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Mail & Guardian

Wealth Gap

latest news & developments
The handover of the G20 presidency to the United States will occur on Tuesday at the Department of International Relations offices. (GCIS)

G20 presidency handover to the US set for Tuesday, Dirco director general Zane Dangor says

Dangor said the US argument that if one G20 member was absent from the leaders summit, then there could be no consensus, had been voted down

WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and President Cyril Ramaphosa. (X)

‘World not doing tit for tat with US,’ WTO head says at G20 summit

Director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said South Africa’s G20 presidency highlighted the importance of trade within WTO rules and reforming the system through local mineral…

The G20 leaders summit was held in South Africa last week. (GCIS)

‘G20 declaration future-proofed, despite US non-participation’, says South Africa’s presidency

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said countries understood ‘that there’s a bilateral issue between South Africa and the US, but that must not, in any shape or form,…

President Cyril Ramaphosa. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa: G20 leaders summit reaches consensus on adopting a declaration

In an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s absence, Ramaphosa warned against allowing ‘anything to diminish the value, the stature or the impact of the first African…

President Cyril Ramaphosa. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa launches G20 panel to address extreme global inequality

The panel, chaired by Nobel prize-winner economist Joseph Stiglitz, will produce recommendations to help bridge the rich-poor divide

Retirement is the test of saving

Closing the gender wealth gap needs systemic change — but women must also act

South African women face a wider wealth gap than global average, retiring with 71% of men’s wealth due to unequal pay, lower employment and care breaks

The inefficiency of the Gini coefficient

To simplify complex inequality into a single statistic doesn’t address how to accurately assess (or reduce) South Africa’s large wealth divide

Despite the gap at the top shrinking

SA’s middle class closing in on the rich

The gap between the poor and middle class is widening, but according to the World Bank, inequality between the rich and middle class is narrowing.

It is clear that the effect of the increase in VAT on the poor will not be limited by the existing zero-rated items

No, minister. Increasing VAT was avoidable

Instead of hitting low earners hard, the budget should have raised wealth and corporate taxes

Free education demands radical change to the budget

‘Lastly, economics makes the difference between wealth creation and wealth inheritance.’

Figures suggest SA has the highest concentration of wealth in the hands of a few

For the first time, tax data has been made available to try to assess just how much is owned by how many

South Africa is a hyper-consumerist country – only the United States

We’ve bastardised blessed with a #

Forget the God of Galatians 5. Another lord who rules the temples of wealth will grant all your wishes, particularly if you are among the 1%.

QE has made the very rich even richer

Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report makes for interesting reading for those who suspect quantitative easing is more about propping up asset prices.

Inside information favours those setting the gold price.

1% own half the world’s wealth

Research by Credit Suisse shows that the world’s poor and middle classes have been squeezed to create more wealth for 1% of the population.

Inequality mocks SA’s freedom

Oxfam’s latest report highlights the travesty of inequality and warns of dire and corrosive consequences to society.