As early as autumn 2020, the alliance “Who has, who gives” called for more redistribution in the context of the pandemic.
Photo: dpa/Markus Scholz
During the corona crisis, the ten richest billionaires were able to double their total assets to a total of 1.5 trillion US dollars. At the same time, more than 160 million people live in poverty. This is the conclusion of a report published on Monday by the emergency aid and development organization Oxfam. According to this, the wealth of all billionaires worldwide has increased by five trillion US dollars, a larger increase than in the 14 years before the pandemic combined.
In general, corporations have achieved “record profits”. Even before the corona crisis in 2019, almost half of all people were living below the poverty line of $5.50 a day defined by the World Bank. Today, according to Oxfam, there are 163 million more people. Women in particular have lost jobs and income. In 2020 alone, their losses totaled at least $800 billion. Girls are also more disadvantaged than before the pandemic: over 20 million more than before the pandemic will never go to school once more.
In some countries booster vaccinations have been taking place for a long time, others still have no or insufficient access to the corona vaccines. According to Oxfam, at least 15,000 people die every day because they are denied adequate medical care. Those on low incomes are at higher risk of infection and generally have lower life expectancies than the affluent.
“Social inequality is a blatant injustice, and it kills people,” comments Manuel Schmitt, officer for social inequality at Oxfam Germany. Since the pandemic began, people in all income brackets have suffered losses, but the poorest 20 percent have seen the sharpest drop in income, according to the report. That’s because economic growth is recovering in the countries where most of the richest 20 percent live. In contrast, this is not the case in low- and middle-income countries, which are home to most of the poorest 20 percent.
“Governments have pumped billions into the economy, but a large part has gotten stuck with people who benefit most from rising stock prices,” summarizes Schmitt. Oxfam predicts that without policy action, global poverty levels will not even return to pre-coronavirus levels by 2030. In the report published on the occasion of the World Economic Forum’s “Davos Agenda”, Oxfam calls on governments to tax corporations and the super-rich more heavily to finance basic social services and to ensure global vaccination justice. According to the aid organization, what is needed is a “fundamentally different economic system” whose guiding principle is not profit but the common good.
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