World’s richest threaten democracy says Oxfam
From SBS Australia:
The world’s elite have rigged laws in their own favour undermining democracy and creating a chasm of inequality across the globe, charity Oxfam said in advance of the annual get-together of the world’s most powerful at Davos. Inequality has run so out of control, that the 85 richest people on the planet “own the wealth of half the world’s population,” Oxfam said in an introduction to a new report on widening disparities between the rich and poor. The report exposes the “pernicious impact” of growing inequality that helps “the richest undermine democratic processes and drive policies that promote their interests at the expense of everyone else”, the statement said. Inequality has recently emerged as a major concern in countries around the world, with US President Obama prioritising a push to narrow the wealth gap in his second term. In China, the new government there has cracked down on the elite perks and privileges and Germany seems set to adopt a minimum wage.
SNIP