Just when we thought we were making some headway with this whole equality of income thing, a report by Credit Suisse comes along to remind us that, yes, the system still sucks.
The world’s ultra-rich have seen their share of global wealth increase at a much faster pace than everyone else, and the 1% now control 50% of the world’s wealth – the first time this threshold has been crossed. Congrats! This privileged club consists of 120,000 members worldwide with at least $50 million in assets.
Below the yacht-dwellers are the 0.7% – 34 million people with a collective net worth of at least $1 million. This group owns another 45% of the world’s wealth, which means the remaining 7 billion-odd people on earth are toiling away for their share of the 5% of wealth that remains.
We’re going to put this on a new line for emphasis: 1.7% of the world’s population owns 95% of the world’s wealth.
By all indications outlined in the report, there’s no reason to believe this trend will reverse anytime soon. Wealth inequality has continued to increase since 2008 and, aside from from a few relatively meek Occupy Wall Street protests – extreme wealth concentration used to be solved by the guillotine! – and philanthropic billionaires, we’ve seemingly become too busy trying to keep up to do anything about it.
Don’t be surprised if the 1% own 75% by 2050.
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