More on inequality

A new policy brief from Oxfam provides striking numbers on the extent of inequality at the top in the global economy and in a few countries like the US. Much of all the data we use is questionable, but it is still clear that we are moving to a world of super-rich and everyone else.  Here some the information they provide:

·         "Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.

·         The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.

·         The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.

·         Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.

·         The richest one percent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.

·         In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer."

The real question, however, is whether any of this will truly feed into the political agenda and where.  Nothing significant is likely to happen in much of Latin America... or in Spain for that matter.