The Guardian website has published a series of articles regarding charity Oxfam's data on the richest 85 people in the world. The data collected shows that the top 85 of Forbes annual rich list own as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the global population put together. These figures are astounding and give a whole new meaning to the debate regarding the 1 percent (particularly in light of a recent article about how a man worth $8 billion compared the war against the 1 percent to the war against the Jews during World War II: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/25/taxes-rich-holocaust_n_4665676.html).
Of these 85 people, only 7 are women. On one hand, this displays a progressiveness that most people would not have predicted a few decades ago. But on the other hand, this displays another level of inequality, given that women represent 50 percent of the population.
These articles provide a lot of food for thought given that the World Economic Forum is currently debating about what to do about income inequality. The Guardian website also provides an interactive slider to see where these people are concentrated geographically. Definitely worth a look!
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/20/oxfam-85-richest-people-half-of-the-world
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/24/85-richest-people-in-the-world-men-women
No comments:
Post a Comment