'Deadly' inequities exposed by pandemic highlight need to tax rich, Oxfam report says
ABC News
The ten richest men in the world have doubled their fortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic, a report published Monday by the advocacy group Oxfam said.
The 10 richest men in the world doubled their fortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic, a report published Monday by advocacy group Oxfam said, highlighting how the global health crisis has deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots as well as the need for policy intervention to address these "deadly" inequities.
While the wealth of the world's 10 richest men more than doubled -- increasing from approximately $700 billion to $1.5 trillion between March 2020 and November 2021 -- the incomes of approximately 99% of people around the globe fell during that time, and more than 160 million people have been forced into poverty, the Oxfam report added.
The poverty and economic justice advocacy group calculated the wealth gains of the ultra-elite based on Forbes' real-time data on billionaires. The richest men were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffett.
Information on the falling incomes of the global 99% was taken from World Bank data, Oxfam said in its methodology.