The extent to which America’s colossal income gap between the rich and everyone else is on the dramatic rise has managed to garner a considerable amount of press coverage in the past few years, due in large part to the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement of 2011-2012 (a movement that, while short-lived, had a great effect on the national political narrative). But what hasn’t drawn nearly the same amount of attention is just how dyer the circ*mstances are on an international scale. The raw numbers and statistics showing just how much money the world elite have been funneling for themselves at the expense of everyone else will surely astound you!
In advance of theWorld Economic Forum‘s winter Conference (more like a retreat) held annually for the world’s economic elite in Davos, Switzerland from January 22-25,Oxfam Internationalreleased a devastating report that demonstrated in full detail how the world-wide wealth disparity between rich and poor is at an all-time high, and the problem doesn’t seem to be improving. The report, titledWorking for the Few: political capture and economic inequality, contains many startling revelations, not least of which is the fact the 85 richest people on the globe currently own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50% of the entire world population combined. Think about that for a moment.Just a mere 85 people have as much money as the world’s poorest 3½Billion people combined!This incomprehensible trend is on the sharp rise as “the richest undermine democratic processes and drive policies that promote their interests at the expense of everyone else.”
“Since the late 1970s,” the report continues, “tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 of the 30 countries for which data are available, meaning that in many places the rich not only get more money but also pay less tax on it.” Other factors contributing to the more recent swelling of the income gap which fall into the category of “policies successfully imposed by the rich” included “financial deregulation, tax havens and secrecy, anti-competitive business practices, lower tax rates on high incomes and investments and cuts or underinvestment in public services for the majority.” It’s also worth noting that “the percentage of increase in share of income of the richest one percent” from the years 1980-2012 was by far the most extreme in the United States, followed up next by Australia. Likewise, “the share of national income going to the richest one percent” increased exponentially in the U.S. from the years 2008-2012. (In other words, what is this nonsense we’ve been hearing about a “socialist” president again?!?)
For theWorld Economic Forum‘s part, a spokesman said on its behalf that “the chronic gap between the world’s richest and poorest citizens is seen as the risk that is most likely to cause serious damage globally in the coming decades.” Left unsaid in this tepid response, however, is that many of the individuals whose influence theOxfamreport so critically derided make up a large part of theW.E.F.Conference’s attendees.
Oxfam International’s entire report,Working for the Few: political capture and economic inequality, can be read in full by visiting the organization’s website. Some of its highlights include the following:
- 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 past 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 U.S., the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.
Several policy measures have also been suggested as possible remedies to the problem which could, at the very least, prevent the crisis from worsening further:
- Cracking down on financial secrecy and tax dodging;
- Redistributive transfers; and strengthening of social protection schemes;
- Investment in universal access to healthcare and education;
- Progressive taxation;
- Strengthening wage floors and worker rights;
- Removing the barriers to equal rights and opportunities for women.
FAQs
The top 20% of US households own more than 84% of the wealth, and the bottom 40% combine for a paltry 0.3%. The Walton family, for example, has more wealth than 42% of American families combined. We don't want to live like this. In our ideal distribution, the top quintile owns 32% and the bottom two quintiles own 25%.
Why is income inequality so bad? ›
Excessive inequality can erode social cohesion, lead to political polarization, and lower economic growth.
Is income inequality higher than ever? ›
Over the past four decades, there has been a broad trend of rising income inequality across countries. Income inequality has risen in most advanced economies and major emerging economies, which together account for about two-thirds of the world's population and 85 percent of global GDP (Figure 1).
Is wealth inequality better or worse than income inequality in the US? ›
Wealth Inequality in the United States
Liabilities cover what a household owes: a car loan, credit card balance, student loan, mortgage, or any other bill yet to be paid. In the United States, wealth inequality runs even more pronounced than income inequality.
What does Karl Marx say about income inequality? ›
Karl Marx was one of the economists pointing out that exploitation, which leads to inequality, is one of the characteristics of capitalist systems. From his perspective, a fair income and wealth distribution is hardly imaginable in a capitalist society.
What is a famous quote about inequality? ›
4. “As long as poverty, injustice, and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” – in London's Trafalgar Square in 2005. 5. “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
What is the top 1% wealth in the US? ›
You need more money than ever to enter the ranks of the top 1% of the richest Americans. To join the club of the wealthiest citizens in the U.S., you'll need at least $5.8 million, up about 15% up from $5.1 million one year ago, according to global real estate company Knight Frank's 2024 Wealth Report.
Does the US have the worst income inequality? ›
It shows that even lower income quintiles still had sizable gains in income, although not as great as the top quintile. Americans have the highest income inequality in the rich world and over the past 20–30 years Americans have also experienced the greatest increase in income inequality among rich nations.
How bad is America's income inequality? ›
The ratio of the 90th- to 10th-percentile (inequality between the top and bottom of the income distribution) decreased from 13.53 in 2021 to 12.63 in 2022. That means income at the top of the income distribution was 12.63 times higher than income at the bottom, a 6.7% decrease from 2021.
How do you fix income inequality? ›
Income inequality can be reduced directly by decreasing the incomes of the richest or by increasing the incomes of the poorest. Policies focusing on the latter include increasing employment or wages and transferring income.
For 2022, the average wage for working Americans was $61,136. The average wages of those in the top 1 percent of wage earners were $785,968 that year. In the rarefied top 0.1 percent, the average earnings were more than $2.8 million in 2022.
Who has the lowest income inequality? ›
The country with the lowest Gini coefficient is Slovakia, with a Gini coefficient of 0.232. The Gini coefficient of the global income in 2005 has been estimated to be between 0.61 and 0.68 by various sources.
Where is income inequality greatest? ›
The top 10% of the population of the Middle East and Northern Africa, the two most unequal regions in the world, capture roughly 58% of the total national income; in Sub-Saharan Africa, that share amounts to 56% and in Latin America and South and South East Asia to 55%.
Where is income inequality highest? ›
New Orleans has the highest income inequality of major U.S. cities. While the highest earners make 7.8 times as much as the lowest earners in New Orleans, they still earn lower than average ($110,800) when compared to other cities.
Where is wealth inequality the worst? ›
According to the American Community Survey's (ACS) 2019 estimate, Utah is the most equal state when it comes to income, while New York is the most unequal by this measure, with the Gini indices, before taxes and transfer, of 0.4268 and 0.5149, respectively. The uncertainties are not shown in the table.
What is a quote about income equality? ›
- “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” — ...
- “As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality exist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” —
“Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.” “Equality is not in regarding different things similarly, equality is in regarding different things differently.”
What is the quote about poverty and inequality? ›
Our highest deeds come from helping the lowest people. If we agree that God did not create poverty then, in my opinion, it came in to being as a consequence of human rights violations. Why show him the world when he's never going to leave the ghetto?”
What is a quote about class inequality? ›
Quote: Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
