[imagesource: Wikimedia Commons]

As the super-wealthy (and high-end prostitutes) descend on Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, Oxfam has decided to dampen the mood a little with the release of a report that indicates that a third of all wealth accumulated since the pandemic has gone to the richest 1%.

To put this in perspective, this equates to $1,7 million (R29 million) for every $1 (R17) earned by the rest of us peasants here on Earth.

For the first time in a quarter of a century, the rise in extreme wealth was accompanied by an increase in extreme poverty, Oxfam said.

Oxfam has now predictably called for a new tax to be levied on the super-rich. Danny Sriskandarajah, the chief executive of Oxfam is quoted as saying via The Guardian:

“The current economic reality is an affront to basic human values. Extreme poverty is increasing for the first time in 25 years and close to a billion people are going hungry but for billionaires, every day is a bonanza.

“Multiple crises have pushed millions to the brink while our leaders fail to grasp the nettle – governments must stop acting for the vested interests of the few.

“How can we accept a system where the poorest people in many countries pay much higher tax rates than the super-rich? Governments must introduce higher taxes on the super-rich now.”

The organisation went further, and as the lucky few jetted in on their G5s and private helicopters, they decried the fact that the super-rich were some of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis, with the average billionaire being responsible for emitting a million times more carbon than an average person. They were also twice as likely to invest in pollution-heavy industries. Boo!

Oxfam has called on governments to immediately impose once-off wealth levies for millionaires and billionaires. To further illustrate what assholes the mega-rich are, the organisation claimed that:

Food and energy companies had more than doubled their profits in 2022, paying out $257bn to wealthy shareholders at a time when more than 800 million people were going hungry.

Only 4 cents in every dollar of tax revenue came from wealth taxes, and half the world’s billionaires lived in countries with no inheritance tax on money they give to their children.

A tax of up to 5% on the world’s multimillionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7tn a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, and fund a global plan to end hunger.

With Greta Thurnburg absent from the bandwagon, it remains to be seen whether the world’s richest people will pay attention to the appeal. My $1 says nope.

Meanwhile, to prove that they do care about more than just money, the WEF has crowned the winners of their yearly Crystal Awards during the opening day of Davos23. Now in its 29^th year, the Crystal Award honours:

Exceptional artists and cultural leaders whose important contributions to society have made a tangible impact on improving the state of the world and who best represent the attitude of openness and cooperation that is the ‘spirit of Davos’.

This year’s winners include poverty-stricken recipients such as Idris Elba, architect Maya Lin and soprano Renée Fleming.

Davos will be smelling of champagne, cocaine and Paco Rabanne from 16 – 20 January this year.

source: [theguardian&wef]