One didn’t need to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this month to understand something is wrong with how the economy works for the vast majority of people.
The anti-poverty group Oxfam issued a report that coincided with the conference noting escalating disparities between the ultra-rich and the working poor. In fact, the combined fortunes of the world’s five richest men have more than doubled since 2020, during which time five billion people have been made poorer by wages that have failed to keep up with inflation.
The juxtaposition of rich and poor has been with humanity since time began. The histories of countless empires demonstrate power and the trappings of excess when compared to the common folk. Passages in the Bible reflect the reality that the poor will always be with you and advise those of means to help those who are less fortunate. We believe most people are still on board with the philosophy – if capable, lend a hand.
The alarm from Oxfam is that an increasing number of people will need a hand and the amount of people with the capacity to lend a hand is shrinking. Emerging from that report is confirmation that incredible wealth is centralizing into a very select few hands.
A much younger version of us may have bought into the notion that immense wealth is merely an outcome of hard work and a just reward for great ideas. Free market advocates and right-wing types may still believe that and cling to the dream of reaching those pinnacles of success. Absent though is a critical piece of that puzzle: those with means should help others and participate in the economy to better everyone.
Today, through tax laws, friendly partisan governments and fancy accounting, the rich have found ways to shield their wealth. To be fair, there are those who have pledged to draw down on their wealth and support charities, but those choices don’t always align with needs of the time.
Further, the ability to amass an obscene fortune over time has meant worsening of conditions, whether it be infrastructure or average people’s standard of living.
For clarity’s sake, we aren’t taking exception to hard working men and women who have professional careers or small businesses who do well. We see a time when those categories will shoulder more of the tax bill to keep things rolling. It is already showing up in property taxes despite decaying infrastructure, inadequate health care, insufficient housing and so on.
Take those shortcomings and add on layers of government debt that grew exponentially since the turn of this century and we see something untenable in the longer term. Governments aren’t keeping up and it isn’t for lack of trying.
There simply isn’t enough funding to maintain modest standards, yet the rich keep getting richer.
Something needs to change.
