Rich get richer and more get poor

Five billion people have become poorer since 2020.
At the same time, the world’s five richest men doubled their fortunes.
This is confirmed by the international confederation Oxfam in a new report.
– This is a political failure, says Suzanne Standfast, Secretary General at Oxfam.

Sweden also stands out in Oxfam’s report, as a country where economic inequality is clear. The five richest Swedes together own more than five million swedes.

– A symptom that we have a broken economic system. When the billionaires become more and richer at the same time as more and more people find it harder to get by, we have a system that doesn’t work. We need system-changing measures. That is the politicians’ responsibility, says Standfast.

According to Oxfam, economic inequality risks affecting society in a variety of ways.

– Tensions in society increase and mistrust increases. It also has consequences on the economy. Much research shows that it slows down the economy and that it inhibits growth. In short, it affects everyone.

Want to see redistribution

In the new report, Oxfam calls for political action to tackle inequality, which it says is spiraling.

– We would like to see the Swedish government produce an inequality report, that they map, investigate, make an analysis and come up with proposals for action. For that we need better statistics. Today, we do not have control over household assets and liabilities, which should be an obvious part of Swedish economic statistics.

Oxfam also believes that society’s resources must be distributed in a different way than they are currently doing.

– Do we want to see a redistribution of resources. To reduce inequality but also to generate funding back into welfare. For example, a tax can be levied on extraordinary profits that have been generated precisely because there has been a crisis.

“Must stop ducking”

Standfast doesn’t just believe that wage earners are fed up with the current system. According to her, even some billionaires are calling for a new economic reality.

– I think there are many millionaires and billionaires today who also see social benefit in contributing more. That those who can contribute more actually do so. After all, there are networks of billionaires and millionaires who themselves go out and say: tax us more, this doesn’t work. They see the danger of increased inequality.

Now Oxfam wants to see an increased debate around economic inequalities. Before it is too late.

– What must happen now is that you must stop ducking for economic inequality. Bring up the debate. The political debate has to start, then you have to act on it. Before societies drift apart too much.