Top 100 Billionaires Could End World Poverty Four Times Over, Wealth Inequality Destroying Economy Warns Report
The world must urgently set goals to tackle extreme inequality and extreme wealth. It is now widely accepted that rapidly growing extreme wealth and inequality are harmful to human progress, and that something needs to be done. Already this year, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report rated inequality as one of the top global risks of 20131. The IMF and the Economist agree.
There has been great progress in the fight against extreme poverty. Hundreds of millions of people have seen their lives improve dramatically – an historically unprecedented achievement of which the world should be proud. But as we look to the next decade, and new development goals we need to define progress, we must demonstrate that we are also tackling inequality- and that means looking at not just the poorest but the richest . Oxfam believes that reducing inequality is a key part of fighting poverty and securing a sustainable future for all.
Extreme wealth and inequality are reaching levels never before seen and are getting worse Over the last thirty years inequality has grown dramatically in many countries. In the US the share of national income going to the top 1% has doubled since 1980 from 10 to 20%. For the top 0.01% it has quadrupled to levels never seen before. At a global level, the top 1% (60 million people), and particularly the even more select few in the top 0.01% (600,000 individuals – there are around 1200 billionaires in the world), the last thirty years has been an incredible feeding frenzy.
Following the financial crisis, the process has accelerated, with the top 1% further increasing their share of income. The luxury goods market has registered double digit growth every year since the crisis hit19. Whether it is a sports car or a super-yacht, caviar or champagne, there has never been a bigger demand for the most expensive luxuries.
The IMF has said that inequality is dangerous and divisive and could lead to civil unrest. Polling shows the public is increasingly concerned about growing inequality in many countries, and by people across the political spectrum.
Extreme wealth and inequality is economically inefficient. A growing chorus of voices is pointing to the fact that whilst a certain level of inequality may benefit growth by rewarding risk takers and innovation, the levels of inequality now being seen are in fact economically damaging and inefficient. They limit the overall amount of growth, and at the same time mean that growth fails to benefit the majority. Consolidation of so much wealth and capital in so few hands is inefficient because it depresses demand, a point made famous by Henry Ford and more recently billionaire Nick Hanauer in his much-discussed TED talk.
There quite simply is a limit to how many luxury yachts a person could want or own. Wages in many countries have barely risen in real terms for many years, with the majority of the gains being to capital instead. If this money were instead more evenly spread across the population then it would give more people more spending power, which in turn would drive growth and drive down inequality.
Extreme Wealth and Inequality is Politically Corrosive
If, in the words of the old adage ‘money equals power’ then more unequal societies represent a threat to meaningful democracy. This power can be exercised legally, with hundreds of millions spent each year in many countries on lobbying politicians, or illegitimately with money used to corrupt the political process and purchase democratic decision making. Joseph Stiglitz and others have pointed out the way in which financial liberalization led to huge power for the financial industry, which in turn has led to further liberalisation. In the UK the governing
Conservative party receives over half its donations from the financial services industry. Capture of politics by elites is also very prevalent in developing countries, leading to policies that benefit the richest few and not the poor majority, even in democracies.
Extreme Wealth and Inequality is Socially Divisive
Extreme wealth and inequality undermines societies. It leads to far less social mobility. If you are born poor in a very unequal society you are much more likely to end your life in poverty. As Richard Wilkinson, co- author of the Spirit Level, has said, the American dream is more real in Sweden than it ever has been in the United States. Social mobility has fallen rapidly in many countries as inequality has grown.
Extreme Wealth and Inequality is Environmentally Destructive
As the world is rapidly entering a new and unprecedented age of scarcity and volatility, extreme inequality is increasingly environmentally unaffordable and destructive. The World Bank has shown that countries with more equal distribution of land are more equitable and more efficient, and grow faster. Those in the 1% have been estimated to use as much as 10,000 times more carbon than the average US citizen. Increasing scarcity of resources like land and water mean that assets being monopolized by the few cannot continue if we are to have a sustainable future.
Poverty reduction in the face of extreme wealth will become harder as resources become more
scarce. More equal societies are better able to cope with disasters and extreme weather events.
Studies show that more equal countries are also better able to reduce carbon emissions.
Extreme Wealth and Inequality is unethical
Gandhi famously said “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” From an ethical point of view, it is extremely difficult to justify excessive wealth and inequality. In fact, most philosophers and all of the major religions caution against the pursuit of
excessive wealth at all cost and prescribe sharing of income with less fortunate members of the
community. For instance, the Koran bans usury and says that the rich should give away a portion
of their money. The decision of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to give away their fortunes or to call
for greater taxation of excess wealth is an example to the rest of the world’s billionaires.
Extreme wealth and inequality is not inevitable
After the Great Depression in the US in the 1930s, huge steps were taken to tackle inequality and vested interests. President Roosevelt said that the ‘political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality’. These steps were echoed in Europe after World War Two, leading to three decades of increasing prosperity and reduced inequality.
Similarly the growth of the Asian tiger economies like Korea was achieved whilst reducing inequality and meant the benefits were widely spread across their societies. More recently, countries like Brazil45, once a poster child for extreme inequality, have managed to buck the global trend and prosper whilst reducing inequality.
The policies required to reduce inequality are also well known. Decent work for decent wages has had a huge impact. The rise in the power of capital over labor has been identified by Paul Krugman among many others as a key cause of the recent crisis and one that means that assets are not being used productively, in turn reducing demand.
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Free public services are crucial to levelling the playing field. In countries like Sweden, knowing that if you get sick or that you will receive good treatment regardless of your income, is one of the greatest achievements and the greatest equalisers of the modern world. Knowing that if you lose your job, or fall on hard times, there is a safety net to help you and your family, is also key to tackling inequality. Similarly, access to good quality education for all is a huge weapon against inequality.
Finally, regulation and taxation play a critical role in reining in extreme wealth and inequality. Limits to bonuses, or to how much people can earn as a multiple of the earnings of the lowest paid, limits to interest rates, limits to capital accumulation are all only recently-abandoned policy instruments that can be revived. Progressive taxation that redistributes wealth from the rich to the poor is essential, but currently the opposite is the case – taxation is increasingly regressive and the poor pay higher effective tax rates than the rich, a point recently highlighted by Warren Buffet among others, who has called for greater taxes on the rich. Cracking down on tax avoidance and tax evasion goes hand in hand with more progressive taxation. Closing tax havens and ending the global race to the bottom on taxation, for example with a globally agreed minimum rate of corporation tax would make a huge difference It is estimated that up to a quarter of all global wealth – as much as $32 trillion – is held offshore. If these assets were taxed according to capital gains taxes in different countries, they could yield at least $189 billion in additional tax revenues.
End extreme wealth and inequality
Whatever the combination of policies pursued, the first step is for the world to recognise this as the goal. There are many steps that can be taken to reverse inequality. The benefits are huge, for the poorest – but also for the richest. We cannot afford to have a world of extreme wealth and extreme inequality. We cannot afford to have a world where inequality continues to grow in the majority of countries. In a world of increasingly scarce resources, reducing inequality is more important than ever. It needs to be reduced and quickly.
An end to extreme wealth by 2025. Reversing increasing extreme inequality and aim to return inequality to 1990 levels
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
great article alton, breath of fresh air.
Everyone born is inherently unequal to almost everyone else. Millions have been murdered by communists/socialists/redistributionists in the name of “equality”.
Even if these billionaires spread all their wealth equally within a few years the poor would still be poor (as they would waste it), and most of the rich would be rich again!!
Even if the Catholic Church sold all its assets it could only feed the world for a week or two, and then have nothing left to do any good with.
The whole thesis of this article is so flawed. You forget SOMEONE HAS TO PAY for government largesse.
The world has been ruined by welfare. Anyone without his/her head in the clouds can see the damaging effects of welfare, on the recipients and the economy.
Sound good, but like most Utopian ideas it doesn’t even think of the unintended consequences of Big Government actions.
These ideas have sunk whole continents. Communism doesnt work, can’t anyone realise this, the facts are before your eyes.
God help us!
Marxism in any form never works… but unbridled greed is the devils doings…why dose anyone in their right mind need a 100 million dollars… & who really needs $ 1,000,000,000,000 +…& usury is a sin in the 1st degree… greed is a sickness…
good points. i used to believe that it was welfare that would help the people out of poverty but no it just keeps them down in the dumps as they get accustomed to the free help instead of getting out their and working hard. Yes i understand that the wealthy could do more to help the people that make their wealth but that is not going to happen because of greed.
I agree that giving money to the poor would be a huge mistake and that yes it would be spent before it was received because most people do not know how handle any kind of wealth responsibly. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a viable solution to helping the poor without just giving them money. For starters, I don’t know how many of you have had the chance to be homeless but I have and one of the big issue’s is that they don’t have a chance to stop long enough in any one place to get there feet on the ground. Society keeps pushing them away by making parks closed after 10pm, at least in the city I’m from, and even the bus benches are built in away so that you can’t lie down on them. I’ve also noticed they have removed most of the places for people to just sit and take a load off , just to name a few. My second thought is that if you know about the native american populations in america have a policy that helps there people by building homes for there elders and give land to there tribal members if they want it for free as long as they use it for homesteading. Why cant we do something similar? We could allow a certain certain amount of land for construction of mass resident housing or even small areas just big enough for a man/ woman and or family to build there own shelter no matter how crude or minimal just so that person or family could have a place they could call home. This way they would have a starting point and would be able to improve there lives from there. The ones who were able to move up from there could choose to move on and leave there home for the next available person to move in and start there climb out of poverty and then move on if they so choose or stay if that is what they want. This way they have a place to stop, set there things down and rest and have a chance to be somebody if they want. This may not be a pretty solution to the homeless but it has potential. I understand there a many other aspects to our world poverty problem but look back in history at what our past generations have done to to help there hungry. With all the extra finances that could be available if the extremely wealthy were taxed could pay for food and large gymnasium sized dining/ cooking/ storage areas for the residents of theses areas could come to eat at least two meals a day or pick up sack lunches, etc. As far as there energy usage, the utility companies could be made to donate utilities to these areas so that they wouldn’t be forced to live in the dark or without hot water or water. There are many alternative energy sources as well that could be considered. All of these are just ideas but they would be better then what the extremely poor are getting now for help which is nothing for some and for those who qualified for welfare or food stamps, very little. I know that this doesn’t work for medically or mentally ill but it does have possibilities for people that just need a chance to start over or cant always make it by society’s requirements. These are just my personal thoughts and opinions no mater how right or wrong.
4 times over?
so here’s the plan 100 billionaires ~ step up. say this ~ i dont owe anything to anyone. i’ve given my “fair share”.
that being said ~ we are ending poverty. once. right now. conditions? you write it down that we have done this. obama goes away. now.
in 10 years, when more poverty has crept back up due to others inaction, neglect, laziness, and whatever else contributes ~ we dont talk about fair share ever again.
What a bunch of nonsense. They can’t even divide properly. Look up the worlds per capita GDP, it’s around $9K per year. For most of the industrialized world that’s below poverty level. Thus if you redistributed everyone’s income, everyone would be dirt poor.
There is a reason Jesus said the poor you will always have with you. Now if you abolished socialism, and it’s cousin crony capitalism and created real growth you could put a dent in things by at lease creating more jobs. But wealth redistribution is pure socialism.
Just ask the people in Venezuela how that’s working out.