Tremendous Inequality: 8 Men are as Rich as Half the World's Population

by Amna El Tawil
 
It is a well-known fact that the gap between those super-rich individuals and the poorest people is incredibly deep. According to the analysis by Oxfam eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people.
 
Oxfam is an international confederation of 18 non-governmental organizations working with partners in over 90 countries to end the injustices that cause poverty.
 
The gap between the richest and the poorest is even greater than it was a year ago. Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International said: “It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when one in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day. Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.”
 
Oxfam used Forbes’ billionaire’s list that was last published in March 2016 to make its headline claim. Based on this list, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, is the richest man on the planet with a net worth of staggering $75 billion.
 
Other billionaires include:
 

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  • Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of fashion house Inditex
  • Warren Buffet, financier
  • Carlos Slim, Helu, Mexican business magnate
  • Jeff Bezos, Amazon boss
  • Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder
  • Larry Ellison Oracle founder
  • Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York

 
After the analysis showed the incredible gap between the rich and the poor, Oxfam outlined some measures that can help reduce the inequality.
 
These measures include higher taxes on wealth and income, greater cooperation among governments on ensuring workers are paid decently and the rich do not dodge their taxes, billionaires and business leaders should pay their fair share of taxes and a living wage to employees.
 
Oxfam’s policy adviser, Max Lawson said billionaires should do the right thing and follow Bill Gate’s advice to pay their taxes instead of avoiding them.


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2 thoughts on “Tremendous Inequality: 8 Men are as Rich as Half the World's Population”

  1. People should be organized such that ONE “leader” handles distribution of “excess wealth” for 3,600 people. One million people will be selected. Each will then distribute 10x a person’s annual income to those “willing” to stand on line. Of course, if it takes one half minute to handle the distribution of these millions, it’ll take 30 hours to distribute the funds to each of the 3,600 people. Of course, it could be done in 6 shifts of 5 hours each–that would make the most sense.
    All the richest 200 billionaires–not just eight–would give up just 18 percent of their total wealth to this project. I would accept a .001 percent commission to oversee this project and would have to get 1,000 people to work with me on this. Ok, I’m ready to be hired. To deposit this 4 trillion dollars in my bank account, please call me so I can pick it up sometime.

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  2. We often see graphs with rising trendlines about which we do not hesitate to say, “This is not sustainable.” When do we say the same about wealth inequality? Where does this trendline end, with ONE man owning the entire Earth and all of its human inhabitants? Where do we draw the line and say “no more!”? Neither our moral codes nor our laws have been designed to deal with this human male hardwiring that springs from material wealth equating to the number of children a man can put his genes into the next generation through multiple wives. Should we let our planet be ruled by an impulse dating back to cave men? And how many “refugees” do we want to import whose religion 100% believes in exactly this kind of cave man thinking?

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