Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is raising concerns about what he sees as an urgent crisis: the extreme concentration of wealth at the top. And he is making it clear that this is not just a problem for the U.S.
“Oligarchy is not just a crisis for the U.S.,” Sanders said in a recent post on X. “Globally, while millions face hunger and death from preventable illnesses, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 95%.”
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A Global Wake-Up Call
Sanders referenced late Pope Francis’ call for a fairer economic system, saying, “We need a global economy that works for all, not just billionaires.” His remarks come as 2024 data from Oxfam shows that the richest 1% now own more wealth than 95% of the world’s population combined.
Oxfam’s report, “Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy,” highlights how billionaires and mega-corporations are increasingly shaping global rules to favor their interests. Billionaires either run or are principal shareholders of over a third of the world’s 50 largest corporations, which together are worth $14 trillion. Meanwhile, Global South countries, home to 79% of the world’s population, control just 31% of global wealth.
“The shadow of global oligarchy hangs over this year’s UN General Assembly,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s executive director, said in a press release. “The ultra-wealthy and the mega-corporations they control are shaping global rules to serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere.”
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Fighting Inequality at Home
In the U.S., Sanders is also focused on stopping what he calls “Robin Hood in reverse.” He accuses Republicans of trying to take from working people and the poor to give more to billionaires through a proposed budget he says will hand out massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while slashing essential programs like Medicaid, education, and housing.
“There are very few people in this country who think that at a time of massive income and wealth inequality… that billionaires need a huge tax break,” Sanders told CNN. “And at the same time, in order to pay for that tax break, what Trump and the Republican leadership are talking about are horrific cuts to Medicaid, education, housing, and programs that working-class people in this country desperately need.”
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Call to Action
The Oxfam report and Sanders’s warnings both point to a growing concern: a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals and corporations are gaining outsized influence, undermining democratic institutions and multilateral efforts to tackle global challenges like poverty, inequality, and climate change.
Oxfam is calling for new international frameworks on tax, debt relief, and intellectual property rules, particularly around pandemic responses, to counter the rise of global oligarchy.
“Only a solidarity-based multilateralism can reverse the movement toward global oligarchy,” Behar said.
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