According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of the world will be wealthier than the entirety of the other 99% combined by next year. Winnie Byanyima will be co-chairing the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, and plans to call for urgent action about this inequality. "Do we really want to live in a world where the 1% own more than the rest of us combined?" This year, the rest of the 99% of the world's population own 52% of the wealth in the world, however, even of that 52%, 46% is in the hands of the richest 20% of that group. These people are valued at $2.7 million on average, while the average for other adults is only $3,800. The President is expected to address the issue in his State of the Union speech.
Many parallels can be drawn between these numbers and the world of the late 19th Century, when the "Captains of Industry" controlled an astounding amount of wealth, especially compared to the populace and working men. This due to the questionable business practices and even more questionable (and almost incomparably corrupt) government oversight. This article is important because it highlights, in stark terms, this growing problem of wealth inequality, and hopefully will open some eyes on the issue. The inclusion of statistics and comparisons do a lot to add to the impact of the piece and show just how bad the situation has gotten.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/wealth-inequality/index.html
I'm a little disappointed that, despite all the things that we teach and try to spread these days about helping others and sharing and giving to the poor, this is still happening.
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