How world’s five richest men doubled their wealth since 2020 and the poor suffered

The wealth of the five richest men has more than doubled since 2020, so much so that we can expect world’s first trillionaire within a decade. Even after taking inflation into account, these billionaires’ net worth has skyrocketed 114 per cent, totalling $869 billion since 2020, as per Oxfam’s annual inequality report, released Sunday. While the richest are becoming even richer, what about the poor? The data is grim. They are getting poorer, and it would take nearly 230 years to eliminate poverty if current trends continue, the report reveals. So, how bad is the situation. Who are the five men whose wealth skyrocketed in 2020, and how will this impact the world? Here’s a closer look. What does the Oxfam report say? Inequality is on the rise. A report from the charity Oxfam, published as the global elite hobnob at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, said that the wealth of the world’s wealthiest five men rose from $405 billion (Rs 33.55 lakh crore) in 2020 to $869 billion (Rs 71.99 lakh crore) last year. Yet since 2020, nearly five billion people worldwide have grown poorer, Oxfam said. Billionaires are today $3.3 billion richer than they were in 2020, despite many crises devastating the world’s economy since this decade began, including the COVID pandemic. Oxfam called on nations to resist the ultra-rich’s influence over tax policy. Oxfam’s yearly report on inequality worldwide is traditionally released just before the forum opens on Monday in the Swiss Alpine resort. The charity raised concerns over increasing global inequality, with the richest individuals and companies amassing greater wealth thanks to surging stock prices, but also significantly more power. “Corporate power is used to drive inequality: by squeezing workers and enriching wealthy shareholders, dodging taxes, and privatising the state,” Oxfam said. It also accused corporations of driving “inequality by undertaking a sustained and highly effective war on taxation”, with far-reaching consequences. [caption id=“attachment_13615212” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos from 15 January until 19 January, 2024. AP[/caption] Oxfam said states handed power over to monopolies, allowing corporations to influence the wages people are paid, food prices and which medicines individuals can access. “Around the world, members of the private sector have relentlessly pushed for lower rates, more loopholes, less transparency, and other measures aimed at enabling companies to contribute as little as possible to public coffers,” Oxfam added. The charity said thanks to intensive lobbying over tax policymaking, corporations have been able to pay lower corporate taxes, thereby depriving governments of money that could be used to financially support the poorest in society. Corporate taxes have significantly dropped in OECD countries from 48 per cent in 1980 to 23.1 per cent in 2022, Oxfam noted. To address the imbalance, Oxfam called for a wealth tax on the world’s millionaires and billionaires that it says could bring in $1.8 trillion dollars each year. The charity also called to cap CEO pay and break up private monopolies. Who are the five men whose fortune doubled? Elon Musk, who runs several companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, emerged as a big winner, topping Forbes’ top 10 richest list for 2024. By the November end, he saw a rise of $245.5 billion (Rs 20.34 lakh crore) in his wealth, which is 737 per cent up from March 2020, after accounting for inflation. Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, and his family’s net wealth increased 111 per cent to $191.3 billion (Rs 15.84 lakh crore). [caption id=“attachment_13615232” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett rounded out the top five wealthiest persons, with his net worth increasing 48 per cent to $119.2 billion (Rs 98,76,79 crore). AP[/caption] Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ fortune increased by 24 per cent to $167.4 billion (Rs 13.87 crore), while Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s fortune increased by 107 per cent to $145.5 billion (Rs 12.05 lakh crore). Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett rounded out the top five wealthiest persons, with his net worth increasing 48 per cent to $119.2 billion (Rs 98,76,79 crore). According to Oxfam, billionaires’ wealth has increased by $3.3 trillion, or 34 per cent, since 2020, with their riches growing three times faster than the rate of inflation. The wealth of US billionaires, many of whom derive their fortune from shares in the companies they oversee, has increased by $1.6 trillion. Do we need to worry? The top one per cent holds 43 per cent of the world’s financial assets, says Oxfam citing the data from Wealth X, reports CNN. This group owns 32 per cent in the US, 50 per cent in Asia, 48 per cent in the Middle Easr and 47 per cent of the financial wealth of the top financial wealth in Europe. Over 148 of the world’s largest corporations made nearly $1.8 trillion in profits in the 12 months leading up to June 2023, according to Oxfam, which is 52.5 per cent higher than their average was between 2018 to 2021. Oxfam calls out the oil and gas business, pharmaceutical corporations, and the banking sector for making more money in the last year or two than they did in previous years. “We ignore at our peril the role of monopoly power in redistributing wealth to the top,” said Nabil Ahmed, Oxfam America’s director of economic and racial justice, reports CNN. Oxfam is urging governments to intervene. “Public power can rein in runaway corporate power and inequality, shaping the market to be fairer and free of billionaire control,” Amitabh Behar, interim executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement, as reported by CNN. “Governments must intervene to break up monopolies, empower workers, tax these massive corporate profits and, crucially, invest in a new era of public goods and services.” With inputs from AFP