Global wealth is at $262 trillion this year, up from $117 trillion in 2000.
"That comes to $56,000 for each adult on earth."
Now doesn't $56,000 sound like a decent living wage? It does if you ask me. Now I'm not advocating that we gather up the entire world's wealth, and then split it equally down the middle and give each adult the same chunk. No way. I understand that people work hard for their money. Shoot, I know I do. I'm saying that maybe there is another approach we could take to how we handle the extremely complicated issue of wealth and poverty. I am also not advocating that I know what we should do. I have no idea. I'm not an economist, or any other professional who knows what to do with money. I'm a college student for goodness sake.
I just want everyone to understand that today, 94.5% of the world's household wealth is held by only 20% of the world's population.
I just want everyone to understand that today, 94.5% of the world's household wealth is held by only 20% of the world's population.
"You need just $3,650 to count yourself among the richest half of the world's population."
Now, as I said, I'm not an economist, but I do know that $3,650 is not a lot of money, and it is by no means enough to live off of. Yet, that small amount warrants the status of being in the richest half of the world's population? I don't know the answer to these questions, or how to find the solutions. I do know that this is something that we should be talking about, and trying to find the solutions to. $3,650 is not enough to live off of in many societies. What can be done to close the wealth gap?
Source of statistics and image: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/10/daily-chart-8