The Rich & The Poor
These Few People Have The Combined Wealth of 3.5 Billion People
A new statistic released by charity organisation, Oxfam has everyone abuzz. Apparently, the world’s 8 richest Billionaires have the same amount of money as half of the world’s population. In particular the poorer half. Oxfam are trying to draw attention to social inequality and encourage wealth sharing, better minimum wages and increased tax payments from the largest companies in the world.
It is amazing to think that these 8 people have so much money that if 3.5 billion people club together they can only call their bluff (no raising here) in a game of poker.
Here are the names and worth of these 8 very, very, very rich people:
- Bill Gates ($75 Billion) co-founder of Microsoft
- Amancio Ortega ($67 Billion) Founder of Zara owner Inditex
- Warren Buffet ($60.8 Billion) Smart guy and largest shareholder in Bershire Hathaway
- Calso Slim Helu ($50 Billion) Owner of Grupo Carso of Mexico
- Jeff Bezos ($45.2 Billion) Founder of Amazon
- Mark Zuckerberg ($44.6 Billion) You use his product..trust us.
- Larry Ellison ($43.6 Billion) Co-founder of Oracle
- Michael Bloomberg ($40 Billion) He tells you what’s going on..and you believe him
Interestingly, many of these super rich have set up charities and organisations to help others with the funds they have. Yes, maybe for tax purposes but also out of common human decency. It seems that once you have a ridiculous amount of money you can’t help but start to give it away. It makes you think about how much money is really enough…
Can you imagine Microsoft’s tax return? It must be more than the GDP of many a small country. The revenue generated by these few people and their companies really keeps the world economy afloat. That and countries constantly going into more and more debt, of course.
So if you are feeling a bit strapped for cash this month, at least you are in good company with the other 3,499, 999 other people out there who are in the same boat as you.