The inequality of wealth is staggering

Just eight people have more wealth than the planet’s poorest 3.6 billion human beings. This is the most recent report from Oxfam. This simply means these eight people have more wealth than three times the population of the entire Western Hemisphere.

It is also known in the U.S. the average chief executive officer (CEO) “earned” 350 times more than the average worker. In a comprehensive analysis of thousands of corporations over a period of almost two decades, it was established that only five per cent of performance differences could be attributed to the CEO. It has been suggested by some that we all are masters of our fate. As one Republican candidate running for the U.S. presidency in 2012 stated, “If you are poor,” don’t blame Wall Street or the big banks, blame yourself!

Chris Hedges is an American prize-winning journalist. He is also a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and a Presbyterian minister. He once stated that unless the U.S. can control its disparity of wealth, eventually most American citizens will became sharecroppers.

Canadians need to be aware of what can happen to a democracy when a few people control the wealth of a nation. To stop that from happening, Canadians need to know and elect political leaders who will work diligently in the interests of the majority of the citizens.

Leo Kurtenbach, Saskatoon