The rich get richer while global poverty deepens in “decade of division” https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/16/the-rich-get-richer-while-global-poverty-deepens-in-decade-of-division/ We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom. This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” stated Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s interim Executive Director
The inequality gap between the Global North and the Global South has increased for the first time in 25 years.
Rich countries of the Global North account for 69% of all global wealth and 74% of all billionaire wealth. This concentration of wealth is a legacy of colonialism and empire, the report notes, adding that “since the formal end of colonialism, “neo-colonial relationships with the Global South persist, perpetuating economic imbalances and rigging the economic rules in favor of rich nations.” This extraction of wealth has been facilitated by multinational corporations.
While the ability of governments to sustain public services is obstructed, corporations around the world have pushed for the privatization of critical services including health care and education. As the report states, this is done not only through the sale of public assets, but also through the integration of the private corporate sector into public policies and programs through outsourcing and “public-private partnerships”. Privatization in turn grants corporations greater influence over public resources.
Comment on WA: The issue is not the figures, but the politics, and the process. No wonder the "interests" need to paint "NGOs" as "desh drohi". Check out the recent attacks on Centre for Policy Research..
Earlier, India was the "vishwa guru" of the non-aligned movement, and Group of 77. Now we have "G20" !