Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, October 31, 2014

There Are Twice as Many Billionaires Now Than Before the Financial Crisis

Just a few days ago, UNICEF reported that child poverty has increased in over 20 developed countries since the global recession. Now, a new Oxfam report on inequality reveals that not only has the number of billionaires in the world doubled since 2009, but their combined wealth has grown by over 120 percent. Meanwhile, as RT News highlights in its post on the subject, “one million women have died in childbirth due to lack of basic health care, and 57 million children do not receive any form of education.”

What these reports make painfully obvious is that inequality has reached appalling levels. So what can we do? Well, according to Oxfam, a wealth tax could be a good start.
RT News:
Oxfam estimates that 16 billionaires live in Sub-Saharan Africa alongside 358 million people living in extreme poverty, while inequality in South Africa is higher than it was at the end of apartheid.
“In a world where hundreds of millions of people are living without access to clean drinking water and without enough food to feed their families, a small elite have more money than they could spend in several lifetimes”, Oxfam’s chief executive Mark Goldring said.
“The consequences of extreme inequality are harmful to everyone - it robs millions of people of better life chances and fuels crime, corruption and even violent conflict. Put simply, it is holding back efforts to end poverty.”

Read More.
Original Article
Source: truthdig.com/
Author: Natasha Hakimi Zapata

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