The fortunes of the ten richest men in the world have doubled since the start of the pandemic while the incomes of 99% of humanity have melted, according to an Oxfam report on Monday. “The increase in economic, gender and racial inequalities and inequalities between countries are destroying our world”, denounces the NGO for the fight against poverty, in a report entitled “Inequalities kill” and published on the edge of the Forum of Davos.
The cumulative fortune of all billionaires has experienced since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic “its largest increase ever”, from 5,000 billion dollars, to reach its highest level “at 13,800 billion. The richest people in the world include according to Forbes magazine Elon Musk, Tesla boss Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Bernard Arnaud (LVMH), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook), Waren Buffett ( Berkshire Hathaway), Larry Ellison (Oracle).
The NGO adds that “we can overcome extreme poverty through progressive taxation” and public health systems that are free for all. Oxfam also recommends not to hinder the creation of unions and to remove intellectual property from vaccine patents.
“21,000 people a day” die from inequality
According to Oxfam, inequality contributes to the deaths of “at least 21,000 people a day” based on global deaths from lack of access to health care, gender-based violence, hunger and to the climate crisis. “A windfall tax of 99% on the income from the pandemic of the ten richest men would produce enough vaccines for the world, provide universal social and medical protection, fund climate adaptation and reduce climate-related violence. gender in 80 countries”, gives the example of the NGO.
She specifies that this would still leave “8 billion more than before the pandemic for these men”. “Billionaires had a tremendous pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, many of which ended up in the pockets of billionaires.”
The World Economic Forum warned for its part that the large inequalities in access to vaccines against Covid-19 risk weakening the fight for major international causes, such as climate change. The face-to-face Davos Forum has been pushed back to the summer because of the Omicron variant, but an online edition opens Monday until January 21.