As of 2015, the international poverty organization, Oxfam, has calculated that the world’s richest
1% has more money than the other 99% of the population combined.
What’s even more shocking, is that just 62 individuals have amassed the same amount
of wealth as is possessed by half of all the people on Earth.
So, we wanted to know, just how rich is the 1%?
Well, the severity of the world’s wealth inequality is actually a relatively recent
development.
Just six years ago in 2010, nearly 400 people controlled as much money as the bottom 3-and-a-half
billion.
Today, those 400 are now just 62.
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, the poor have gotten considerably poorer, and
the rich have exploded in wealth.
Today’s Top 62 have seen their assets increase by 44% while the bottom half of the population
has lost about 41% of their resources.
The Top 62 now control nearly $1.8 trillion dollars, about half a trillion more than they
had in 2010.
But wealth inequality isn't only concentrated at the top.
One report by Credit Suisse calculated that although wealth inequality had been steadily
dropping before the financial crisis, it has rapidly reversed course in the years since
2009.
The United States has seen more than 900 new millionaires just between 2014 and 2015, while
median wealth in the US has stayed constant.
So, what does it mean to be among the richest people in the world?
Well, due to overwhelming poverty worldwide, the top 10-percent starts at those with assets
worth roughly 70,000 dollars.
In developed, Western nations, this is generally considered a middle to upper-middle class
salary.
Most homeowners would easily fall into this category.
Narrowing it further, many homeowners would actually fall into the 1% worldwide, which
generally includes those controlling more than 750,000 dollars in assets.
So how can the world rebalance this wealth inequality?
Well, Oxfam recommends a number of steps.
They suggest raising wages, paid for by executive bonuses and to push for better women’s rights
and pay equality.
Additionally, they recommend ending the revolving door between wealthy elites and government.
But, perhaps most importantly, they suggest closing the world’s tax havens, which hold
an estimated $7.6 trillion dollars, and do not contribute back to the countries where
that money came from.
Despite the global economic crisis being, in part, caused by risky financial decisions
by the banking and housing industries, many in those industries have seen their fortunes
skyrocket.
The use of quantitative easing to stabilize the economy, involves governments investing
huge sums of money in banks.
Much of that money has been sent into executive bonuses and stock markets, which have risen
dramatically since the recession further contributing to the Top 62.
Meanwhile, though they may be in the top 10-percent worldwide, those who were left unable to pay
their mortgages and lost their jobs as a result of the crisis have seen little financial recourse.
America’s middle class has been through a lot over the past decade, with many suggesting
that it is slowly evaporating.
So, just how powerful is the Middle Class?
Check out our video to find out.
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