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Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold public office (lite.cnn.com)

submitted 2 days ago by yonderbarn@lazysoci.al to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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The richest people on the planet are far more likely to be in power politically than everyone else, Oxfam’s annual inequality report found.

Some 74 of the world’s 2,027 billionaires held either executive or legislative government positions in 2023, giving them a 3.6% chance of holding office, according to Oxfam’s study, which was released Sunday. By contrast, the average global citizen had just a 0.0009% chance of holding office.

“This year’s report really shines a light on the relationship between political inequality and economic inequality,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “The fact that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold office than you or I underscores just how much outsized power billionaires have.”

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is it that billionaires are more likely to hold office, or that people who hold office are more likely to be filthy rich? Likely both, but an interesting but missing statistic would be what the average net worth of people who enter public office is vs. what their net worth is when they leave.

[–] yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 7 points 2 days ago

The article says the former.