Nothing exceeds like Excess. So is the case with our world economy right now. As one part becomes richer and richer, the other part poorer and poorer, the economy is exceedingly progressing into a downward spiral. This has been proven by the recent findings of Oxfam, an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. According to the organization and the World Economic Forum (WEF), the threat of economic destabilization and de-globalization is real.
Unsurprisingly, but still astonishingly, the rate at which we see the rich accumulating wealth is almost the same at which the poor are becoming poorer. An estimate shows that we may well have a trillionaire in 25 years while every 1 in 10 survives on less than $2 per day. The startling difference is a cause of major concern as it shows a twisted sharing of the world’s wealth.
The report comes just before the week long World Economic Forum in Davos which shows that the top 8 of the richest carry the same amount, $426 billion, as that of the 3.6 billion poorest on the planet. The survey was also undertaken last year where the statistics showed that 62 people equaled the wealth of half the population but as the realities of the poor of China and India came into picture, the number dropped to 8. According to Oxfam, these numbers also help understand why Brexit and President Trump came to occur. “From Brexit to the success of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a worrying rise in racism and the widespread disillusionment with mainstream politics, there are increasing signs that more and more people in rich countries are no longer willing to tolerate the status quo,” the report said.
The top eight include Bill Gates (Microsoft), Amancio Ortea (Zara), Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathway), Carlos Slim Helú (Grupo Carso) Jeff Bezos (amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Larry Ellison, (Oracle) and Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg) that collectively form the top layer of aristocrats holding the cards in their favour.
Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB “While one in nine people on the planet will go to bed hungry tonight, a small handful of billionaires have so much wealth they would need several lifetimes to spend it. The fact that a super-rich elite are able to prosper at the expense of the rest of us at home and overseas shows how warped our economy has become.”
Although Oxfam makes an impactful point, one thing to keep in mind is that these people might not have climbed to the top at the expense of others. For instance, Bill gates is the richest man on Earth as well as the most generous. He has donated about 30 billion dollars through his foundation. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged to donate 99% of their income while Warren Buffet just gave away 2.9 Billion dollars to charity. So there is still hope but we hope that it takes over before the crisis does.
