Wealth imbalance will be disastrous

Re Wealth wake-up call, Editorial, Jan. 23 The Oxfam International report, “Reward Work, Not Wealth,” is much more than a wake-up call. It is more like an extreme alert to governments, corporations and the top 1 per cent of earners.

The global income gap is continually widening, as predicted for years by Oxfam and our own Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Even for those of us who try to keep up with current events, the statistics are shocking: 82 per cent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1 per cent of the global population.

The consequences of this ever-growing chasm is something to fear. It can only lead to further civil unrest, natural resources depletion and an impossible world to live in — even for the extreme rich. How many more security walls will they need to keep out the poor and the desperate, who will have nothing to lose by rebelling or, worse, disappearing into despair. The obscene imbalance of wealth and resources will be disastrous for all if this trend continues.

Perhaps the most disturbing news in the report is the fact that the number of billionaires has risen at a rate of one every two days last year. The collective wealth of these billionaires increased last year by $762 billion (U.S.) — enough to end extreme poverty seven times over.

Your editorial also mentioned Oxfam’s suggestions for redressing this horrific situation. Including its proposal to reduce CEO salaries and provide a minimum living wage to workers, Oxfam demanded that the criminal practice of tax havens must be controlled. As much as $7.6 trillion is being withheld from tax-revenue departments that should be used for education, health care and jobs.

Who will have the imagination or the vision to begin to moderate this imbalance? Shall we depend on this week’s money fest in Davos, Switzerland? I doubt it, even though these delegates must be conscious of the increasing economic chaos ahead. After all, they are the perpetrators of it. Della Golland, Toronto