01/20/2020 CBS NEWS
Wealth inequality is growing to bigger extremes, with the world’s 2,153 billionaires now claiming as much wealth as 60% of the world’s population, or 4.6 billion people, according to a new report from anti-poverty group Oxfam. The number of billionaires has doubled in the past decade, thanks partly to government policies such as the 2017 U.S. tax overhaul, which cut taxes for America’s rich and corporations, as well as the strong stock market, the report noted. But that’s creating a global economy where the ultra-rich are increasingly veering off from the rest of the world’s population, Oxfam says. Academic Enrichment Programs for 1st - 8th Grade Students Join Us To Be Elite Tel: 571-217-2357 Its report will be released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which begins Tuesday and draws many of the billionaire class that’s singled out in the report. This year, 119 of the world’s richest people — including Bridgewater Associates LP founder Ray Dalio, worth more than $16 billion — will be in attendance, representing a net worth of more than $500 billion,according to Bloomberg News. The conference’s theme this year is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World,” and panels will include topics such as inequality and climate change. Presenting Oxfam’s annual report on the widening wealth disparities across the globe “is an opportunity to speak truth to power,” said Oxfam America policy director Gawain Kripke in an interview. The reception in past years has been “mixed. There is interest in it, but also resistance and criticisms.” IN PERSON & LIVE ONLINE PIANO LESSONS WITH RUSSIAN PIANO PROFESSOR Since Oxfam started studying the dynamics of wealth inequality in 2011, the wealth concentration at the top has only intensified, Kripke said. That stems from dynamics such as stagnant wages for the typical worker, combined with the 2017 tax changes that slashed U.S. tax rates for the very rich and corporations. For instance, average wages in the Group of Seven countries — developed economies including the U.S., Canada and Germany — rose 3% from 2011 to 2017, Oxfam said. But during that same period, stock dividends rose 31%, a trend that favors the wealthy given that the richest 1% own half of all stocks. Examining women’s unpaid workThis year’s Oxfam report also examines the role of gender in income and wealth inequalities, given that women and girls provide much more unpaid work than men. Caring for family members, cooking and cleaning are tasks that are typically performed on an unpaid basis by women and girls, who effectively provide a subsidy of $10.8 trillion to the world’s economy. Offering serious and challenging mathematics to intellectually gifted students “We estimate in the U.S. that women are providing about $1.4 trillion dollars worth of labor in unpaid care and domestic work,” or almost twice the federal defense budget, Kripke said. He added that the estimate is based on women earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which he said is likely a lowball figure given fewer and fewer workers in the U.S. today earn a wage that low. Because the issue of women’s unpaid work is largely ignored by policy makers, it’s an often invisible element in income and wealth inequality, he added. “It doesn’t count in GDP, but it’s essential to a country’s functioning,” Kripke added. “That women provide such a large fraction of this means that women are disadvantaged by this situation.” Award-Winning After-School Math Program for K-12 Students About 4 of 10 women globally don’t participate in the paid labor market because of the demands of this unpaid work, Oxfam said. By comparison, fewer than 1 in 10 men are in the same situation. Huge wealth inequality isn’t healthy for an economy because it can stifle growth for other income groups and lead to social unrest, Kripke said. “A billionaire is created every two days. Is that sign of health or disease?” Kripke asked. “We think it’s a sign of disease.” Source: https://www.winknews.com/2020/01/19/worlds-billionaires-have-more-wealth-than-4-6-billion-people/ APLUS教学中心 | 一对一辅导服务中心 | 申请咨询顾问中心 01/20/2020 (World Journal) 編譯李京倫 樂施會20日發表報告指出,全球女性家事工作年產值,是全球科技業年產值的三倍。(法新社) 全球菁英齊聚的「世界經濟論壇」定21日在瑞士滑雪勝地達沃斯開幕,國際慈善組織「樂施會」20日發表報告指出,全球貧富不均情況已「失控」,偏差的經濟體制排擠眾多女性,卻放任極少數億萬富豪聚斂鉅額財富而對社會幾無貢獻。 全球億萬富豪過去十年倍增,身家總和勝過占全球六成人口的貧戶總財產,而女性無薪或報酬過低工作,每年對全球經濟的貢獻約是科技業的三倍。 路透和法新社報導,總部在肯亞奈洛比的樂施會指出,全球最富裕的2153人去年資產,比最貧困的46億人財產總和還多。 報告說,貧困婦女和女孩位居底層,而全球女性每天無薪或無償照護工作共計125億小時,估計相當於全球經濟年產值至少10.8兆美元,是科技業大約三倍。 樂施會報告說:「全球最有錢的22名男性持有的財富超過非洲所有女性資產總和。」 樂施會印度分會執行長貝哈將代表樂施會出席世界經濟論壇。他指出,女性負擔尤其重,因為她們常是最重要的照顧者,以維持「我們的經濟、商業和社會齒輪轉動」。貝哈還說,她們時常沒時間接受教育、賺取像樣的生活費或對社會運作有發言權,「因此被困在經濟底層」。 樂施會資料顯示,就全球而言,42%的女性勞動人口無法找工作,因為她們負責所有照護事務,相較之下,負責照顧事務而無法找工作的男性僅占6%。 報告還說,如果對全球最富有的1%人士多課徵0.5%的稅,10年下來,就能在醫療、教育和照顧方面創造1億1700萬個就業機會。 貝哈說:「大家要是看看世界各地,就會發現有30多個國家出現抗議活動。人民上街發聲的訴求為何?其實就是他們無法接受這種不平等情況,他們不會忍受這種生活。」 另外,美國公關公司愛德曼20日發布全球信任度調查報告指出,日漸嚴重的收入不平等,正在傷害全球公眾對資本主義的信心。雖然最近一年許多已開發國家經濟強勁成長,而且接近完全就業,但有五成六的受訪者認為,資本主義的壞處比好處多。 愛德曼的執行長愛德曼說:「長期以來所謂努力工作就能往上爬的觀念,現在已經站不住腳。」愛德曼說,貪腐、企業無良行為、假新聞,以及對工作場所自動化、缺乏訓練、移民和零工經濟的恐懼,都在侵蝕人們對資本主義的信任。 | Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning weekly classes (ONLINE) ALL-IN-ONE ONLINE REGISTRATION SOFTWARE Principal, Tel: (301)906-6889; (240)912-6290 Licensed in MD, VA, DC, WV, PA, DE, NC, SC, FL WeChat ID: sunnychenyuqing NMLS # 1220187 President, Principal Loan Consultant, Leader Funding, Inc. 电话: (240) 784-6645 Rockville, MD Phone: 301-366-3497 |
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