Why is Oxfam so concerned about the coming possibility of the world’s first trillionaire? The charity has this week released a report with an apocalyptic warning that one is likely within the next decade. Yet surely people only get that rich by making something that people want. That should be celebrated instead of condemned.
In a report published for the start of Davos, the annual event where very rich people gather at an expensive resort in Switzerland to worry about being rich, Oxfam said the world’s first trillionaire could come soon. Apparently, that showed we are entering a ‘decade of division’. ‘We have the top five billionaires, they have doubled their wealth’, said Oxfam’s executive director Amitabh Behar. ‘On the other hand, almost 5 billion people have become poorer.’
In a free market, people only get rich by making products that people want
As it happens, Oxfam’s maths could be a little wonky.
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