportunity to own real property, will only lead to a societal explosion.
Malek Dudakov