Sick economics

The Oxfam Report of 18 January this year shows that the wealth of the poorest half of the world's population - that's 3.6 billion people - has fallen by a trillion dollars since 2010. This 38 per cent drop since 2010 has occurred despite the global population increasing by around 400 million people during that period. Meanwhile the wealth of the richest 62 has increased by more than half a trillion dollars to $1.76 trillion. In 2010 it took 388 rich people to own more than half the wealth of the world. The rest have not lost any money, but today it takes only 62 of them to reach that milestone. Just nine of the 62 are women.

The same report states that globally the richest 1% now has as much wealth as the rest of the world combined. This position has been reached even though the world has gone through a deep recession

The UK’s richest 1,000 families control wealth of about £547 billion. This has more than doubled during the last decade. One-third or even one-quarter of their wealth would end the austerity programme championed George Osborne and many others across Westminster.  Yet the super rich standard's of living would barely be touched by such a transfer.

Wealth always dominates opportunity and power. It enables the wealthy to fund governments, political parties, fund elections, own media, fund culture and ideas and relentlessly advance their economic interests.

The strengthening of an untouchable, worldwide, super-rich is the main achievement in the last decade of the economic, social and political system that the rest of the world labours under.