In Austria this might be definately the tendency. Even though I can't back it up with numbers.
The middle class seems to be disappearing.
Whenever there was money to spend on C19 (and there was a lot), it went through/in the pockets of the elite close to the gov.
e.g. Austria introduced mandatory FFP2 masks. Insiders had been informed prior to the mandate and got them selves in a good position to make some huge profits.
Also the money to help people and business over the lockdowns mostly went into pockets of H&M, Benko, Austrian Airlines and other big business. Before distributing this money, gov created a 'private company', which acted like a blackbox: The money went in on one side, and came out the other, but nobody could really know where it all went...
Thankyou for sharing this information. It is likely that each country has it's own story of money being 'misused' or simply vanishing in large amounts. Any sources you can provide for these claims will be helpful.
Here are two articles about ffp2 mask scandals in austria. If you look closely, you can get an idea of the amount of corruption and transfer of taxmoney/wealth.
The source is Der Standard, a mainstream newspaper with strong financial backing from the government.
The articles are in german; if you need more translation after trying autotranslate, drop me a line.
from march 2021
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000125011151/hygiene-austria-wie-aus-einem-zufallsfund-ein-maskenskandal-wurde
from january 2022
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000132830807/brisante-telefonate-in-causa-rund-um-ffp2-masken-deal-abgehoert