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Common Dreams reports
The world's richest 1 percent now own more wealth than [the remaining] 99 percent combined. This finding comes from Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report for 2015, [redirects to a PDF] released last week. Last year, Credit Suisse found the richest 1 percent of adults owned 48 percent of global wealth. According to the new report, the [richest] 1 percent now hold 50.4 percent of all the world's household wealth.
Credit Suisse's findings are in line with Oxfam's prediction that global wealth inequality is only becoming greater. Last January, we predicted that the richest 1 percent would capture more than half of all household wealth by 2016. It looks like our prediction was right, but that we were too conservative, since it has happened a year early. Alas, our forecast was confirmed, but it's nothing to celebrate.
When you look at the very top of the global wealth pyramid, the situation is much more alarming. When we first calculated in January 2014, the 85 richest individuals own more wealth than the poorest half of the planet. This trend has also worsened since that time. Last January, it was down to 80 people.
The implications of rising extreme wealth inequality are greatly worrying. The highly unbalanced concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people impacts social stability within countries and threatens security on a global scale. It makes poverty reduction harder, threatens political inclusion, and compounds other inequalities.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2015, @06:14AM
That 50.4% buys a lot of security, weapons, bread, circuses.
(Score: 2, Informative) by anubi on Sunday October 25 2015, @06:35AM
... and corrupt government officials.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2015, @07:33AM
Bread? Where have you seen the bread?
Circuses sure... Bread? Not so much.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday October 26 2015, @08:38PM
Please see the following link to find what was meant by "Bread". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program/ [wikipedia.org] Wikipedia notes: "SNAP benefits cost $74.1 billion in fiscal year 2014 and supplied roughly 46.5 million Americans with an average of $125.35 for each person per month in food assistance."
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday October 26 2015, @08:41PM
As an aside, I have noticed that linking is broken. The link is broken when ending the URL Tag correctly with a forward slash and greater than sign at the end. An additional forward slash is added at the end or not parsed right or something.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2015, @08:28AM
As Euripedes said "When a man's stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor."
I suspect if the masses keep getting their bread there wouldn't be stuff like the Arab Spring: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/17/bread-food-arab-spring [theguardian.com]
Even if someone "perfect" were in charge instead of Mubarak he/she still would have been deposed once the country could not afford to give enough people cheap bread.
People may be upset but if their bellies and their families bellies are full will continue to be full very few are going to risk their life and the lives of their families trying to kill those at the top.
But once families are hungry, more and more people may think they have little left to lose.