Inequality Doesn't Create Poverty

Ryan McMaken

Oxfam, the leftwing NGO devoted to poverty relief has released a new report blaming poverty in wealth inequality. In other words, its central claim is that the existence of very wealthy people creates poverty.

The report is largely just an extended op-ed that asserts that the existence of some very wealthy people is the cause of poverty in the world. Notable buzzwords and phrases include "trickle down," "obscene levels of inequality," and "neoliberalism."

The "solution" to the alleged problem, which should surprise no one, is a list of taxes that should be either introduced or raised significantly, including higher income taxes, "a tax on financial transactions," a "global wealth tax," and a so-called "anonymous wealth tax."

These taxes, we are told, will put an end to the poverty-causing inequality that now is a global crisis.
But there's a problem for Oxfam in this data. The report never actually demonstrates that inequality causes poverty, or how it does it. It does claim that many wealthy people are getting richer faster than poor people. As Marketwatch sums up:........Read more