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SECTION 1 2 3 INTRODUCTION
poverty, and the injustice of millions of families living in extreme poverty
alongside great wealth and prosperity will continue. Today, the rich can buy
longer, safer lives and better education, and can secure jobs for their children,
while those without money and influence are much more likely to be denied
even their basic rights. When disasters strike or food prices spike, those who
lack wealth and power suffer the most, and find it most difficult to recover.
The report then looks at what is driving this rapid increase in extreme economic
inequality, focusing on two major causes: market fundamentalism and the
capture of power and politics by economic elites. Many, including billionaire
George Soros and Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz, believe that market
fundamentalism is to blame for the rapid concentration of wealth over the last
four decades. When politics and policy making are influenced by elites and
corporations, they serve their economic interests instead of those of society
as a whole. This is as true in the USA as it is in Pakistan and Mexico, and has led
to government policies and actions that benefit the few at the expense of the
many, further widening the inequality gap.
Oxfam’s decades of experience working with the world’s poorest communities
have taught us that poverty, inequality and these traps of disadvantage are not
accidental, but the result of deliberate policy choices made by governments
and international organizations. The world needs concerted action to build
a fairer economic and political system that values the many. The rules and
systems that have led to today’s inequality explosion must change. Urgent
action is needed to level the playing field by implementing policies that
redistribute money and power from the few to the many.
The second half of the report explores some of the deliberate policy choices
that will be crucial to reducing inequality. Governments and companies can
take steps to ensure decent working conditions, the right for workers to
organize, the right to a living wage, and to curb skyrocketing executive pay.
Companies must become more transparent, and policies must be enacted to
ensure that both they and rich individuals pay their fair share of taxes. Ensuring
universal access to healthcare, education and social protection will mitigate
the extremes of today’s skewed income distribution and will guarantee that
the most vulnerable are not left behind.
While there has been progress, real change will only come about if we break
the stranglehold that special interests now have over governments and
institutions, and if citizens demand their governments pursue policies that
are about redistribution and fairness.
Extreme economic inequality, the focus of this report, has exploded in the last
30 years, making it one of the biggest economic, social and political challenges
of our time. Age-old inequalities, such as gender, caste, race and religion, are
injustices in themselves, and are also worsened by the growing gap between
the haves and the have-nots.
As Oxfam launches the Even it Up campaign worldwide, we join a groundswell of
voices, such as billionaires like Warren Buffet, faith leaders like Pope Francis,
the heads of institutions, like Christine Lagarde of the IMF, as well as the World
Bank, trade unions, social movements, women’s organizations, academics and
millions of ordinary people, to demand that leaders tackle extreme inequality
before it is too late.
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