The wealth of the richest 80 people in the world doubled in cash terms between 2009 and last year, while the wealth of those in the bottom half fell in that time. In 2010, for example, it took 388 billionaires to equal the wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population; now it’s just 80 billionaires.
Business leaders and politicians land in the posh Alpine town of Davos, Switzerland, this week where global inequality and what to do about it will dominate discussions.
They meet as a new Oxfam report says that the richest 80 people in the world now have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion of the global population.
It’s not the only study flagging the dangers of the growing wealth gap; global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have repeatedly warned that inequality threatens not just the poor, but social cohesion and economic growth as a whole.
“The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering,” Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement. “Despite the issue shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast.”
In the United States, President Barack Obama will give his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday January 20 2015 (tonight), where he is expected to address inequality – specifically wealth inequality – proposing a plan to raise $320-billion (U.S.) in the next decade by hiking capital-gains tax for wealthy Americans and closing loopholes to help finance tax cuts for the middle class.
The proposals have little chance of passing, given the Republican party’s control of Congress.
Source: The Globe
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