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Oxfam: World’s Richest Eight Men as Wealthy as 3.6 Billion Poorest

HeadlineJan 17, 2017

A new study finds the world’s eight richest men control as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity—some 3.6 billion people. The report by the charity Oxfam came as government and business leaders met in Davos, Switzerland, for the opening of the World Economic Forum. This is Oxfam campaigns director Matthew Spencer.

Matthew Spencer: “We have an economic system that’s warped out of shape, which means that the 1 percent benefit, that it’s designed to benefit the 1 percent rather than most people in the 99 percent, which is why you could get the number of billionaires that have the same wealth as half the rest of the world on one golf buggy.”

Six of the world’s eight wealthiest billionaires are Americans. They are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg. Oxfam said it’s concerned that wealth inequality will continue to grow following the election of Donald Trump, whose Cabinet members have a combined wealth of nearly $11 billion.

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