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30 Global issues 02 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Explore reading and writing: Rich and poor Have you heard of the Forbes list? Research it and find out who the five richest people in the world are and where they come from. How did they make their money and what do they do with it? Do you personally think that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer? Can you imagine reasons for it? Look at the picture and read the article from The Guardian online . Do you agree with their analysis of the growing divide between rich and poor? a 31 b Oxfam * : 85 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world  The world’s wealthiest people aren’t known for travelling by bus, but if they fancied a change of scene, then the richest 85 people on the globe – who between them control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together – could squeeze onto a single double-decker.  In a new report, Oxfam warns that this concentration of economic resources is threatening political stability and driving up social tensions. The development charity also argues that this accumulation of wealth is no accident either, as growing inequality has been driven by a ‘power grab’ by wealthy elites, who have used political influence to change the rules of the economic system in their favour. In the report, entitled Working For The Few, Oxfam warned that the fight against poverty cannot be won until wealth inequality has been dealt with.  “Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table,” a spokesman said. “In developed and developing countries alike, we are increasingly living in a world where the lowest tax rates, the best health and education and the opportunity to influence are being given not just to the rich but also to their children. Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the unfair distribution of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations. We will soon live in a world where equality of opportunity is just a dream. In too many countries economic growth already amounts to little more than additional gains for the richest.”  The Oxfam report found that over the past few decades, the rich have successfully used political influence to introduce policies in their favour on issues ranging from financial deregulation, tax havens, anti-competitive business practices to lower tax rates on high incomes and cuts in public services for the majority. Since the late 1970s, tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 out of 30 countries for which data are available. This ‘capture of opportunities’ by the rich at the expense of the poor andmiddle classes has led to a situation where 70% of the world’s population live in countries where inequality has increased since the 1980s.  Opinion polls in Spain, Brazil, India, South Africa, the US, UK and Netherlands found that a majority in each country believes that wealthy people exert too much influence. Concern was strongest in Spain, followed by Brazil and India and least marked in the Netherlands.  Oxfam called on attendees at the World Economic Forum to pledge to address the problem: to support progressive taxation and not dodge their own taxes; refrain from using their wealth to seek political favours; make public all investments in companies and trusts they own; challenge governments to use tax revenue to provide universal healthcare, education and social protection; demand a living wage in all companies they own or control; and challenge other members of the economic elite to join them in these pledges.  The World Economic Forum’s global risks report, too, recently identified widening income disparities as one of the biggest threats to the world community. *Oxfam: an international association of aid and development organisations that work for a fairer world without poverty Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv