Oxfam: In 2017, 82 Percent Of World’s Wealth Went To Richest 1 Percent
By Steve Bynum, Jerome McDonnellOxfam: In 2017, 82 Percent Of World’s Wealth Went To Richest 1 Percent
By Steve Bynum, Jerome McDonnellAs the world’s richest people and other global elites gather in Davos, Switzerland for the 2018 World Economic Forum, a new Oxfam report claims in 2017, around 82 percent of the world’s generated wealth went to the richest 1 percent of the global population.
The world’s bottom half saw no increase at all. The report, Reward Work, Not Wealth, also reveals on average, a person became a billionaire every two days.
We’ll talk with Paul O’Brien, Oxfam America’s vice president for Policy and Campaigns, about the numbers and trends detailed in the report. He says, “Dangerous, poorly paid work for the many is supporting extreme wealth for the few.”
Also with us is Jeffrey Winters, director of Northwestern University’s Equality Development and Globalization Studies Program. He’ll talk about how government, the private sector, and other institutions cooperate, directly or indirectly, to benefit the rich rather than level the playing field. Winters is author of the book, Oligarchy.