The rising global inequality

2,153 richest people owns more than the 60% of population

The 2,153 super rich billionaires now own more wealth than the 4.6 billion poor people of our world. It is nearly 60% population of the world. The Oxfam revealed in its titled “time to care “that unpaid or underpaid work by women and girls adds three times more to the global economy each year than the technology industry.

Many filthy rich- world leaders and capitalist economists assemble every in January in Davos-Switzerland to discuss the problems faced by capitalist system and possible solutions. They meet each other in this exclusive club of government heads-CEOs of big corporations- investors and experts. Most of them fly in their private jets with most expensive suits and watches.

They discussed poverty-inequality and hunger. And yet when they come next year-the world becomes even more unequal as gap between rich and poor continue to widen. They know very well that their economic policies are fueling poverty-inequality and class divide.

They knows very well that neoliberal economic model and free market policies are serving the billionaire class perfectly well.

In last 30 years- the capital is moving out of the pockets of poor and working class people and going into the pockets of rich people. This flight of capital is the result of neoliberal economic policies. Neoliberalism is the socialism for rich.

The international charity Oxfam every year releases its annual report on inequality and poverty. Every year- numbers are getting even worse. The wealth is concentrating more and more in fewer hands. The rich are becoming richer and poor are becoming poorer.

In its “Time to Care” report, Oxfam said it estimated that unpaid care work by women added at least $10.8 trillion a year in value to the world economy – three times more than the tech industry.

It is important for us to underscore that the hidden engine of the economy that we see is really the unpaid care work of women. And that needs to change. As per the global survey, the 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all the women in Africa.

If one just looks around the world, more than 30 countries are seeing protests. People are on the street and what are they saying? – That they are not to accept this inequality, they are not going to live with these kinds of conditions.

Besides, women and girls put in 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work each and every day -- a contribution to the global economy of at least $10.8 trillion a year, more than three times the size of the global tech industry.

Getting the richest one per cent to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth over the next 10 years would equal the investment needed to create 117 million jobs in sectors such as elderly and childcare, education and health.

Governments must prioritise care as being as important as all other sectors in order to build more human economies that work for everyone, not just a fortunate few, Behar said.

The report flagged that global inequality is shockingly entrenched and vast and the number of billionaires has doubled in the last decade, despite their combined wealth having declined in the last year.

"It is driven by women who often have little time to get an education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, and who are therefore trapped at the bottom of the economy," Behar added.

Oxfam said governments are massively under-taxing the wealthiest individuals and corporations and failing to collect revenues that could help lift the responsibility of care from women and tackle poverty and inequality.

Besides, the governments are also underfunding vital public services and infrastructure that could help reduce women and girls' workload, the report said.

As per the global survey, the 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all the women in Africa.