Eight

The number of the week is 8. Yes EIGHT. Eight people own just shy of 50% of the world's wealth.

If you thought that wasn't so bad, another 60 odd people own another 1/4. Which leaves, the remaining 3.6 Billion with the final 1/4 of the Pie. 

Even if you belief in the capitalist adage, that the pie is not a fixed size. That is still an astronomical realisation. Lets unpack that a little. 

That quester, is going towards a few biggies, Education, Healthcare & Food Security. For the world's population. Yes the world has more wealth than it did 100 years ago, or even 30 years ago, capitalism is winning they say, These 8 create wealth through, investment, though idea generation, through job creation. According to Oxfam's report (Which you can read in full here) On of the things these wealthy people are doing, is Tax Evasion. Which means that 1/2 of the world's wealth is not going into education, healthcare & Food security.  Can you imagine a world in which these 8% actually paid taxes? I don't care how many scholarship grants or school you fund, to satiate your excessive wealth accumulation. I don't care how much money you throw at, privately funded medical research, or technological innovation. 

Today, that means that 3.6 Billion People, will be unable to take their kids to the doctor when they are sick, will struggle provide adequate nutrition of their children, or be able to afford the send their kids to appropriate early childhood development schools, primary school, high school and tertiary institutions. 

Lets think about Who these people are : 

6 of them are America's.

America, a country which is unable to prive the vast majority of the populous with, Health Care, Disaster relief, With a Budget Deficit bordering on the absurd. 

4 of those 6 : Are in technology sectors. 

Apart form Say Bill Gates, who occasionally produces a computer, they make Nothing. They invest little beyond the people they employ in the local economies of the countries where they set up their headquarters. Their wealth creation is basically fictitious, is exists only as 1's and 0's. 

Suffices to say, we have a big problem.