Richest 1% to own more than half world's wealth by 2016 - Oxfam

RT

As global movers and shakers head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam is warning that an increasing wealth disparity is “leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for.”

The collective wealth of the world’s richest 1 percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent of the global population next year, unless steps are taken to address the inequality, Oxfam warned ahead of the annual Davos meeting.

Oxfam, an anti-poverty charity, released a report titled, “Wealth: Having It All and Wanting More,” which reveals that the richest 1 percent, who had an average wealth of $2.7 million per adult in 2014, have seen their share of global wealth soar yet further, increasing from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014. 

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About half of America has zero net wealth

Marketplace.org

Wealth is the value of everything you own: stocks, bonds, your home, your car -- minus your debts. And while income inequality has taken center stage in debates about the growing gap between rich and poor, what's happening with wealth paints an even more staggering picture.

The wealth share of the 0.01 percent, or the top 16,000 families in America, has skyrocketed. That tiny group now owns 12 percent of the wealth in America.

The wealth of the larger one percent  -- and even the .5 percent -- isn't rising.

These days, if you want to be among the biggest winners, says UC Berkeley researcher Gabriel Zucman, who co-wrote a new report on wealth, it helps to be in the 0.1 percent or better.

Around 50 percent of the US population, Zucman said, has zero net wealth. Their debts, effectively, equal their assets.