While inflation gulps the wages of at least 1.7 billion workers, billionaires see their fortune increase by $2.7 billion on a daily basis.
According to a new report from global poverty charity Oxfam, two-thirds of the entire new wealth created globally has been amassed by the richest 1% of people in the past two years. The report mentions the alarming rate of multiple crises, including hunger, devastating economies, and the negative effect of the coronavirus, which many are still struggling with. While poverty has increased for the first time in 25 years, the richest amassed more wealth, and corporate revenues hit their peaks.
Oxfam Issues Report on World’s Richest Amassing Most Wealth
In addition to showing the alarming inequality in the world, the report also explained the unprecedented “polycrisis.” A total of $42 trillion in new wealth has been created since 2020. However, 63%, which equals about $26 trillion, has been acquired by the 1% ultra-rich in the world. While the ultra-rich take up two-thirds of all the new wealth in the world, the bottom 99% have to settle for the remnants. This means that 99% of the world’s population was left with $16 trillion of $42 trillion in new wealth. The study reveals:
“A billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million for every $1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent.”
While inflation gulps the wages of at least 1.7 billion workers, billionaires see their fortune increase by $2.7 billion on a daily basis. At the same time, the corporate space, including food and energy companies, recorded an X2 jump in their profits last year. Wealthy shareholders received $257 billion from these companies in the same year. The global poverty charity estimates more than 800 people lived in abject poverty without food or water.
Oxfam gathered data from Forbes Billionaires List, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, and Credit Suisse for information on the changes to the wealth of the richest. The report says billionaires’ wealth has surged by trillions of dollars more than before the pandemic. This set of people profited from the pandemic as many developed countries pumped money into the economy to salvage the situation.
Should Government Tax the Ultra-Rich More?
As a solution, Oxfam is proposing that the government tax the 1% richest. The report explains that “…as a starting point, the world should aim to halve the wealth and number of billionaires between now and 2030, both by increasing taxes on the top 1% and adopting other billionaire-busting policies. This would bring billionaire wealth and numbers back to where they were just a decade ago in 2012. This eventual aim should be to further, and to abolish billionaires altogether, as part of a fairer, more rational distribution of the world’s wealth.”
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