Startling, eye popping statistics were revealed in new research by Credit Suisse, published by The Guardian.
This study puts what is happening with inequality in US into a global prospective. The economic and political systems promoting uber capitalism for the past forty years have cumulated in inequality so severe as to be unsustainable for our species and planet.
Global inequality is growing, with half the world’s wealth now in the hands of just 1% of the population, according to a new report.
The middle classes have been squeezed at the expense of the very rich, according to research by Credit Suisse, which also finds that for the first time, there are more individuals in the middle class in China – 109m – than the 92m in the US.
[...]
At the start of 2015, Oxfam had warned that 1% of the world’s population would own more wealth than the other 99% by next year. Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB’s chief executive, said: “The fact it has happened a year early – just weeks after world leaders agreed a global goal to reduce inequality – shows just how urgently world leaders need to tackle this problem. “This is the latest evidence that extreme inequality is out of control. Are we really happy to live in a world where the top 1% own half the wealth and the poorest half own just 1%?”
Clearly, the US, with its Casino Capitalist, Neoliberal system has lead the world in furthering inequality. The US needs to lead in restoring some semblance of economic justice. With the coming 2016 election we have the opportunity to do just that with the election of Bernie Sanders.