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<\/p>\nA new OECD report has confirmed that social and economic inequality in the majority of industrialized nations has soared since the start of the economic crisis of 2007-8.<\/p>\n
In an update to its 2011 report \u2018Divided We Stand\u2019, the
\nOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been
\ndescribing a widening gap between the developed world\u2019s rich and
\npoor in the thirty years until 2008. But in this latest report it
\nclaims the process has accelerated in the three years since
\n2007.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The paper explains that many countries had already been in a
\ndire state of economic inequality \u2014 their highest in decades \u2014 and
\nall the economic crisis did was exacerbate that to the extent that
\nthe already existing economic gaps were multiplied by the crisis
\nbetween the years 2007-10.<\/p>\n
The report reveals an increase in the difference of how much the
\nwealthy were able to increase their wealth compared to the poor.
\nThis means that if in 2007, the rich were becoming richer 9 times
\nfaster than the lowest 10 per cent, the difference in what they
\naccumulated in 2010 compared to the poor was already 9.5
\ntimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the 34 OECD countries, it appears that \u201cthe top 10 percent
\nhas done better than the poorest 10 percent in 21 countries,\u201d<\/i>
\nwith the widest gaps seen in the United States, Turkey, Chile and
\nMexico. In the three years described above, their income status had
\nbeen continuously plunging by 2 per cent every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A majority of the countries experiencing the harshest rise of
\ninequality were in Europe, where tough EU austerity policies took
\nhold. Italy and Spain were hit worst. However, a 5 per cent
\ndecrease was seen annually in Iceland, Ireland, Estonia and
\nimpoverished Greece \u2014 which still remains on the verge of economic
\ncollapse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One factor shared by all 34 countries surveyed by the OECD is
\nchildren and young people. Whether it is due to unemployment or
\npoor family living standards, they appear to have it have the
\nworst.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHouseholds with children were hit hard during the crisis.
\nSince 2007, child poverty increased in 16 OECD countries, with
\nincreases exceeding 2 points in Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia
\nand Hungary.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
What makes the news grimmer is that cash injections into the
\nworld\u2019s financial elite, via banks and markets, as well as Wall
\nStreet, essentially only helped the uppermost 10 per cent multiply
\ntheir wealth. In the years since 2007, their financial portfolios
\nare said to have grown by a large margin. \u00a0<\/p>\n
But OECD\u2019s data also explains that the economic crisis could not
\nhave been the sole factor in the widening gap between segments of
\nsociety and in their redistribution of wealth. There has been a
\nprocess that has been exploiting these economic conditions since
\n2008, via the bankrupting and impoverishment taking place in the
\ndeveloped world, most likely for the purpose of competing with the
\ndeveloping world\u2019s working classes and their cheap labor. So there
\nis a widening base of severely underpaid working class workers
\nacross the entire world. But they don\u2019t get nearly the kind of
\nsocial, economic or healthcare benefits the upper layers of society
\ndo.<\/p>\n
In the end, it will not get better \u2014 the report says. The only
\nreason that 2010 seemed like the worst year is because the growth
\nof the conditions of inequality was somewhat halted by many social
\nstate provisions, mostly across Europe. Without them, the report
\nsays the real trouble we are in would be more evident, and so would
\nits growth in the years to come. What we are seeing now is only the
\nbeginning.<\/p>\n