While Oxfam reports suggest that 80 people have as much wealth as half the population of the planet, redistributing that wealth on a personal basis numerically can seem relatively ineffective. Bloomberg took the simple notion of redistributing each country’s wealthiest person’s wealth across the poorest billion. In many large countries, the populations are large enough that the wealth spreads very thinly. In the US, Bill (& Melinda) Gates’ money would mean $1,736 for each of the poorest 15% of Americans. Few would turn down the money, but such a one-time payment wouldn’t cover more only a few weeks or months of living expenses, and not be a permanent fix except for a few.
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“What If the Richest Person In Every Country Gave All Their Money To The Poor” – Bloomberg
Pretending Not To Panic 