2017 Was Really Good...for Billionaires: Report
The world is producing new billionaires at an unprecedented pace, with an average of one more being added every other day, a new Oxfam report finds.
“There are now 2,043 dollar billionaires worldwide. Nine out of 10 are men,” Oxfam says in its “Reward Work, Not Wealth” report. “In 12 months, the wealth of this elite group has increased by $762 billion. This is enough to end extreme poverty seven times over.
“In the period between 2006 and 2015, ordinary workers saw their incomes rise by an average of just 2% a year, while billionaire wealth rose by nearly 13% a year – almost six times faster.”
“Approximately a third of billionaire wealth is derived from inheritance. Over the next 20 years, 500 of the world’s richest people will hand over $2.4 trillion to their heirs – a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people.”
Oxfam report: https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-reward-work-not-wealth-220118-summ-en.pdf
-- Steven H MacDowall Join my Blog ‘The Thursday File’ every week. My next posting > January 25, 2018 > The Thursday File #709 - sign up today! > www.thursdayfile.com
