8 Men Are as Rich as World's Poorest 3.6B

Oxfam calls for crackdown on tax-dodging
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2017 1:38 AM CST
Updated Jan 16, 2017 6:33 AM CST
8 People Have As Much as the World's Poorest 3.6B
Bill Gates, the world's richest man, talks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower last month.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A group of people that could fit into a minivan is richer than enough of the world's population to fill nearly 50 million school buses, according to Oxfam's latest shocking report on world inequality. Eight extremely wealthy men, six of them American, have as much wealth as the 3.6 billion that make up the poorer half of the world's population, the anti-poverty charity says in its annual report, released ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. And wealth is becoming more concentrated year by year: Last year, there were 62 people at the top of what Oxfam called the " tippy, tippy top of the pyramid," and in 2010, the wealth of the richest 388 people in the world was equivalent to that of the poorest 50%.

Oxfam is calling for the creation of an "economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few" through policies including a crackdown on corporate tax-dodging, which it says would give governments "enough money to provide an education for the 124 million children who aren’t in school." Oxfam says that as in previous years, the 1% still have more wealth than the rest of the world put together. Economist Gerard Lyons tell the BBC that while focusing on extreme wealth doesn't always give "the full picture," he thinks Oxfam is right to target companies that are "increasingly focused on delivering ever-higher returns to wealthy owners and top executives." (More billionaires stories.)

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