Global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small elite. Some believe the market system of most countries allows the rich to get even richer while the masses struggle to survive. Business tycoon Johann Rupert believes this has gone too far.

Anti-poverty charity Oxfam reports that the wealthiest 1 percent will own more than the combined wealth of the other 99 percent of the world by 2016 (1).

This is no exaggeration considering that in 2014 they owned 48 percent of the world’s wealth, according to Wealth: Having It All And Wanting More (2), a research paper published by Oxfam. This means they will shortly own more than 50 percent.

In 2014, Oxfam reported that “85 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.” (2)

This means that a handful of people possess the corresponding combined wealth of the poorest people in the world, all 3.5 billion of them (3).

To gain entry in the One Percent Club, an aspiring member would have to have a net worth of over half a million pounds, or roughly over $753,000 (3).









Dangerous Wealth Gap

Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said global inequality is “simply staggering” and addressed governments with a seven-point plan to fight poverty by suppressing tax evasion and ensuring a decent wage for all workers (3).

Meanwhile, 1 in 9 people still don’t have enough to eat. How much longer can this situation go on? Johann Rupert, chairman of one of the world’s biggest luxury conglomerates, a total of 20 brands that include Cartier, Piaget, Vachern Constantin, Chloe, and Montblanc, believes we are on the brink of social unrest.

Rupert believes the tension between the two opposing classes, the rich and the poor, is bound to escalate with the imminent disappearance of the middle class, as robotics and artificial intelligence will lead to mass unemployment (4).

How is society going to cope with the structural unemployment and the envy, hatred and social warfare?”, Rupert asked his fellow billionaires at the 2015 Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Monaco (5).

Ironically enough, one in three of the population in Monaco are millionaires, according to a 2014 report from WealthInsight (6).

Cartier loyal customer Jay-Z said “the gap between have and have-nots is getting wider and wider” during a 2013 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher (7).