Now 62 people hold the wealth of the bottom 50 percent
The World Economic Forum starts this week in Davos, Switzerland.
As if to kick-start some talking points, Oxfam International released the results of a study on global economic health. It found 62 people now control as much wealth as half of the rest of the world combined. The report is provocatively titled “An Economy for the 1%.”
Oxfam also found that the wealth of the poorest 3.6 billion people fell by $1 trillion just since 2010, and the wealth of the richest 62 — who are mostly men — increased by half a trillion. Finally: back then, a whopping 388 people controlled the bulk of the wealth in the world.
The report blames international tax havens for letting people stash trillions of tax-free dollars overseas. It said companies aren’t increasing wages for most workers, but they’re increasingly paying more to executives.
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