The horrors of the pandemic have taken us all for a ride but what’s even more surprising to learn is that the world’s 10 wealthiest men, literally doubled their fortunes during the first two years of this ghastly pandemic. Or maybe it isn’t so surprising after all. While we could have anticipated such an event, the reality of it actually happening is easy to strike anyone. It’s disheartening to learn of such occurrences particularly since there is nothing we can really do anything about it. The world has seen a lot of turmoil in the past two years and to say that we are caught by surprise, is definitely an understatement.
While poverty and inequality soared at high levels, the wealth of the top richest jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. This, at an average rate of $1.3 billion per day as per a briefing being published in front of the World Economic Forum. Their wealth has grown during the pandemic a lot more than it did in the last 14 years, right from the after-effects of the Great Depression back in 1929.
This has resulted in an economic violence of sorts owing to the period which only seeing disruption for the past two years. It’s horrendous to learn that while the number of deaths rose every day, so did the pockets of the richer.
This pandemic has resulted in putting over 160 million people in poverty, broken backs of women and non-ethnic groups and only resulted in excruciating pain. There has been no solace whatsoever, especially when it comes to fulfilling tax brackets or filling mouths. Prices have increased while labour has been put out of work and these are only a few of the issues being addressed.
There ought to be multiple initiatives which lead to tax reforms and world-wide free vaccine drives that do not just fund the pockets of the wealthy. In an age where the world is still recovering from a global crisis, it’s time we laid emphasis on the betterment of the society and steered away from capitalistic strategies.
