Forbes Magazine, the official arbiter of the fortunes of the super-rich, has published its list of billionaires, of which 178 new billionaires were created in the last 12 months. The wealth of the 946 billionaires worldwide now concentrate assets worth a staggering $3.5 trillion.
Founder Steve Forbes declared "this is the richest year in human history, the best way to create wealth is to have free markets".
Yet despite this colossal wealth, the inequalities between rich and poor have grown. The richest 10% own 85% of the world`s wealth, while the bottom 50% own 1.1% of global wealth.
We are told that free-market capitalism is good for everyone, yet over one billion people worldwide struggle to live on less than $1 a day. The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group claimed in a study of 25 countries that only 11 countries had marginal reductions in poverty, while 14 had the same or worse poverty rates and that "economic growth is, by itself, no fix".
The four wealthiest men in Ireland now have a combined wealth of €8 billion. So while workers have to put up with traffic gridlock, a crumbling health service, and rising mortgages, the rich are get richer from our labour!
