that’s not entirely correct.

first, the rich are not a monolith. some will lose some will gain, even when stock markets crash. the key is having advance knowledge of what’s going to happen before anyone else does. ie, insider advantage. when certain oligarchs know what’s coming, they restructure their wealth to give them protection and make money both on the downturn and the upswing. it’s possible what we’re seeing now is cabals of certain ultra rich vying for long term control of markets. whoever comes out of the recession owning the most, wins.

second, stocks are just part of the economy, they aren’t the entire economy. wannabe millionaires think stocks are how you become ultra powerful rich (think Warren Buffett). however traditionally, S-tier capitalists (think Andrew Carnegie) become wealthy and stay wealthy forever by gaining ownership of productive real resources… they will use the downturn to purchase land and real estate and mines and factories, which must be sold by companies who are trying to regain profitability by selling off assets during a stock crash.

wealth is historically generated by making people pay you to use productive resources you own (factories, skyscrapers, mines, forests, agricultural land, real estate you rent/lease) - these are not as impacted long term by tumbles in stock prices. because people will always need minerals, always need food, always need factories to make things, and always need a roof over their heads. they won’t always need dividends from Apple stocks.

But where do you think the money in your pension fund lies? Even this isn’t making a dent on the elite.

Those poor millionare ceos nobody thinks about them!

/s