We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘the poor get poor, while the rich get richer’, but what many of us fail to acknowledge is this is much more than a phrase. This is the reality of life for not just underdeveloped countries, as most would wrongly assume, but essentially any country with a centralised government. Wherever there is the concentration of power, there is room for corruption and ultimately a vast poverty gap.
According to data provided by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the 15 countries with the largest gaps between the rich and the poor, include:
South Africa
China
India
Costa Rica
Brazil
Mexico
Chile
Turkey
United States
Lithuania
Russia
South Korea
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Latvia
The United Kingdom, United States and China all rank in the top 10 largest economies in the world, not only that but they present this facade as if they are the most progressive nations in the world. Meanwhile, the majority of their citizens rot away in poverty.
Now there are several reasons as to which the evergrowing economic inequality such as corrupt capitalist practices, the failure to tax big corporations, while increasing tax on your everyday person, or the simple favouritism that is shared amongst the rich. A neverending cycle of poverty in which people from a lower-socio economic background do not have access to economic and social resources as a result of their poverty.
Rich people on the other hand remain rich because all the money they make is essentially profit, as for some strange reason tax payments are apparently a foreign entity to them. Take what happened throughout the pandemic as an example, while the majority of us struggled to make ends meet, the 1% increased their net worth by millions.
According to a 2020 report, called ‘Billionaire Bonanza’, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos increased his fortune by $75 billion in the first 17 months of the pandemic alone. Although, Elon Musk topped him bringing in $150 billion to his own wealth. Although exact figures on how much tax these two paid over this period of time, figures from ProPublica have shown that billionaires are known to pay a true tax rate of under 3.4% in comparison to the 14% paid by regular people. So while the already filthy rich continued to get rich, and exploit their workers, the rest of us were left with rising prices, increased taxes, a cut to universal credit payments and a lack of support.
In the UK specifically, while the government dished out billions in COVID contracts to their friends, an estimated 700,000 people were pushed into poverty, 120,000 of which were children. According to the Children’s Commissioner, there was a 107% increase in the number of food parcels given to children by the Trussell Trust in April 2020, in comparison to April 2019. And these numbers are just the ones that have been reported to the government, and only includes those considered to be in dire poverty, turning a blind eye on those who are too poor to survive on their own in this economy, but too rich for government support.
If what happened throughout the initial phases of COVID-19 wasn’t enough, the UK is currently undergoing what the government likes to sugarcoat as a ‘cost of living crisis’ when in reality it is a poverty crisis. Thousands of British households have seen their energy prices soar, increased food prices due to inflation, higher taxes, the cost of living in Tory Britain and not to mention the £20 cut to Universal Credit payments, in order to as they like to say revitalise the economy. Yet they were able to simply write off £43 billion worth of fraudulent COVID-19 payments?
In both the 2014 and 2016 referendum, the Conservatives promised to bring down energy prices, instead, in 2016 alone, prices went up 40% and later this year are expected to increase by £700. Although it can be argued that the government does not set the energy prices, they are able to introduce measures that would prevent a 54% price hike. Over the years, the government has scrapped several renewable energy initiatives, making most Britons reliant on gas for their energy, not to mention the privatisation of the energy sector.
However, instead of introducing any preventative measures, the Tories did what they do best and disappointed the nation. Rishi Sunak, one of the richest people in the country, revealed that a measly £350 financial boost will be available to those affected by the rise in energy prices. That’s £350 that he expects to be paid back within five years by the way. According to YouGov, four in ten Britons will be affected by the poverty crisis, and our government’s response is almost as good as its attempt at Track and Trace, half-hearted and designed to benefit the rich. Meanwhile, French President Macron managed to do his job well enough that France’s electricity costs are only expected to go up by 6% in comparison to our 50%.
been trying to figure out this one myself `. an interesting read ..thanks