XPost: alt.society.liberalism, sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
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   From: biden@bribes.dollars   
      
   DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster in   
   2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group reported on Monday as   
   some of the world’s political and financial elite prepared for an annual   
   gathering in Davos, Switzerland.   
      
   Oxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed   
   to the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting, also predicts at least   
   five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade. A year ago, the   
   group forecast that only one trillionaire would appear during that time.   
      
   OxFam’s research adds weight to a warning by outgoing President Joe Biden   
   last week of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few   
   ultra-wealthy people.” The group’s sharp-edged report, titled “Takers Not   
   Makers,” also says the number of people in poverty has barely budged since   
   1990.   
      
   The World Economic Forum expects to host some 3,000 attendees, including   
   business executives, academics, government officials, and civic group   
   leaders at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos. The first   
   big day of meetings starts Tuesday, after a largely ceremonial start on   
   Monday.   
      
   How will Davos-goers respond to Trump’s inauguration?   
   Expect U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House to be a   
   topic of formal conversations and off-the-cuff remarks. Policy experts are   
   participating in a Tuesday morning panel titled, “47th US Presidency,   
   Early Thoughts” and a town hall called “State of Play: U.S. Dollar.”   
      
   Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South African President Cyril   
   Ramaphosa, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz   
   and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to   
   deliver speeches at Davos on Tuesday.   
      
   President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, an avowed supporter of Trump, took a   
   wait-and-see attitude before Trump gave his inaugural address on Monday.   
   Vucic said he and his team would spend the evening analyzing the speech.   
      
   “Everybody hopes that Trump will bring new ambition and new energy” into   
   resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, the Serbian leader told The Associated   
   Press. “I hope that Trump will do something in very concrete terms.”   
      
   Trump’s first speech of his second presidency was heavy on domestic   
   issues, but he said “my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and   
   unifier” and alluded to a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza   
   that took effect on Sunday.   
      
   Trump, who visited Davos twice during his first term, was expected to take   
   part in the forum’s event by video on Thursday.   
      
   Anti-poverty activists fear ‘new aristocracy’ in U.S. and beyond   
   Trump has long championed wealth accumulation — including his own — and   
   counts multibillionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.   
      
   “What you’re seeing at the moment is a billionaire president taking oaths   
   today, backed by the richest man. So this is pretty much the jewel in the   
   crown of the global oligarchies,” Amitabh Behar, executive director of   
   Oxfam International, said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk.   
      
   “It’s not about one specific individual. It’s the economic system that we   
   have created where the billionaires are now pretty much being able to   
   shape economic policies, social policies, which eventually gives them more   
   and more profit,” he added.   
      
   Like Biden’s call for making billionaires “begin to pay their fair share”   
   through the U.S. tax code, Oxfam — a global advocacy group — called on   
   governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth,   
   and to “dismantle the new aristocracy.”   
      
   The group called for steps like the break-up of monopolies, capping CEO   
   pay, and regulation of corporations to ensure they pay “living wages” to   
   workers.   
      
   How are the poorest faring?   
   Many investors racked up strong gains in 2024, with strong performances   
   for top tech companies and stock-market indexes like the S&P 500, as well   
   as the price of gold and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.   
      
   Oxfam said billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion last year, or roughly   
   $5.7 billion a day, three-times faster than in 2023. The number of   
   billionaires rose by 204 to 2,769, and the 10 richest men saw their wealth   
   rise nearly $100 million a day on average, it said.   
      
   Citing World Bank data, the group pointed to lingering poverty, saying the   
   number of people living on less than $6.85 per day has “barely changed”   
   since 1990. Oxfam used Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List” as of end-   
   November for data on the ultra-rich.   
      
   By contrast, at least four new billionaires were “minted” every week in   
   2024, and three-fifths of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance,   
   monopoly power or “crony connections,” it said.   
      
   Will it be business as usual at Davos again this year?   
   Despite the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the annual Davos   
   confab will likely focus again on money- and deal-making money, with   
   strongman leaders on the rise in some Western countries and progressive   
   causes like diversity and climate change waning in the business world.   
      
   The continued rise of artificial intelligence as a tool for business to   
   reap greater efficiencies will also again be a central theme in Davos,   
   despite worries in many sectors that AI could upend many white-collar jobs   
   and displace workers in an array of industries.   
      
   As in past years, protesters calling for more economic equality, taxing   
   the rich and pressing other demands took to the streets. Some blocked   
   roads to Davos, snarling traffic in places and delaying trips for some   
   attendees to the event, which runs through Friday.   
      
   https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/ap-international/ap-anti-poverty-group-   
   says-billionaires-wealth-soared-in-2024-as-the-elites-prepare-for-another-   
   davos/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)