The world could see its first trillionaire over the next decade, according to an assessment of global inequality published earlier this week by the UK-based non-profit Oxfam International. The report also notes that eliminating poverty – the target is 2030 under the UN Sustainable Development Goals – may not be possible for another 229 years. according to Time magazineThe world got its first billionaire in 1916, when John D. Rockefeller achieved this status largely through his ownership of Standard Oil. Since then, the rise of the wealthy has raised concerns about the systemic exploitation underlying the widening wealth gap, the agency said.
But despite the criticism, the gap between rich and poor is widening. the Oxfam report He said that the five richest people in the world have doubled their wealth since 2020. These are Tesla CEO Elon Musk, LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and investor Warren Buffett.
As their names were highlighted in the Oxfam report, many media outlets – e.g luck And USA Today – They claim that one of them can reach trillionaire status. The analysis is based on Forbes data that shows Musk is in the lead with a fortune of $226.6 billion, according to Forbes rankings released on Wednesday. Bernard Arnault and his family have $175.1 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos with $173.6 billion, Larry Ellison with $134.9 billion, and Warren Buffet with $119.5 billion.
Oxfam said the “charged” boom enjoyed by the wealthy in the past three years means billionaires are $3.3 billion richer than they were in 2020, and their wealth is growing three times faster than the rate of inflation.
The report also showed that nearly five billion people worldwide have become poorer since 2020.
While tax, monopoly and deregulation laws ensure money is channeled into the pockets of the wealthy elite, “billions of people are bearing the economic shocks caused by the pandemic, inflation and war,” Amitabh Behar, interim executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement. .
“This disparity is not a coincidence,” Behar said. “The billionaire class works to ensure that corporations create more wealth for them at the expense of everyone else.”
To address this imbalance, Oxfam has called for a wealth tax on the world’s millionaires and billionaires, which it says could bring in $1.8 trillion every year.
The charity also called for a cap on CEO pay and the dismantling of private monopolies