The inequality crisis is worsening, according to a new study by global charity Oxfam, which found that the world’s richest 42 people own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50 percent worldwide.
The annual report showed that 2017 saw the biggest increase in the number of billionaires in history, with new ones created at a rate of one every two days. Their wealth has increased by 13 percent a year on average in the decade from 2006 to 2015.
BREAKING: Richest 1% bagged 82% of wealth created last year – poorest half of world got nothing: https://t.co/CbtfiRU0Gc Our #Davos2018 report is out #EvenItUp #wef18 pic.twitter.com/HV4XvNfO4p
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) January 22, 2018
The fortunes of the super-rich increased by $762 billion in just 12 months to March 2017 which is enough to end extreme poverty seven times over. Nine out of 10 of the world’s 2,043 billionaires were men.
“Eighty two percent of the new wealth created has gone to [the] top 1 percent, while 0 percent has gone to the world’s poorest 50 percent,” said the report.
According to Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, the statistics signal that “something is very wrong with the global economy.”
“The concentration of extreme wealth at the top is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a system that is failing the millions of hard-working people on poverty wages who make our clothes and grow our food,” he said.
Oxfam‘s executive director Winnie Byanyima blamed “tax dodging” as a major cause of global inequality and urged leaders to crack down on tax havens and inject money into education, healthcare and jobs for young people.
“[It] reveals how our economies are rewarding wealth rather than the hard work of millions of people,” Byanyima told Reuters, adding “The few at the top get richer and richer and the millions at the bottom are trapped in poverty wages.”
https://www.rt.com/business/416644-worlds-richest-wealth-oxfam/
This process has been unopposed for decades because Americans have allowed themselves to be distracted and lied to.
Since the eighties Americans have been told that “tax cuts for the rich benefit the poor”, and as the old saying goes, “a fool and his money are soon parted”.
Go watch something stupid on TV until you can no longer afford electricity.
“a fool and his money are soon parted”.
Watched a ‘Highlander’ episode last night, this was stated… “The only difference between a wise man and a fool is that the fool never learns from his mistakes.”
So true.
I’ve broken that concept down into three categories:
1. Fools don’t learn from their mistakes.
2. The average human does learn from his mistakes.
3. The wise man learns from other people’s mistakes.
Unchallenged, JR, except that I believe EVERYONE makes mistakes (some more, some less) at some point/points in their lives, so even a wise man couldn’t be totally mistake-free.
I hope the 1% have a good sense of humor, They’re going to need it.
“According to Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, the statistics signal that “something is very wrong with the global economy.”
BRILLIANT!!!
Rockit syentist.