Richest 1% to own more than the rest Updated 49 minutes ago The world's richest 1% of people will continue to become wealthier, says Oxfam Wealth amassed by the richest 1% will overtake the amount owned by the rest of the people in the world, according to a study by charity group Oxfam. The richest 1% of people will see their share of global wealth increase to more than 50% in 2016 at the current rate of growth. Their wealth increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year, said the group. Oxfam's report warns that the "explosion in inequality" is holding back the fight against global poverty. Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International asked whether people really wanted to live in a world where the 1% own more than the rest of the people combined. "The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," she said in a statement on Monday ahead of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. Rich getting richer Of the remaining 52% of global wealth, almost 46% is owned by the rest of the richest fifth of the world's population, Oxfam said. (Me:so 6% of wealth is owned by 80% of the worlds population) The remaining population account for just 5.5% of global wealth and their average wealth was $3,851 (2,544) per adult in 2014. That compares to an average wealth of $2.7m per adult for the elite 1%. Ofxam said it will push for urgent act Bbc news
Of course the rich get richer.... they didn't get rich by being dummies. All they have to do is keep doing the same, and they will become richer. Meanwhile, those who choose to do nothing but complain ... don't become any richer. Simples.
Any attempt at a discussion on wealth inequality inevitably devolves into shouting about "socialism" and finally someone will angrily claim there is a global NWO Cultural Marxist conspiracy with the agenda of wealth transfer and the destruction of capitalism. And meanwhile, massive wealth transfer continues from the very people who argue passionately against it. The difference is, the wealth is being transferred to the super wealthy elite. Very convenient for them is this idea of a conspiracacy with its nebulous actors and secret socialists hiding in the shadows, scheming to take the spoils of our honest labor and unjustly hand it to the lazy. The seed of an idea is planted and the people do the rest.
You have people who are born on the finish line and act as if they have won the race and offer advice as to why others are not at the top of the pile - you just have to work harder.
Probably because there is no other reason for raising the issue. The whole issue is based around the notion that "he has more than me, therefore it is not fair'. Yep, it's socialism.
Why do some members on this forum keep posting the same rubbish when others have shown that their positions are indeed incorrect or misinformed. This topic was the subject of a debate not 2 weeks or so ago and it was shown that the rich are not getting richer and that the % of assets owned by them has always been about the same. Stop peddling lies and misinformation.
This is a misleading statement. The gap between the richest and the rest was indeed much closer, 215 years ago or more. At that time life expectancy was anywhere from 23 to about 40 years. The industrial revolution and the energy revolution have transformed the lives of billions - life expectancy is now anywhere from about 48 years to the mid 80's, and income per person (excluding Africa) has grown massively for the majority of the population. So we are living longer (even in Africa where average life expectancy is about 60!!) and with the exception of a large part of the African continent, earning significantly more than we used to. But what is most critical to realise is that these increases in health and wealth were not restricted to a few "rich" countries, but have been reaped by the majority of countries, and most of the world's population. This is not to deny that there are large pockets of people living in abject poverty in the world, and the governments of those countries should shoulder the blame, however the scale of global inequality is not staggering as the Oxfam spokeswomen claimed, especially when one considers the development and improvement in health and wealth by all countries in the last 200 years. http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$ma...p_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=;modified=75
It's a newspaper article on a newly released report: https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content...ure-economic-inequality-200114-embargo-en.pdf
OMG SOCIALISM. Nope, sorry. Not socialism. The issue of growing wealth inequality covers things such as: * Health and social cohesion * Social cohesion * Crime * Social, cultural, and civic participation * Utility, economic welfare, and distributive efficiency * Aggregate demand, consumption and debt * Monopolization of labor, consolidation, and competition * Economic incentives * Economic growth * Housing * Aspirational consumption and household risk
