Inside Story

Rich and poor: Will the inequality gap ever be bridged?

Charity group Oxfam warns of global crisis, with the 62 richest billionaires owning as much wealth as half the world.

Oxfam has said that the global inequality crisis is going from bad to worse. The global charity says inequality is worse than it has been in 100 years.

It said 62 of the world’s mega-rich own as much wealth as the poorest half of the seven billion people on the planet – and have become 44 percent richer while the poorest have become that much poorer in the past five years.

The richest 1 percent already own more than the other 99 percent combined.

World leaders who are meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week are discussing some of Oxfam’s concerns.

But do they have any plans to tackle the growing divide? And can the wealth gap ever be bridged?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

John Hilary – Executive director of War on Want

Jyrki Raina – General secretary of IndustriALL Global Union

Jan Randolph – Director of sovereign risk analysis at IHS Global Insight