18. The World's 85 Richest People Are as Wealthy as the Poorest 3 Billion

Derek Thompson writes his essay focusing on the global inequality of wealth. Though he proves that inequality is present in the world, Thompson quickly states that “Wealth isn't income. Salary is income. But investments—stocks, houses, or equity in a business—build wealth. Wealth comes from the money you don't immediately spend. Since poor people spend more of their income immediately, and rich people save/invest more of their income immediately, it's predictable that wealth inequality be much worse than income inequality.” And although Thompson’s essay focus on wealth inequality, he also mentions that poverty reduction is just as real. “Since 1970, the world poverty rate has declined by 80 percent.”

The author uses graphs and statistics to prove his arguments. The first graph shows the increase in share of income of the richest one percent. The second graph focus on the share of income of the richest one percent. The third shows the world poverty rate. However, it is possible to realize that most graphs are outdated. For example, the third graph only shows statistic until the year of 2006, which makes his arguments and predictions way less credible, such as “By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world. Almost all countries will be what we now call lower-middle income or richer. Countries will learn from their most productive neighbors and benefit from innovations like new vaccines, better seeds, and the digital revolution. Their labor forces, buoyed by expanded education, will attract new investments.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-worlds-85-richest-people-are-as-wealthy-as-the-poorest-3-billion/283206/