seven billion people who make kept the poorest however the weald there wasn't no increase in wealth oxfam pins much of the blame on the erosion of workers' rights and big business having too much influence over government policy making in an attempt to balance the scales that charity is calling for a minimum wage people can live on higher taxes on the rates and more spending on public services like health and education according to oxfam's data forty two billionaires control as must wealth as the poorest half of the world's population as of early january amazon boss jeff bezos is the world's richest man with a fortune topping one hundred billion dollars on a one out of ten of the world's billionaires women l'oreal paris liliane bettencourt was worth nearly forty billion dollars when she died last year and most billionaires from asia with china are leading the pack it's booming economy come produce two new billionaires every week. let's bring in our panel joining us from london vicky pryce an economist at the center for economics and business research for a bat lesson had iraq an m.p. and

oxfam pointed to in their report in vietnam and in baghdad are actually doing much better typically than most people in those economies so i think it's quite wrong to suggest that somehow it's only benefiting the very wealthiest at the same time that clearly is a big problem and i think partly it's due to globalization in the sense that before those who were successful were successful at a local level now they can be successful at a global level the market is much bigger and therefore the rewards of the long of the most successful are larger second of all the explosion of the financial sector and all the wealth that has been taken by the participants are not necessarily the investors in the in the financial sector. and then thirdly you've seen i think increased monopoly power of some companies and then using that monopoly power to reward. their c.e.o.'s in an excessive why. mispriced i mean even before slum issues that we poor this is something that has galvanized a tense of a quite some time member of friends economist thomas piketty said in his book that a long as the. rate is ret

just in time for the meeting of the world's leaders in davos the international enjoy oxfam is updating its annual inequality report oxfam's us the number of billionaires worldwide has gone up to two thousand and forty three this past year combined wealth increased by thirteen percent that's not bad news process all you new billionaires out there but there is a downside to it eighty two percent of the global wealth created last year went to the top one percent of the world's population said billion as and here's a depressing example in just four days the c.e.o. of one of the world's top fashion brands earns as much as a seamstress and butler makes throughout the entire working life and to add insult to injury the richest people in the world are experts in tax avoidance claims that paying two hundred billion dollars less in taxes than they should according to the respective laws of their countries just compare that with this figure development aid paid out by the leading industrial nations stands at one hundred forty five billion dollars but oxfam is reporting more worrying developments

they certainly do have year in oxfam's inequality report server award work cannot well fate point out that eighty two percent of all the wealth generated last year is now in the hands of just one percent of the population to discuss how to close that gap i'm joined now by the executive director of oxfam international will be any my thank you very much for joining us on d. w. what single way what measure would you recommend to close that gap as soon as possible what do you want people here to do when they leave this luxury resort you see that inequality that we show in our report of some report is a result of choices that politicians and business people make if they make different choices the gap could close such us so we would like governments pauli to concede us to take the driving seat and manage the economies for the benefit of the majority and not for the few at the top so for example they should institute a living wage a minimum wage which is a living wage people at the bottom can have a decent life they should make sure that men and women are treated equally in the economy they

that is what oxfam is saying. let's put that into perspective. in just four years, the ceo of one of the world's top fashion brands earns as much as a seamstress in bangladesh her entire life. to make things even worse, oxfam also notes that billionaires are usually experts in tax avoidance. they are paying about 2000 billion dollars less in taxes than they should, according to the respective loss of their countries. compare that to development aid paid out by the leading industrial nations to less developed countries, which is just $145 billion. while the world is looking at millionaires and stars in davos, here is a look at those who struggle. reporter: the oxfam inequality report does not just say the rich are getting richer. it's as the fortunes of the world's poorest are not improving at all. >> 50%. the bottom 50% of humanity, 3.7 billion people, have got nothing, 0% of the new wealth created. it is getting worse. billionaire wealth is increasing six times faster than the wages of ordinarary people. reporter: t ts disparity is felt deeply i

and you can find more on the oxfam inequality report on d w dot com slash business. malaysia's economy roared ahead in recent months showing the largest expansion in three years the overwhelming majority of this output is fueled by coal fired electricity plans owned by john providers such as petra s. providing electricity to small villages is hardly a priority in developing economy moving as fast as malaysia's so social entrepreneurs are moving in to help turn on the lights in the countryside. the people of pasco dong aren't hooked up to the electrical grid even though they live just four hours from the capital kuala lumpur ten years ago the malaysian government installed solar panels here but few of them are still working. out what that's why gurpreet singh has come to the village. around four years ago he founded the social enterprise farm. gives workshops to village residents that trained them and how to repair the technology then the lights and small appliances here will work again if you're going to see if you learned well we've got a little shop. most of the vi

--re is a call to oxfam's there is a call to arms in oxfam's inequality report this year.he total wealth created was captured by the top 1% and the bottom 50% of the world got nothing. says wealth inequality is growing and the figures are staggering. the increase in wealth for billionaires was $762 billion. that is enough to end extreme poverty worldwide, not just once but seven times. oxfam is calling for a crackdown on tax havens and date narrowing of the gender pay gap. -- a knowing of the gender pay gap. this womanan is a taxi driver in egypt. .> egypt is unfair it judges women and says they cannot work in a man's profession. egegypt is currerently ranked dn the bottttom 10 of t the 144 countries in the gender pay gap study. charts differences in pay between men and women. >> macron is on an offensive ahead of the -- a charm offensive and head the doubless memeeting. meeting.of the davos several firms will use the conference to announce a major investment in france, including toyota, which is spending money to enlarge its factory. is also announcing a new artificial in

and oxfam claims the gap between the super wealthy and the rest of the world has widened again the report was released just in time for the davos meeting. it's time for business on the w m how you got to get us welcome to the program and i'll start with some name dropping british prime minister of the reason may french president in one remark call and brazilian president michel those are just some of the world leaders that we are expecting to attend the world economic forum in davos but the meeting is known for a very broad array of participants and topics here's a first look at what. these are the stars of opening night in davos elton john actress cate blanchett and bollywood star shahrukh khan are the recipients of the crystal and they've been recognized for their charity work but for many here the highlight is said to be u.s. president trump for the first time in nearly two decades a sitting u.s. president will be taking part of the world economic forum some think he needs to have discussions with other foreign leaders more than anyone. because secret support and is. whoever was the le

the oxfam inequality report doesn't just say that the rich are getting richer it also says the fortunes of the world's poorest are not improving at all fifty percent the bottom fifty percent of humanity three point seven billion people got nothing zero percent of the new wealth created it's good to was baby are they all wealth is increasing six times faster than the wages of ordinary people this disparity is felt deeply in vietnam province where many worked in the textile and garment sector often far from home and away from their families land is thirty two and work six days a week for about one u.s. dollar an hour she can't afford to keep her children with her they live with their grandparents more than a thousand kilometers away. i don't have enough money to raise my two children and i have to save money for them to feed them so they will be well fed like their friends i want to be that way that way you only. oxfam says it's badly paid work like lands that ensure goods are kept cheap and sold in massive volumes line the pockets of corporate shareholders and executives to combat wideni

and speaking of wealth inequality just like last year the international ngo oxfam released its annual inequality report in time for the world economic forum now oxfam says the number of billionaires worldwide has increased to two thousand and forty nine in the past year with their combined wealth going up thirteen percent and there's nothing bad with more billionaires but of course it comes at a price now let's take a look at some of those figures eighty two percent of the global wealth that was created in the last year got to the wealthiest one percent that's what oxfam is saying now let's put that into perspective for example in just four years the c.e.o. of one of the world's top fashion brands earns as much as a seamstress in bangladesh her entire life and to make things even worse oxfam also notes that billionaires are usually experts in tax avoidance they're paying about two thousand billion dollars less in taxes than they should according to the respective loss of their countries a compare that to development aid paid out by the leading industrial nations to less developed coun

policy advisor from oxfam. and sold or liquidated time is running out for germany's state owned land his age not back. welcome to d.w. business cryptocurrency bitcoin has been in freefall in the last twenty four hours now by the end of last year it was trading close to forty thousand u.s. dollars at the beginning of two thousand and seventeen bitcoin was valued under one thousand dollars but it made huge gains in the second half of twenty seventeen the cryptocurrency soared after trading in bitcoin futures began on the cheek aagot mercantile exchange last month and now it is getting its tumbled nearly thirty eight percent of its highest point trading below eleven thousand dollars rumors the south korean and chinese governments could ban trading encrypted currencies have spooked investors. well american car makers are celebrating the latest models at the detroit motor show but behind the scenes it's business as usual and numbers crunching ford has lowered its earnings expectations for this year based on higher c

and oxfam would observe the same thing that some of these reports are saying this it is undoubtedly the part with the most experience and the most infrastructure in place to spend money in the way that leads to poor perty reduction which is what these or other government departments have a huge and important role to play in development often it's not about spending a money it's doing things like bringing peace to yemen which is the ultimate thing that people need rather than aid money it's doing things like tackling climate change which one are major drivers of poverty it's conducting research other government departments have a huge role to play that could well involve bonding aid money but what we think is that until the right structures transparency oversight is in place we shouldn't see a lot more money spent by other government departments of the ndis it they're the experts and they're where the majority of spend i think should remain and sing the bush johnson has spoken of more uses where it's sensible spending and of this money across departments but it begs the question you rais

s helen humphrey in davos helena oxfam the ngo has a pretty strong stance on this. they certainly do have year in oxfam's inequality report reward work cannot wealth they point out that eighty two percent of all the wealth generated last year is now in the hands of just one percent of the population to discuss how to close that gap i'm joined now by the executive director of oxfam international will be annie my thank you very much for joining us on d.w. what single way what measure would you recommend to close that gap as soon as possible what you want people here to do when they leave this luxury resort you see that inequality that we show in our report of some report is a result of choices that politicians and business people make if they make different choices the gap could close such as so we would like governments political leaders to take the driving seat and manage the economies for the benefit of the majority are not for the few at the top so for example they should institute a living wage a minimum wage which is a living wage people at the bottom can have a

oxfam says its badly paid work like lands that ensure goods are kept cheap and sold in massive volumes lining the pockets of corporate shareholders and executives to combat widening inequality the charity has called for ensuring a living wage for workers and imposing higher taxes on the wealthy. we stay on the subject of davus and we're going to discuss it with our financial correspondent on wall street james carter yes we know that there was a big expectation and a lot of question marks regarding whether donald trump would attend the meeting or not now it seems like he will what's the word on wall street. well first of all talking about millionaires and billionaires jamie diamond the head of j.p. morgan's once said about davos it's about billionaires explaining to millionaires how the middle class feels but well let's come to the u.s. president twenty seventeen has been mostly about domestic politics especially the tax reform and twenty eight could be about trade issues and therefore it will be very interesting also here from a wall street perspective how the president will appear in

this is oxfam's those between the altar rich one percent and everyone else. staying with the theme of inequality max and the international monetary fund is warning world leaders stronach reforms to spread prosperity. the body has raised its global outlook for this year and next the imf says it expectss to seea growth rate of three point nine percent. managing director crazy night out says tax cuts in the united states would boooost investments in the countryry and help it straight partners. global growth has been accelerating since twenty sixteen. and all signs point point to a continuous strengthening of that growth this year in twenty eightee. the next year in twenty nine jean. so this is very welcome news growth in all of you. needs to be more inclusive. not only across country which has occurred over the course of the last few decades. but within countries. senator of the markets next and here in europe the maintenance is ended the session on a makes note. the votes in london and it and the session down two tenths of one percent gains on the tax in frankf

with all that news where do we go from here that's something i would like to discuss with a lot from oxfam germany good to have you here with us. terry already said it sounds familiar inequality certainly is a recurring theme especially this time of year with the world economic forum in davos yet the gap nevertheless seems to be widening despite all the talk what's going wrong well two things that are going wrong mainly it is the tax avoidance of violence large scale. avoidance by the super rich and by corporations and it is also corporations that are paying wages that are often hardly enough to survive if you mentioned the example of seamstresses in bangladesh something goes wrong here because we have excessive personal gates and profits at the top but at the bottom there is just nothing that critics of course which turn around and they do turn around some of those and say ok but just because a rich person doesn't help a poor person in another part of the world so how is that correlation working out for you well there's a correlation in so far that if corporations are not paying wages tha

and three hundred eighty people in two thousand and nine as you can see the gap is widening now in oxfam's latest report at sites over the past year billionaires were created at a record rate of one every two days at the same time the bottom fifty percent of the world's population has seen no increase and wealth their report added eighty two percent of the global wealth generated in two thousand and seventeen went to the most wealthy one percent. meant experts say those holding financial assets during two thousand and seventeen saw an increase in wealth due to a booming global stock market for example and twenty seventeen amazon founder jeff bezos saw a six billion dollar rise in wealth in the first ten days of twenty seven tina due to the bull market on wall street as a result he's the world's richest man and i it sounds are important said nine out of ten of the world's two thousand billionaires were men mark gold ring oxfam's g.b. chief executive said quote for work to be a genuine route out of poverty we need to ensure that ordinary workers receive a living wage and that women are not d

and oxfam would observe the same thing that some of these reports are saying this it is undoubtedly the part with the most experience and the most infrastructure in place to spend money in the way that leads to poor perty reduction which is what it's all other government but departments have a huge and important role to play in development often it's not about spending a money it's doing things like bringing peace to yemen which is the ultimate thing that people need rather than aid money it's doing things like tackling climate change which one are major drivers of poverty it's conducting research other government departments have a huge role to play that could well involve bonding aid money but what we think is that until the white structures transparency oversight is in place we shouldn't see a lot more money spent by other government departments of the ndis it they're the experts and they're where the majority of spend i think should remain and sing the bush johnson has spoken of more uses where it's sensible spending and of this money across departments but it begs the question you

and three hundred eighty people in two thousand and nine as you can see the gap is widening now in oxfam's latest report it cites over the past year billionaires were created at a record rate of one every two days at the same time the bottom fifty percent of the world's population has seen no increase and wealth they report added eighty two percent of the global wealth generated in two thousand and seventeen went to the most wealthy one person. meant experts say those holding financial assets during two thousand and seventeen saw an increase in wealth due to a booming global stock market for example and twenty seven thousand amazon founder jeff bezos saw a six billion dollar rise in wealth in the first ten days of twenty seven tina due to the bull market on wall street as a result he's the world's richest man and not sam's report it said nine out of ten of the world's two thousand billionaires were men mark gold ring oxfam's g.b. chief executive said quote for work to be a genuine route out of poverty we need to ensure that ordinary workers receive a living wage and that women are not disc

i think it's a combination organizations like oxfam actually to inspire people more about what aid can do there are not risks to be taken in delivering a joint you're making investments if you like in some of the most risky areas of the world i think the central political question that there's been around about aid how much do we spend and we can start to have a conversation like we do on all other areas of government policy which is where what's the best way to do this how can we innovate how can we get better at doing it and how can we make sure that the whole government has a complementary approach to to ending poverty what would your message be to pay more than international development secretary in terms of what you'd like her department to be doing moving forward so we went to penn east and pretty soon after she was elected and put yemen actually top of our radar and we were thrilled to see her make a trip to the degree to which is the port which people used to get into yemen and has cells have some tough conversations i think with saudi officials and be influential in helping to

let's further discuss this now with our guest cross live to you doesn't mean car oxfam deputy country director in iraq and welcome to the program mr min car now what do you make of this u.n. report which claims the iraq your thirty's are conducting large scale forced returns of internally displaced people to dangerous areas can you sources on the ground confirm this. well it's very difficult to confirm the report was what we see but there are definitely trends of many people going back to areas where services are not provided. and many other international organizations has been have been asking. government and all of the actors to make sure that the return is dignified informed and voluntary that suki asked by the international humanitarian organizations to the government and all of the security and military actors because things that return of the displaced population need to be informed voluntary dignified and most importantly equipped or going to impart a little with basic services being provided in the areas of return. among other things is claims that baghdad is best trying to se

wealth distributed among people in your country you can find out in the latest annual report from oxfam the group's research suggests this that eighty two percent of the global wealth generated last year went to the richest one percent of the population the three point seven billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth in twenty seventeen their report singles out countries where the gap is widening including the united states it says the three richest people in the us own the same wealth as the bottom half of the population that's a hundred and sixty eight million people car a white or christ is a political philosopher a george sign university joining us here and to talk about not only the socks on report but wealth inequality as a whole did anything surprise you about the findings of those who were it was it was said but not surprising no wealth and income inequality are both very high and they've been getting higher specially in the united states for the last forty years why is that well it's because of policy we have policy that is very fav

and just in time for the meeting the international n.g.o.s is updating its annual inequality report oxfam says the number of billionaires worldwide has gone up to two thousand and forty three part in the in the last year their combined wealth increased by thirteen percent that's not bad news per se congratulations to all the new billionaires out there but there is a downside to it eighty two percent of the global wealth created last year went to the top one percent of the world's population said billionaires here's an example in just four days the c.e.o. of one of the world's top fashion brands and earns as much as a seamstress in bangladesh makes throughout her entire working life and to add insult to injury the richest people in the world i experts in tax avoidance oxfam claims paying two hundred billion dollars less in taxes than they should according to the respective laws of their countries development aid paid out by the leading industrial nations stands at one hundred forty five billion dollars in comparison. i was staying with the subject for months venezuela has been reporting cr

policy advisor on inequality and taxation for oxfam international and i asked her just what those two commitments are. well i really wish i could have stuck to your questions but the problem with this blacklisting process if that turns parents is lacking and we do not really know what kind of commitments other countries making to be have the list it was already the case with what we called the greatest for all countries which could have been blacklisted but just commuted to reforms the problem that we never dared to have a chance to sow those commitments and i'm afraid it will be exactly the same for those eight countries which are soon going to be removed from the u. blacklist all right so even if those commitments are really really great is there going to be some sort of control mechanism in order to shake if they really going to change their tax schemes. well we hope so we are always hopeful but the problem again is that if we don't know what the commitments are to whom are really relying on to know if they're really fulfilling their commitments we're just relying on the willingnes

backtracking and if so why stick a bit deeper here with all the shadow near from oxfam internationalshe's an e.u. policy advisor on inequality and taxation and she joins us now in brussels hello good to have you with us first of all you could fill us in a bit i mean what new commitments are we talking about well i would really wish i could answer your questions for the program we've this blacklisting process that transparency is lacking and we do not really know what kind of commitments other countries making to be have the list it was already the case with what we called the greatest for all countries which have been blacklisted but just committed to reforms the problem that we never dare to have a chance to so those commitments and i'm afraid it will be exactly the same for those eight countries which are soon going to be removed from the u. blacklist all right so even if those commitments are really really great is there going to be some sort of control mechanism in order to check if they really going to change their tax schemes. well we hope so we are always hopeful but the probl

two individuals having as much wealth as nearly four billion of the world's poorest here to go to oxfam's latest inequality award is the engineers u.k. deputy head of research deborah harder and deborah welcome to going on the grounds of tell me about the report would you cause coincides with the world economic forum meeting in davos in switzerland writes they this week we've got the world's rich and powerful gathering in the mountains of data talking about the way that the economy and their level have great statistics of growth and then we have saying great as well they wouldn't say it's for their every one. but what we find in the data is the billionaires have done extremely well the richest one percent of them extremely well they've got eighty two percent of total growth that's happened over the last twelve months what we're doing with this report is bringing into this story bring into this event in davos the story of everyone else the rest of the distribution the ninety nine percent the fit the bottom fifty percent we're talking about the poorest ten percent of people that still live

oxfam are saying people bring us lots of stuff and we might to optimise the money that we make.ica, but otherwise we're going to make as much we can and redistrict some of the property to branches that need to sell stuff instore. doing it online as well. it is not that you are going to have to go through the doors, they are going to put it online? what is important about online is the capacity to charge a sensible price for great products. you can go on the online site and find a scar of for £199. you wouldn't get £199 in a store. two members on the board not looking for re—election. two members on the board not looking for re-election. cheryl is the leading light of facebook and jack is the leading light at twitter. the founder of twitter? these are big names. it says that disney is getting on to their turf competing directly and indeed we've had lots of news that disney is going to get into streaming of media. it's doing that. it is kind of pulling away from a lot of relationships like netflix because it is having to compete with these people that it has been teaming up with?

aid organizations including the red crescent say their staff are stranded oxfam says it has closed its office. but there isn't the only place there are conflicting interests within the saudi led coalition have emerged this is a deal with the airport remains closed for a second day the prime minister ahmed bin that has visited his office after his troops took back control of government buildings from southern secessionists. accuse the separatists of mounting a coup reinforcements from beyond were able to secure some areas but sporadic fighting continues that there is no difference between the these and anyone else who rebels against a legitimate government no matter who they are if he's not with the legitimate government then he's rebelling against it and considered an enemy to the entire country. but it's not as simple because the fighting sides are supported by members of the same coalition saudi arabia backs government forces in this session this are allies of the united arab emirates many and they didn't have traditionally supported the idea of a separate state similar to the struct

pham as an example released its annual inequality report in time for the world economic forum now oxfam says the number of billionaires worldwide has increased to two thousand and forty nine in the past year with their combined wealth going up thirteen percent there's nothing bad with more billionaires but of course it comes at a price now eighty two percent of the global wealth that was created last year went to the richest one percent that is a problem that oxfam is stressing out there now let's put that into perspective to get an idea nowadays in just four days the c.e.o. of one of the world's top fashion brands earns as much as a seamstress and bangladesh makes her entire life that is the contrast there and to make things even worse oxfam also notes that billionaires are usually experts in tax avoidance they're paying two hundred billion dollars less in taxes than they should occurring to the respective loss of their countries now compare that to development aid which is the aid that developed countries gift to less developed countries which is one hundred forty five billion dollars

next to three point eight percent but is growth a valuable way of really measuring the world economy oxfam pointed out that there are more billion as last year than ever before that eighty two percent of wealth grown last year remains in the hands of the one percent that inequality in closing that gap really should be a priority and those are just some of the main takeaways from a packed meeting here in switzerland helen humphrey thank you very much for freezing for us and for the excellent coverage from davos. and helen was telling us that all trump of course had a big impact now we're talking about one of the most polarizing voices in the international stage so of course there were mixed opinions about what trump had to say is the u.s. truly doing better than ever before world economic forum participants mostly disagreed and not only for economic reasons i walked out of his speech because i do not believe that this is a forum for people who use the kind of language that he is we're talking about creating unity in a fractured world here and his statements over the last month about haiti w