Oxfam brings out 7-point plan to battle inequality.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: In anticipation of this week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the anti-poverty charity Oxfam has published a study showing that — based on current trends– 1% of the world’s population will own more wealth than the other 99% by 2016.
According to Oxfam’s report, last year “the richest 1% of people in the world owned 48% of global wealth, leaving just 52% to be shared between the other 99% of adults on the planet. Almost all of that 52% is owned by those included in the richest 20%, leaving just 5.5% for the remaining 80% of people in the world.”
“The very richest of the top 1%, the billionaires on the Forbes list have seen their wealth accumulate even faster over this period. In 2010, the richest 80 people in the world had a net wealth of [$1.3 trillion]. By 2014, the 80 people who top the Forbes rich list had a collective wealth of [$1.9 trillion]; an increase of [$600 billion in just 4 years, or 50% in nominal terms. Meanwhile, between 2002 and 2010 the total wealth of the poorest half of the world in current U.S. had been increasing more or less at the same rate as that of billionaires; however since 2010, it has been decreasing over this time,” the report continues.
Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International and one of the six co-chairs of this year’s World Economic Forum, told the Guardian that the “increased concentration of wealth seeing since the deep recession of 2008-2009 was dangerous and needed to be reversed.”
In an interview with the British news outlet, she explained: “We want to bring a message from the people in the poorest countries in the world to the forum of the most powerful business and political leaders.”
She added: “The message is that rising inequality is dangerous. It’s bad for growth and it’s bad for governance. We see a concentration of wealth capturing power and leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for.”
Oxfam has a specific, seven point plan that they are calling for governments to adopt in order to battle the rising tide of inequality:
- Clamp down on tax dodging by corporations and rich individuals.
- Invest in universal, free public services such as health and education.
- Share the tax burden fairly, shifting taxation from labor and consumption towards capital and wealth.
- Introduce minimum wages and move towards a living wage for all workers.
- Introduce equal pay legislation and promote economic policies to give women a fair deal.
- Ensure adequate safety-nets for the poorest, including a minimum-income guarantee.
- Agree a global goal to tackle inequality.