We are living in a world where there is massive social and economic inequality. This situation is outlined in the Oxfam briefing paper “Working for the Few” which shows that the top one percent of the population have increased their income since 2008 and seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years. While multinationals get away with paying a minimal tax rate we are bombarded by such unfair taxes as the property tax and the up-coming water charge.
This stark disparity is highlighted by the World Economic Forum, which states that almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.
- The wealth of the 1% richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion, more than 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.
- The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.
- 70% of people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.
- In the US, the wealthiest 1% captured 95% of the post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90% became poorer.
This disparity has happened because of a precise and aggressive attack on the working class internationally. The report states that inequality is “impacting social stability within countries and threatening security on a global scale”.
This attack has led to mass unemployment, emigration and an attack on working conditions internationally. This government, being a tool for big business, has implemented such schemes as JobBridge and the Gateway scheme. Job-bridge is simply free labor for companies and the Gateway scheme is a blatant attack on the public sector. This is part of an aggressive effort to privatise the public sector and attack our social wage. Now these companies, which are directly connected to most governments around the world, can implement laws and policies that benefit the rich and create the conditions through which they can gain more and more profits at our expense.
We are told that austerity is essential to the recovery of the economy and that we are all it this together Yet, while we suffer year after year, these so called “elites” gain wealth and power by exploiting the rest of us an exploitation which is necessary for capitalism to survive. We need solidarity and the creation of a broad working class movement to break with capitalism and create a socialist alternative that benefits all.
