(true) “8 men own as much as 50% of the population”
(false) “8 men own 50% of the world wealth”
Both are different because wealth isn’t equaly distributed. The 50% poorest do not own 50% of the world wealth. In fact, they own 10% of it from my previous quick calculation.
So the oxfam article is true, but it isn’t what is stated in the meme.
Even tho, theses number are still insane, especially in the context in the oxfam article where we see 3.600.000.000 people own just as much as 8 guys.
There’s a difference between owning 50% of the wealth and concentrating the same wealth as 50% of the population.
If we take the 1 trillion by face value, it would mean that those 8 billionaires hold 1 trillion, the bottom 50% another trillion, and the group between 50% and 99.999…% would hold 8 trillion.
Holding 50% of the wealth would mean they would hold 5 trillion, and 99.9999…% would hold 5 trillion.
I didn’t open the link so I don’t know which one is correct. I just wanted to outline the semantics difference.
You are right about the problem in general though. Those are the right people we should be questioning and holding responsible for their acts.
this was the case according to Oxfam in 2017, I’m not aware of any dramatic wealth redistribution since https://www.oxfam.ca/news/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-as-half-the-world-says-new-oxfam-report/
Both are different because wealth isn’t equaly distributed. The 50% poorest do not own 50% of the world wealth. In fact, they own 10% of it from my previous quick calculation.
So the oxfam article is true, but it isn’t what is stated in the meme.
Even tho, theses number are still insane, especially in the context in the oxfam article where we see 3.600.000.000 people own just as much as 8 guys.
sure, memes aren’t always entirely accurate, they’re meant to be a funny conversation starter, and seems like this one did its job
There’s a difference between owning 50% of the wealth and concentrating the same wealth as 50% of the population.
If we take the 1 trillion by face value, it would mean that those 8 billionaires hold 1 trillion, the bottom 50% another trillion, and the group between 50% and 99.999…% would hold 8 trillion.
Holding 50% of the wealth would mean they would hold 5 trillion, and 99.9999…% would hold 5 trillion.
I didn’t open the link so I don’t know which one is correct. I just wanted to outline the semantics difference.
You are right about the problem in general though. Those are the right people we should be questioning and holding responsible for their acts.
yeah that’s an important distinction