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Yachts at the »Boot« trade fair in Düsseldorf in January 2020: their buyers often benefit from rising share prices too
Photo: Michael Kneffel / imago images
The wealth of the super-rich is growing faster than ever before and some are even taking trips into space: Oxfam believes that the corona pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities.
According to a report presented by the development aid organization shortly before the start of a digital conference of the virtual World Economic Forum, while the wealth of the ten richest billionaires has doubled, more than 160 million people are living in poverty.
In Germany, too, the concentration of wealth has continued to increase.
In Germany, the ten richest people have increased their cumulative wealth from $144 billion to around $256 billion, according to the report entitled "Inequality Kills."
This is an increase of about 78 percent.
Wealth tax demanded in the fight against inequality
“For billionaires, the pandemic is like a gold rush,” Oxfam spokesman for social inequality, Manuel Schmitt, is quoted as saying. "Governments have pumped billions into the economy, but much of it has gone to people who benefit most from rising stock prices."
Oxfam called on governments around the world to tax corporations and the super-rich more heavily to fund basic social services, ensure global immunization justice and align the economy with the common good. Over three billion people have now been double-vaccinated against Covid-19, but only around nine percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose, according to Oxfam: “Millions of people who could have been saved are on because of the unfair vaccine distribution died of the pandemic and its consequences.« The vaccines must be treated as a public good, also because governments have promoted their development with a lot of tax money.
Oxfam Germany called on the federal government to hold corporations and the very wealthy more responsible.
Wealth tax must be reintroduced and a one-time levy on very large assets is needed.
Patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines must be suspended.
The annual conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos planned for this week had been postponed due to the Corona situation.
Instead, the foundation brings top politicians together digitally, so Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to give a speech on Wednesday.
According to Oxfam, it is an international "emergency aid and development organization" that mobilizes people worldwide to overcome poverty through their own efforts.
To this end, 21 Oxfam organizations worked side by side with around 4,100 local partners in 90 countries.
apr/dpa
