Talk about the haves and the have-nots. According to a 2017 report by Oxfam International, the gap between rich and poor in the world is widening. The report states that the wealth of the eight richest people (all of them men) in the world is equal to the wealth of the 3.6 billion people who make up the bottom half of the world’s poorest people. According to Oxfam, big business and the ultra-rich are further exacerbating the income inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages, and using their money to influence politicians. Just last year, Oxfam's report said that the top 62 richest people held the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the people on Earth.
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- “It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
- The richest among us are accumulating wealth at such an astonishing rate, Oxfam said, that the world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years.
- Public anger about income inequality has been linked to the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, to the Brexit vote in the UK, and to the election of Donald Trump in the United States. Ironically, the multi-millionaire was able to win by appealing to the country’s disgruntled have-nots.