World’s first trillionaire may emerge in 10 years, disparity report finds

[Windwaver]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/16/oxfam-wealth-inequality-davos/

The world could have its first trillionaire within 10 years if current inequality trends continue, antipoverty group Oxfam International said in a report published Monday, reflecting the increasing gap between the world’s wealthy and poor.

The report, titled “Inequality Inc.,” was released the same day as the start of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Its authors say the world is living through a “decade of division,” pointing out that since 2019, the world’s five wealthiest people have almost doubled their wealth, while nearly 5 billion people have become poorer.

Using data from Forbes, the report’s authors calculated that the combined wealth of those five men — Tesla CEO Elon Musk; Bernard Arnault and his family, who own luxury goods group LVMH; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Oracle founder Larry Ellison; and investor Warren Buffett — increased from $453 billion in 2019 to $869 billion as of November 2023. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In their methodology, the authors wrote that if that growth trajectory continues, Musk — the world’s richest person, according to Forbes — is projected to become a trillionaire in fewer than nine years, though they noted that the estimate is subject to uncertainty.

“If each of the five wealthiest men were to spend a million dollars daily, they would take 476 years to exhaust their combined wealth,” Oxfam’s authors wrote.

Representatives for these individuals could not immediately be reached late Monday.

But, Oxfam said, for the world’s poorest people — who are more likely to be women and marginalized groups in every society — “daily life has become more brutal” since 2019. It pointed to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as “escalating conflict, the acceleration of the climate crisis and surging costs of living.”

The report also said that globally, men own $105 trillion more than women — a difference in wealth equivalent to more than four times the size of the U.S. economy.

Oxfam urged governments worldwide to adopt caps on CEO salaries, along with permanent taxes on wealth and excess profits.

[Windwaver]

https://www.voanews.com/a/oxfam-report-growing-inequality-could-see-world-s-first-trillionaire-/7441120.html

Oxfam Report: Growing Inequality Could See World’s First Trillionaire

LONDON — 

As hundreds of world leaders and chief executives headed to the Swiss ski resort of Davos Monday for this year’s five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Oxfam is warning of a growing gulf of inequality fueled by corporate power.

“The world’s richest five men have more than doubled their fortunes this decade since 2020 … while nearly 5 billion people have been made poorer. At current rates, the world will see its first trillionaire within a decade, while it will take over two centuries to end poverty,” said Nabil Ahmed of Oxfam America

Decade of division

The report by Oxfam says the global economy has entered a new era of widening inequality.

“We are living through what appears to be the start of a decade of division: In just three years, we have experienced a global pandemic, war, a cost-of-living crisis and climate breakdown. Each crisis has widened the gulf — not so much between the rich and people living in poverty, but between an oligarchic few and the vast majority,” the report says.

The charity argues that the ultra-rich are using their corporate power to increase the wealth of the few.

“Corporations are driving inequality through squeezing workers, for example, dodging taxes — corporations aren’t paying the rates that smaller businesses are, that ordinary folks are; through privatizing the state — really we’ve seen in so many countries the sell-off of what is public to the state; and also plundering the planet,” Oxfam’s Ahmed told VOA.

Many of the world’s richest executives argue that their companies generate taxes and jobs.

Conflict

The Davos summit is being overshadowed by wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

A group of artists from Kyiv have created an exhibition in the center of Davos that showcases everyday life in Ukraine, including videos and images of the suffering caused by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

“We want the world to understand that the war in Ukraine is ongoing,” said exhibition curator Bjorn Geldhof. “Ukraine needs help, Ukraine needs all [the] support and all [the] weapons it can get to be victorious, not just because this is defense of Europe’s freedom, because it is defense of life itself. And this is one of the things you can see in this exhibition,” he told Reuters news agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the summit later in the week amid speculation that he could meet China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang, a key ally of Moscow.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani are also at Davos and are expected to discuss Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron are among other world leaders heading to Davos.

Economy

The summit meeting will address core economic issues including high global debt and interest rates, along with new challenges and opportunities — especially artificial intelligence, or AI.

“[AI] has huge transformative potential, akin to what the steam engine did for physical labor: It took loads off the backs of humans, off the backs of the animals that we used to have plow our fields and put it onto machinery. I think that's a good analogy to what these large language models are going to do to intellectual labor,” said Aiden Gomez, CEO of the Canadian AI company Cohere, who is attending the summit in Davos.

"I do want to emphasize that we may be over indexing on fear at the moment, which is very natural for humanity. I think it's important to think about the opportunities for good. And it's not spoken about enough,” Gomez told The Associated Press.

Critics argue the Davos summit is an undemocratic get-together for the global elite. Hundreds of protesters, many dressed in clown outfits, staged a demonstration outside the summit venue Sunday, ahead of the WEF meeting.

“We here are the voice for so many people who can't be here today. It's really important we stand here for so many people who are suffering from the decisions of these people," said Gianna Catrina, a spokesperson for the “Strike WEF” protest group.

Supporters of the Davos summit say that dialogue among the world’s political and business leaders is vital in an increasingly fractious and uncertain world.

[Windwaver]

https://www.reuters.com/business/davos-crowd-gathers-governments-urged-rein-billionaire-class-2024-01-15/

As Davos crowd gathers, governments urged to rein in 'billionaire class'

Jan 15 (Reuters) - The combined fortunes of the world's five richest men have more than doubled to $869 billion since 2020 while five billion people have been made poorer, anti-poverty group Oxfam said.

An Oxfam report, which comes as business elites gather this week for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, found that a billionaire is now either running, or is the main shareholder of, 7 out of 10 of the world's biggest companies.

Oxfam called on Monday for governments to rein in corporate power by breaking up monopolies; instituting taxes on excess profit and wealth; and promoting alternatives to shareholder control such as forms of employee ownership.

It estimated that 148 top corporations made $1.8 trillion in profits, 52 percent up on 3-year average, allowing hefty pay-outs to shareholders even as millions of workers faced a cost of living crisis as inflation led to wage cuts in real terms.

"This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else," said Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

The Davos events were launched to champion "stakeholder capitalism", which the WEF says defines a corporation as being not just about maximising profits but fulfilling "human and societal aspirations as part of the broader social system".

Oxfam said its report, based on data sources ranging from the International Labour Organization and World Bank to the Forbes annual rich list, showed such aspirations were far from being fulfilled.

"What we know for sure is that today's extreme system of shareholder capitalism, which puts ever-increasing returns to rich shareholders above all other objectives, is driving inequality," said Max Lawson, its Head of Inequality Policy.

The inflation-adjusted surge in wealth of the top five billionaires was driven by strong gains in the assets of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and investor Warren Buffett.

Meanwhile nearly 800 million workers saw their wages over the past two years fail to keep up with inflation, resulting on average in the equivalent of 25 days of lost annual income per worker, according to Oxfam's analysis.

Of the world's 1,600 largest corporations, just 0.4% of them have publicly committed to paying workers a living wage and to supporting a living wage in their value chains, the study found.

[Windwaver]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/josiecox/2024/01/14/oxfam-inequality-report-highlights-wealth-divide-as-davos-wef-begins/

Highlights Wealth Divide As Davos WEF Begins

The world’s five richest men have seen their fortunes more than double since 2020, while over the same period five billion people have become poorer, according to new research published by Oxfam.

The report, released on the first day of the annual World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland—a prominent gathering of billionaires—stipulates that the net worth of the world’s five richest individuals, all men, has shot up from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020. That is a rate equivalent to about $14 million per hour.

According to Forbes billionaire list, from which Oxfam derived its calculations, Elon Musk currently tops the ranks of the world’s wealthiest, followed by Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg.

“We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom,” Oxfam International interim executive director, Amitabh Behar, wrote in the report. “This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” he added.

The research conducted by Oxfam shows that while rich countries in the Global North represent just 21 percent of the world’s population, they hold 69 percent of global wealth and are home to 74 percent of the world’s billionaire wealth. And share ownership overwhelmingly benefits the richest: the wealthiest 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets.

Oxfam, the British-founded confederation of charitable organizations which is dedicated to alleviating global poverty, annually publishes an inequality report to mark the start of the Davos WEF and to underscore the gaping divide between the rich and poor. But this year’s report especially highlights the extent to which the disparity is growing at a rapid clip. Since 2020, billionaires’ wealth has increased three times faster than the rate of inflation, according to Oxfam. Meanwhile, the wages of nearly 800 million workers have failed to keep pace with inflation, meaning that these individuals have effectively collectively lost $1.5 trillion over the last two years.

In the U.S., according to the organization, billionaires are 46 percent, or $1.6 trillion, richer than they were in 2020, with the three richest US billionaires—Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Ellison—having increased their wealth by 84 percent.

“The United States is home to the most billionaires on earth, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, names that have become synonymous with obscene wealth. But it is also home to tens of millions of people who face unnecessary hardship every day as a result of despicably low wages, an unfair tax code, and meager public services, to name a few,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America. “We must stop normalizing extreme inequality and take deliberate action to prevent the ultra-wealthy and the corporations they control from tightening their stranglehold on our politics and economy.”

According to Oxfam’s projections, at current rates of progress it will take 230 years to end poverty, but the world will have its first trillionaire in a decade.

One of the key findings in the report is that women are still significantly overrepresented among the poorest in society.

Globally, men own about $105 trillion more wealth than women which represents a difference in wealth equivalent to more than four times the size of the entire U.S. economy. In 2019, according to Oxfam, women earned just 51 cents for every $1 in labour income earned by men.

Oxfam also found that globally, only one in three businesses are owned by women and that out of the 1,600 largest companies in the world, fewer than a quarter have a public commitment to gender equality.

“Low wages mean that many workers toil long hours and are trapped in poverty, while persistent gender wage gaps and heavy unpaid care loads reflect a global economy that rests on the systematic exploitation of women,” the organization writes.

[Inlinefour]

Sillypore already have many unofficial ones liao

 

best part they don't even know how much they have

 

until mata catch them 🙊🙉🙈

 

slowly count for them 🤑🤑🤑

[BanCoe]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:15 PM, Inlinefour said:

Sillypore already have many unofficial ones liao

 

best part they don't even know how much they have

 

until mata catch them 🙊🙉🙈

 

slowly count for them 🤑🤑🤑

Heresay  got 1  tyre-naire down here ....Tyre panchit .... throw  car away...Dunno how many he throw away liddat     

[Stary]

I only want to know who will be MCF first trillionaire ……

😁

[kobayashiGT]

On 1/16/2024 at 6:59 PM, Windwaver said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/16/oxfam-wealth-inequality-davos/

The world could have its first trillionaire within 10 years if current inequality trends continue, antipoverty group Oxfam International said in a report published Monday, reflecting the increasing gap between the world’s wealthy and poor.

The report, titled “Inequality Inc.,” was released the same day as the start of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Its authors say the world is living through a “decade of division,” pointing out that since 2019, the world’s five wealthiest people have almost doubled their wealth, while nearly 5 billion people have become poorer.

Using data from Forbes, the report’s authors calculated that the combined wealth of those five men — Tesla CEO Elon Musk; Bernard Arnault and his family, who own luxury goods group LVMH; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Oracle founder Larry Ellison; and investor Warren Buffett — increased from $453 billion in 2019 to $869 billion as of November 2023. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In their methodology, the authors wrote that if that growth trajectory continues, Musk — the world’s richest person, according to Forbes — is projected to become a trillionaire in fewer than nine years, though they noted that the estimate is subject to uncertainty.

“If each of the five wealthiest men were to spend a million dollars daily, they would take 476 years to exhaust their combined wealth,” Oxfam’s authors wrote.

Representatives for these individuals could not immediately be reached late Monday.

But, Oxfam said, for the world’s poorest people — who are more likely to be women and marginalized groups in every society — “daily life has become more brutal” since 2019. It pointed to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as “escalating conflict, the acceleration of the climate crisis and surging costs of living.”

The report also said that globally, men own $105 trillion more than women — a difference in wealth equivalent to more than four times the size of the U.S. economy.

Oxfam urged governments worldwide to adopt caps on CEO salaries, along with permanent taxes on wealth and excess profits.

By then, everyone is a millionaire liao. hahahahahah. 

[Inlinefour]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:41 PM, BanCoe said:

Heresay  got 1  tyre-naire down here ....Tyre panchit .... throw  car away...Dunno how many he throw away liddat     

shhhh pls dun let da pussy outta de panty 

[Inlinefour]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:30 PM, kobayashiGT said:

By then, everyone is a millionaire liao. hahahahahah. 

actually you got billions of..........errrr might be trillion too.........but not S11 only 

[Atonchia]

I vaguely remember hearing someone said,"What's wrong with earning more?"

[Windwaver]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:30 PM, kobayashiGT said:

By then, everyone is a millionaire liao. hahahahahah. 

“If each of the five wealthiest men were to spend a million dollars daily, they would take 476 years to exhaust their combined wealth,” Oxfam’s authors wrote.

 476 years

[Ct3833]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:30 PM, kobayashiGT said:

By then, everyone is a millionaire liao. hahahahahah. 

Lets allow currency conversion to dong. 

Edited January 16 by Ct3833

[ER-3682]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:04 PM, Starry said:

I only want to know who will be MCF first trillionaire ……

😁

Most of us are ''Trillionaire'' in Rupiah.

[Tianmo]

路过而已, 路过而已. 

Nothing do with me.

 

[Watwheels]

There's the loophole in the tax system around the world.

The wealthy knows that getting paid means they will be taxed so they avoid getting paid a fixed high salary. Instead they are paid using stock options from their own companies.

So if tax systems around the world remains the same for the next 10 years the rich will only get richer. So if you have wealthy ppl working as policy makers and they only tax the poor but not the rich, the rest of us will remain poor. Sadly that's how the world works.

[kobayashiGT]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:37 PM, Inlinefour said:

actually you got billions of..........errrr might be trillion too.........but not S11 only 

in rupiah, i am Richie koba. 🤑

[Inlinefour]

On 1/17/2024 at 8:44 AM, kobayashiGT said:

in rupiah, i am Richie koba. 🤑

this can beat rupiah bo 🙈🙉🙊