December 20, 2024

On the One Hand, the Eight Richest Men in the World; on the Other, 3,600 Million Poor

On January 16, a report released by Oxfam -an ensemble of NGOs present in many countries- showed the colossal concentration of wealth: the eight richest men in the world concentrate the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity, which is about 3,600 million people.
By Diego Cruz.
 
These eight men hold, together, a wealth of 426,000 million dollars. The poorest half has the equivalent of 0.25% of the world’s entire wealth, estimated in 255,000 billion dollars. The information is listed on the report “An economy for the 99%” and it was gathered from the Credit Suisse Wealth Report 2016 and the list of the super-rich ones made by Forbes magazine.
Since 2015, the group representing the 1% of humanity holds a greater amount of wealth than the rest of the planet. That same year, the ten largest companies in the world had a profit greater than the income of 180 countries combined.
Such inequality tends to grow even more: between 1988 and 2011, the income of the poorest 10% of the world population grew 65 dollars while the one of the richest 1% increased 11,800 dollars, so 182 times more. In the U.S., the income of the poorest half of the population experienced no changes, while the one of the richest 1% tripled.
Who is this 1%? The 1,810 multimillionaire that appear on Forbes’ list are almost exclusively men (89%). They accumulate a fortune of 6,500 billion dollars, equal to the wealth of the poorest 70% of the world population.
The report highlights the difficulties faced by women. Primarily, to get a job: the possibilities for women to be part of the labor market are 27% lower than men’s. And once they find a job, the possibilities for it to be outside the labor legislation is high. It means they are forced to remain in informality. Lastly, even in formal jobs women earn less than men.
A More “Humane” Capitalism?
Oxfam’s report is an important denunciation document. It shows very well one of the main tendencies of capitalism: greater concentration of wealth and increase in the gap between poor and rich. It is a strong response to those who claim capitalism has succeeded. What is the reason for 700 million people to be living below the line of poverty in a world that produces 255,000 billion dollars? The problem lies exactly in what the report ends up proposing: a more “humane” capitalism.
Starting by the correct premise that the actual hyper-concentration is unsustainable, Oxfam proposes a set of measures to reduce inequality based on reforms towards a “humane economy”. Such measures include democratization of governments and their cooperation in favor of the poorest; joint action of companies “in favor of everyone” and not only profits; taxes to big fortunes combined with a battle against fiscal evasion, among others.
As the report states, the World Bank, the IMF and President Barak Obama all say the same: it is necessary to reduce inequality. Then why is it not reducing? Why does the gap continue to increase? Because, behind the speech, the government and multi-lateral entities are tools of imperialism and the bourgeoisie to maintain and perpetuate this situation. To ask them to go against their own interests is like asking a scorpion to sting itself. It will never happen.
Governments will not act against the interests of the class they represent. Companies will not act against the logic that gives them reason: maximization of profit. National States will not act in a cooperative way with each other, as the interest of national bourgeoisies are irreconcilable, and imperialism will always look to exploit colonial and semi-colonial countries.
Should we fight against the governments to impose measures like taxes to big fortunes and financial transactions, as the French economist Thomas Piketty proposes? It is true we must stand against the drastically regressive tax laws that penalize the poorest, as well as defend the taxation of big fortunes. But: would that solve the problem?
Oxfam, Piketty and others propose a “humane” capitalism (like the Tobin Tax[1], widely discussed in the early 2000s) but they do not approach the core of the problem: capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of one class over the other one, which represents the vast majority of the population. The working class, which is the one that produces wealth, contradictorily enjoys a negligible part of what it produces. Almost all the production value goes directly to the 1%.
The growing inequality is a reflection of this contradiction. Stances like Oxfam’s assume that existence of workers and owners is legitimate. So it is fair that many work while some live on the base of others’ work. To them, there should some “humane” conscience so that businessmen and governments make the life of workers a bit more bearable. A reactionary utopia.
This is not a matter of wealth distribution. Taxes on big fortunes do not solve the problem. The underlying problem is not that the rich pay low taxes, either. Everything the rich have, from the fortune they enjoy to the taxes they pay, is product of the labor of the class they exploit. Exploitation, and not distribution, is the real problem to solve.
And there is no way to end exploitation without ending the system on which it is sustained: capitalism.
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Notes:
[1] Tax on the financial transactions proposed by the economist James Tobin in 1971, to palliate fluctuations in the exchange rates.
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Translation: Misty M.

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