Oven i købet fire gange – en eksplosion i ekstrem rigdom og indkomst forøger ulighed og hindrer verden i at afskaffe fattigdom. Verdens ledere må bringe den globale ulighed ned på niveauet i 1990, konkluderer Oxfam i ny rapport op til World Economic Forum i Davos i Schweiz.
OXFORD, January 19, 2012: The 240 billion US dollar net income in 2012 of the richest 100 billionaires would be enough to make extreme poverty history four times over, according Oxfam’s report “The cost of inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all”, writes Oxfam International Saturday.
It is calling on world leaders to curb (begrænse) today’s income extremes and commit to reducing inequality to at least 1990 levels.
The richest one per cent has increased its income by 60 per cent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process.
Oxfam warned that extreme wealth and income is not only unethical it is also economically inefficient, politically corrosive (nedbrydende), socially divisive and environmentally destructive.
The “chosen few”
Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International, said: “We can no longer pretend that the creation of wealth for a few will inevitably benefit the many – too often the reverse (modsatte) is true.
“Concentration of resources in the hands of the top one per cent depresses economic activity and makes life harder for everyone else – particularly those at the bottom of the economic ladder (trappestige).
“In a world where even basic resources such as land and water are increasingly scarce, we cannot afford to concentrate assets in the hands of a few and leave the many to struggle over what is left.”
Members of the richest one per cent are estimated to use as much as 10.000 times more carbon than the average US citizen.
Oxfam said world leaders should learn from the present-day success of countries such as Brazil which has grown rapidly while reducing inequality.
As well as the historical success such as the United States in the 1930s when President Roosevelt’s New Deal helped bring down inequality and tackle vested interests.
Roosevelt famously warned that the “political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality.”
“New global deal needed”
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http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2013-01-19/annual-income-richest-100-people-enough-end-global-poverty-four-times
