Global Inequality
Financial parasitism and the American oligarchy
By Patrick Martin, 2 August 2018
Behind the incessant claims of no money for urgent social needs is the drive by the top 0.1 percent to monopolize all the wealth created by the working class.
Seven months after Trump’s tax cut
Corporate tax collection rate at historic low
By Gabriel Black, 26 July 2018
The trillions in deficits created by the tax cuts for the rich will be used to justify further slashes to critical social programs that millions of Americans rely on.
Wealthiest 500 French people own 30 percent of the country’s GDP
By Kumaran Ira, 25 July 2018
The vast fortunes accumulated by the financial aristocracy are the product of the social plunder of the working class that President Emmanuel Macron is accelerating.
Assets of world’s “high net wealth” millionaires surged to $70 trillion in 2017
By Barry Grey, 20 June 2018
The stock market boom and the entire process of social plunder have depended on the suppression of working class opposition and a savage attack on workers’ living standards.
Memphis, Tennessee: A portrait of inequality and social crisis in the southern US
By Jimmy Smith and Naomi Spencer, 13 June 2018
The headquarters of global shipping giant FedEx, Memphis also holds the dubious distinction of being number one in the country in child poverty.
Youth suicide rate up 56 percent from 2007 to 2016
Government report shows sharp rise in US teen deaths
By Kate Randall, 2 June 2018
The new statistics on deaths among US children and teens expose the social crisis confronting America’s youth in the form of gun violence, suicide, the opioid crisis, poverty and war.
As CEO compensation soars to new heights
Fifty-one million US households cannot afford “survival budget”
By Kate Randall, 26 May 2018
Four in 10 US adults are a $400 expense away from financial ruin, and the typical employee would have to work 275 years to earn the average compensation of a top-200 CEO.
Sunday Times Rich List: Wealth of Britain’s richest grew 10 percent
By Simon Whelan, 22 May 2018
In the same year that 72 people were killed in London’s Grenfell Tower inferno due to cost-cutting, the city’s wealthiest residents became even richer.
Wealth-X report shows billionaires gained $1.8 trillion in 2017
By Eric London, 21 May 2018
The social needs of the working class can be met and its democratic rights defended only by expropriating the wealth of the super-rich.
Social inequality and oligarchy in the US and Europe
By Eric London, 21 April 2018
A report by Thomas Piketty shows that the Democratic Party in the US, the Labour Party in Britain and the Socialist Party in France have become the preferred parties of dominant sections of the ruling elite.
No money for teacher pay or textbooks, but…
US CEO pay, bank profits, corporate cash set new records
By Barry Grey, 18 April 2018
A series of reports released over the past week reveal that corporate America and the financial oligarchy are wallowing in record levels of wealth.
Sleeping rough in the UK: “I never expected to be on the streets”
By Margot Miller and Dennis Moore, 10 February 2018
WSWS reporters recently spoke to rough sleepers on the streets of Manchester in north west England.
Media frenzy over New Zealand PM’s pregnancy distracts attention from inequality
By Tom Peters, 25 January 2018
Prime Minister Ardern’s announcement prompted an avalanche of praise and glorification of her Labour Party government.
IMF upgrades global growth forecast amid warnings of “fracture points”
By Nick Beams, 24 January 2018
While attention is focused on the headline predictions of a rise in growth, there are warnings that the spurt may not last.
The oligarchy versus society
By Barry Grey, 28 December 2017
It is impossible to seriously address a single major social issue without breaking the political and economic stranglehold of the financial oligarchy over society.
World’s richest one percent capture twice as much income growth as the bottom half
By Niles Niemuth, 15 December 2017
The inaugural World Inequality Report published by economist Thomas Piketty and his colleagues documents the rise in global income and wealth inequality since 1980.
The US Senate tax bill: The financial oligarchy on the rampage
By Patrick Martin, 2 December 2017
There is an element of desperation in the frenzy in Washington to engineer one more transfusion of financial resources from working people into the sclerotic veins of the Wall Street addicts.
Nearly 200 million are modern slaves or child laborers
By Trévon Austin, 20 November 2017
According to a new report from the United Nations, nearly one in ten children are in child labor globally, with nearly half of these engaged in “hazardous work.”
Three billionaires are wealthier than half the US population
By Eric London, 10 November 2017
According to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett now own more wealth than the poorest half of the US population, some 160 million people.
As US moves to abolish estate tax, world’s billionaires pile up another $1 trillion
By Andre Damon, 27 October 2017
As the ultra-rich grow older and wealthier, they are increasingly preoccupied with the question of “succession.”
Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia murdered in Malta
By Richard Tyler, 21 October 2017
Galizia was well known for her exposures of corruption and criminality at the top of Maltese politics and business.
Inequality and the American oligarchy
Identity politics and the growth of inequality within racial minorities
By Eric London, 7 October 2017
New data from the Federal Reserve reveal the extraordinary growth of social inequality within minority populations, which forms the basis of the identity politics of the upper-middle class.
World hunger increasing for first time since turn of the century
By Shelley Connor, 18 September 2017
A United Nations study found that war and climate change were the driving forces of an increase in malnutrition worldwide in 2016.
After the financial crisis: How the ultra-wealthy have prospered
By Nick Beams, 31 August 2017
The word “recovery” is frequently used to describe the state of the world economy, but what it really reveals is the position of the ultra-wealthy.
Ten percent of Mexican families earn two thirds of country’s income
By Alex González, 23 August 2017
The study lays bare the degree to which financial corporations, many from the US, dominate every aspect of life in Latin America.
Wages and Wall Street
By Barry Grey, 15 July 2017
The 2008 Wall Street meltdown ushered in an intensification of attacks on the working class combined with a record rise on the stock market.
Report: UK low-income families cannot afford basic requirements to live
By Alice Summers, 1 July 2017
A survey reveals that many poor families, with stagnating incomes and record levels of personal debt, are unable to afford basics such as food, beds or refrigerators.
Over 150 people die in oil tanker explosion in Pakistan
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 27 June 2017
In an exercise in political damage control, the prime minister expressed his “sympathy” for the victims and announced compensation for the families of the dead and injured.
London’s Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council: A residents’ association for the rich
By Jean Shaoul, 27 June 2017
The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, despite being nominally a tenants’ organisation, has served the Conservative council’s broader objectives.
Los Angeles International Airport launches private terminal for the ultra-wealthy
By Marc Wells, 17 May 2017
The $22-million facility resembles a heavily guarded fortress and provides members’ with a private, highly secured and paparazzi-free environment where a team of eight people caters to their every need.
Poverty in Germany reaches new record high
By Elisabeth Zimmermann, 20 March 2017
12.9 million people in Germany are living in poverty, according to a report presented at the beginning of March.
Davos annual summit: A social order confronting a growing crisis
By Nick Beams, 21 January 2017
The atmosphere at the World Economic Forum was a mixture of bewilderment over the disintegration of the present global order, coupled with fears as to where it might be leading.
Oxfam issues report on eve of Davos conference
Eight billionaires control as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population
By Nick Beams, 17 January 2017
The report, released as the world’s billionaires converge on Davos, Switzerland, reveals that global inequality is even more pronounced than previously recognized.
World’s richest increased their wealth by $237 billion in 2016
By Nick Beams, 29 December 2016
US billionaires alone have increased their wealth by $77 billion due to the rise in the stock market since the election of Trump less than two months ago.
Christmas on Wall Street: The Dow closes in on 20,000
By Barry Grey, 21 December 2016
The American corporate elite anticipates that Trump will remove all constraints on its ability to plunder American society for personal gain.
The United States of Inequality
By Andre Damon, 20 December 2016
A new study by economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman gives the most complete picture to date of social inequality in America.
Thomas Piketty in Sydney: Data on social inequality, but no solution
By Nick Beams, 26 October 2016
Despite the wealth of vitally important data, there was a paucity of historical and political analysis on how ever-widening social inequality can be overcome.
Social inequality and the fight against capitalism
By Nick Beams, 25 October 2016
Facts and figures featured in the analysis conducted by French political economist Thomas Piketty underscore that there is no possibility of combating ever-growing social inequality other than by means of socialist revolution.
New Zealand ‘Rich List’ dominated by property speculators
By John Braddock, 4 August 2016
Big investors have seen “huge gains” to their share portfolios, while the property boom has “seeded fortunes for astute and opportune investors.”
US homeownership rate falls to lowest level in 51 years
By Gabriel Black, 3 August 2016
Declining household income and rising rent prices are preventing workers and young people from owning homes.
Nearly two thirds of New Yorkers suffer severe economic hardship
By Philip Guelpa, 28 July 2016
A two-year-long study of New York City residents reveals substantial, widespread poverty and other economic disadvantages.
Social inequality escalates in Denmark amid bonanza for banks and corporations
By Ellis Wynne, 18 July 2016
Denmark has fallen from the world’s most equal society at the beginning of the millennium to number 14 in the list of European countries.
Incomes declining or stagnant for the vast majority in “rich” countries
By Gabriel Black, 16 July 2016
A new report from McKinsey Global Institute finds that for most people in the advanced capitalist countries there has been no recovery from the 2008 Wall Street crash.
Economic inequality soars in US
By Patrick Martin, 2 July 2016
Average incomes of the top 1 percent rose twice as fast as the incomes of the remaining 99 percent of Americans in 2015.
World Wealth Report 2016: The number of German millionaires increases
By Marianne Arens, 27 June 2016
Along with the US, Japan and China, Germany is one of the four countries with the most millionaires in the world.
Reports document social crisis
US wages and jobs decline, inequality rises
By Patrick Martin, 23 June 2016
Two reports issued over the past week shed light on the deepening social crisis in the United States and the deteriorating economic position of the working class.
Report reveals millions living under modern day slavery
By Usman Khan, 18 June 2016
A recent report by the Global Slavery Index documenting that millions are living in conditions of modern slavery stands as an indictment of the capitalist system.
US economy adds fewest jobs in five years
By Evan Blake, 4 June 2016
The US economy added only 38,000 jobs in May, the fewest since 2010, in another indication of the persistent slump gripping the US economy.
Dramatic rise in poverty among German retirees
By Sybille Fuchs, 21 April 2016
By 2030, almost half of all new retirees will face the threat of a pension at the level of Hartz IV social welfare.
Amnesty report: Executions worldwide at highest level in 25 years
By Thomas Gaist, 7 April 2016
Last year saw the highest rate of state killings since 1989, with at least 1,634 prisoners killed, a more than 50 percent increase over 2014’s official number.
More than 1 million in US face food stamps cutoff
By Kate Randall, 2 February 2016
The SNAP cutoffs loom as hunger and food insecurity continue to rise and more than a quarter of the unemployed have been jobless for more than six months.
Notes on the housing crisis
Number of empty luxury apartments in New York City continues to rise
By Robert Fowler, 1 February 2016
As the number of homeless reaches new heights in New York City, more and more apartments owned by absentee, super-wealthy owners stay empty for most of the year.
The lottery and social despair in America
By Andre Damon, 9 January 2016
For millions of people, the dream of winning the lottery has replaced the “American Dream” of living a decent life.
America’s richest 400 households paid a 16.7 percent tax rate in 2012
By Tom Eley, 4 January 2016
America’s super-rich and giant corporations hide trillions of dollars in order to avoid paying taxes on their earnings.
Mass layoffs worldwide as corporate mergers near new record
By Andre Damon, 15 August 2015
Under conditions of slowing economic growth and record amounts of cash on corporate balance sheets, mergers and acquisitions are being used to intensify the assault on the working class.
Surge in homelessness among young people across the UK
By Dennis Moore, 6 August 2015
According to a new study, an estimated 1.3 million young people aged 16 to 24 have slept rough during the past year.
Pennsylvania budget impasse threatens schools, social programs
By Douglas Lyons, 16 July 2015
Most social programs and the state’s 500 school districts have been operating on reduced funding for over 7 years and have used up any reserve they may have had.
More attacks on public education in Louisiana
By Aaron Asa, 14 July 2015
A recently passed law in Louisiana will facilitate the use of textbooks with religious-based attacks on evolution and climate change.
Pew report: 84 percent of world population subsists on under $20 per day
By Andre Damon, 11 July 2015
The much-vaunted rise of the “global middle class” is “more promise than reality,” according to a report published this week by the Pew Research Center.
Brooklyn real estate developer assails building workers and tenants
By Steve Light and Allen Whyte, 7 July 2015
Nine building maintenance workers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community of Brooklyn were fired from their jobs for refusing cuts in wages and benefits.
Top bankers’ pay rose 17 percent in 2014
By Andre Damon, 4 July 2015
The vast sums of money pocketed by bank executives are bound up with activities that range from borderline legal to flagrantly illegal.
UK child poverty rising as government seeks cuts to tax credits
By Margot Miller, 4 July 2015
A staggering two thirds of children growing up in poor households have at least one family member in work.
Colombo’s “fastest growing tourism” status obtained at the poor’s expense
By Vilani Peiris, 4 July 2015
The transformation of Colombo into a destination for wealthy tourists is the product of ruthless attacks on the inner-city poor, including mass evictions.
Inequality in Australia rising at one of world’s fastest rates
By Cheryl McDermid, 3 July 2015
Australia’s mining boom benefited a tiny elite at the top of the income table.
US income inequality continued to soar in 2014
By Andre Damon, 2 July 2015
A new report by economist Emmanuel Saez found that the share of income going to the top one percent of US earners increased by one percentage point last year.
The “American Dream” denied
US home ownership rate hits lowest level in two decades
By Andre Damon, 25 June 2015
Amid falling wages, rising housing costs and tight-fisted lending by banks, the “American dream” of homeownership has moved out of reach for most young households.
Millionaires projected to own 46 percent of global private wealth by 2019
By Gabriel Black, 18 June 2015
According to a new report, the vast majority of new wealth for the rich has come from the increase in the value of pre-existing assets.
A further comment on Paulson’s gift to Harvard: Public education and American democracy
By Barry Grey, 15 June 2015
The privatization of education is profoundly antidemocratic and alien to the basic principles and conceptions that animated the American Revolution and founding of the republic.
Social inequality and American politics
By Andre Damon, 8 June 2015
Despite polls showing overwhelming popular opposition to social inequality, these sentiments find no genuine expression in official US politics.
OECD report: Global social inequality hits new record
By Gabriel Black, 23 May 2015
The growth of inequality has been accompanied by the expansion of part-time and contingent labor, particularly for younger workers.
Only one in four workers worldwide has a stable job
By Andre Damon, 20 May 2015
Jobs created in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis have been disproportionately contingent and part-time, according to a new report published by the International Labor Organization.
Christie’s $1 billion week: Art market heads for the stratosphere
By J. Cooper, 18 May 2015
Artwork, particularly 20th century and contemporary art, now functions as another commodity for the financial aristocracy to invest and speculate in.
State funding for higher education in US slashed by 20 percent since 2008
By Evan Blake, 14 May 2015
Throughout the US, states are on average spending $1,805 less per student than before the financial collapse.
Britain’s super-rich have doubled their wealth since 2009
By Robert Stevens, 30 April 2015
Britain is more attractive to the super-rich than anywhere except America.
One and a half billion people live on less than $1.25 per day
By Zaida Green, 17 April 2015
A new report by the Overseas Development Institute claims that official statistics may undercount the number of people in extreme poverty worldwide by as many as 350 million.
Poverty in Germany reaches a record high
By Denis Krassnin, 10 March 2015
The mounting gap between rich and poor in Germany is causing the country to fragment into disparate socio-economic regions.
Wealth of world’s billionaires surges past $7 trillion
By Joseph Kishore, 4 March 2015
The inexorable rise in the wealth of the ultra-rich, amidst economic stagnation, is an expression of the parasitic character of world capitalism.
One fifth of world suicides linked to unemployment
By Barry Mason, 24 February 2015
In 2008, the beginning of the economic crisis, suicides associated with job loss were nine times greater than previously thought.
Study shows inequality much higher in Germany than previously estimated
By Denis Krassnin, 19 February 2015
The richest .1 percent of the German population controls as much as 16 percent of the country's wealth.
Financial markets celebrate European Central Bank launch of €1 trillion quantitative easing program
By Nick Beams, 23 January 2015
The measure will have little or no impact on the real economy. Rather, it is aimed at making available further supplies of ultra-cheap cash for financial speculation.
Capitalism and the global plutocracy
By Andre Damon, 21 January 2015
A group of people who can fit into a double-decker bus control more wealth than 3.5 billion people, equivalent to the combined populations of China, India, the United States and the European Union.
Oxfam: Richest one percent set to control more wealth than the bottom 99 percent
By Andre Damon, 20 January 2015
As the global financial oligarchy descended on Davos, Switzerland this week, the Oxfam charity released new figures on the colossal growth of social inequality.
New York City’s housing and homelessness crisis intensifies under de Blasio
By Philip Guelpa, 16 January 2015
Amid rising homelessness and a dearth of affordable housing, de Blasio’s programs favor real estate interests and the wealthy elite.
Figure hits $4.1 trillion
Wealth of world’s 400 richest billionaires rose $92 billion in 2014
By Andre Damon, 3 January 2015
The wealth of the global financial elite soared last year amid surging stock markets fueled by cash infusions from central banks.
Global financial markets facing instability in 2015
By Nick Beams, 31 December 2014
Divergent central bank policies are a potential source of financial turmoil in 2015.
Social inequality in New Zealand over Christmas
By John Braddock, 29 December 2014
Hundreds queued for nine hours for emergency Christmas food parcels.
The Dow at 18,000: Contradictions mount in world economy
By Nick Beams, 27 December 2014
The ever-widening gap between financial markets and the real economy is creating the conditions for economic turmoil and the eruption of social and political struggles.
The state of world capitalism: Labor productivity up, real wages down
By Patrick Martin, 6 December 2014
The latest Global Wage Report by the International Labor Organization documents the international working class’s declining share of world income.
Bloomberg report names Atlanta and New Orleans as the most unequal cities in the US
By E.P. Bannon, 6 November 2014
A recent report released by Bloomberg listed the 50 most unequal cities in the United States.
A “great leap backwards”
UNICEF report: 2.6 million more children in poverty in developed countries since 2008
By Andre Damon, 29 October 2014
There are 76.5 million children in poverty in 41 developed countries, according to a report published Tuesday by the United Nations Children’s Fund.
A quarter of South Africans regularly go hungry
By Thabo Seseane Jr., 27 October 2014
Malnutrition is especially severe among women and children in South Africa, with Oxfam researchers reporting that childhood stunting has increased to 26.5 percent.
The American oligarchy
By Andre Damon, 18 October 2014
Whatever the pretense of “one person, one vote,” the fact is that the top 0.1 percent dictates policy and essentially selects the personnel tasked with carrying it out.
Richest one percent controls nearly half of global wealth
By Andre Damon, 17 October 2014
Hypothetically, if the growth of inequality were to proceed at last year’s rate, the richest one percent would control all the wealth on the planet within 23 years.
Wealth of world’s billionaires: $7.3 trillion
By Joseph Kishore, 19 September 2014
There are now 2,325 billionaires in the world, and their combined wealth has increased 12 percent from last year, according to a new report from Wealth-X and UBS bank.
Income inequality rises sharply in Britain
By Robert Stevens, 28 August 2014
The country is sharply polarised between a tiny minority who control much of the country’s wealth and monopolise political life, and the vast majority who have little control over either.
“Poor Door” for lower-income tenants underscores class divide in New York
By Steve Light, 22 August 2014
A 33-story luxury building under construction will have a separate back entrance for those who live in its “affordable” apartments.
One-third of the US population has no retirement savings
By Jake Dean, 22 August 2014
New reports continue to expose worsening economic conditions for millions.
The Financial Times’ attack on Thomas Piketty
By Joseph Kishore, 27 May 2014
In a series of articles over the past several days, and in a major editorial published on Monday, the Financial Times has launched a scurrilous attack on Thomas Piketty and his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
While wages, jobs stagnate
Median CEO pay in US tops $10 million
By Patrick Martin, 5 April 2014
The median worker would have to work 257 years to earn as much as the typical top 500 CEO made in 2013 alone.
Forbes list of world’s richest people highlights growth of social inequality
By Ed Hightower, 5 March 2014
The number of billionaires worldwide increased by 268, the largest such increase ever, with a combined net worth of $6.4 trillion.
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