print
Oxfam: Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality
by mk

    Given the scale of rising wealth concentrations, opportunity capture and unequal political representation are a serious and worrying trend. For instance:

    • Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.

    • The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.

    • The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.

    • Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.

    • The richest one percent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.

    • In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.