By Frei Betto on August 6, 2025
Since ancient Greece, Aristophanes has mocked the unequal distribution of wealth in his comedy “Pluto – Wealth” (388 BC). In it, the god of wealth is blind, unable to recognize the righteous, and therefore favors the cunning and unscrupulous.
The play, full of scathing criticism, shows how money drives all human relationships—from love to war—and denounces how, instead of rewarding virtue or morality, wealth ends up being controlled by those who know how to manipulate it. Hence the term “plutocracy,” the power of money. A reflection that, two thousand years later, unfortunately remains very relevant.
Oxfam published a report at the end of June that demonstrates the deepening of inequality in the world.
In seven years (2015-2022), the wealth of the richest 1% of the world’s population (77 million people) increased by more than $33.9 trillion.
With this amount, poverty in the world could be eliminated 22 times over! According to the World Bank, $1.515 trillion would be enough.
Rich countries sign protocols to eradicate hunger and combat the environmental crisis, but they never pay what they promise. Money to save lives is scarce. However, with just Trump’s threat to withdraw financial support for NATO, the European Union promised to spend 800 billion euros on military equipment. There is plenty of money to eliminate lives. That is the logic of capitalism!
Who are the 77 million people who make up the select club of the world’s richest? They are all those who earn $310,000 or more per year. This multimillionaire elite controls 45 percent of the world’s wealth, estimated at $556 trillion (according to 2023 data). This means that the richest 1 percent of the world’s population owns between $250 trillion and $278 trillion.
According to the Oxfam report, since 2015, just 3,000 billionaires have seen their fortunes increase by $6.5 trillion.
One of the factors explaining such inequality is the lack of progressive taxation. The richest should pay more taxes, as Lula intends to implement in Brazil. What prevails is regressive taxation: the poorest pay proportionally more taxes than the richest. And the rich consider social policies to be “expenses” rather than investments. They always complain that the government spends too much.
Brazil’s Planalto Palace
However, they remain silent when the Planalto Palace allocates billions of dollars to agribusiness or exempts companies from paying taxes. In Brazil, this exemption already amounts to 860 billion reais! Oxfam clarifies that billionaires pay only 0.3 percent of their wealth in taxes.
Another cause of inequality is public debt. The government issues public debt securities to raise funds from investors. In practice, when the state issues a security, it is borrowing money; in return, it promises to repay this amount plus interest at a future date. It is a way of financing the public sector.
The cycle works like this: the government sells bonds to investors (banks, investment funds, companies, or individuals) and, in exchange, receives cash immediately. When the bond (or installments) matures, the government repays the amount plus interest. Therefore, the higher the interest rates (such as those currently in Brazil), the more money financial market speculators pocket.
Private capital, such as banks and large funds, buys these bonds as a safe and profitable investment. In this way, the state channels public resources (through interest payments) to remunerate private capital.
This has several effects:
The social impacts of public debt are profound and controversial, as they involve the way in which the government allocates its resources.
When a significant portion of the public budget is allocated to debt repayment (interest and amortization), this can restrict investment in key social areas such as health, education, housing, security, etc.
To sustain such high dependence on the public sector, a “fiscal adjustment” is required. This involves maintaining the government’s credibility in the market and guaranteeing debt repayment; implementing public spending cuts (including essential services); reducing or eliminating social programs; and freezing public sector wages. But if the government decides to raise taxes on the rich, widespread protests ensue!
All of this mainly affects the most vulnerable, who depend on public services and suffer the loss of social rights and a decline in their quality of life.
At the bottom of the global social pyramid are 3.7 billion people, almost half of the world’s population.
While the richest own 45 percent of the world’s wealth, the poorest own only 2.4 percent.
Oxfam reveals that between 1995 and 2023, the wealth accumulated in private hands increased by $342 trillion, eight times more than the wealth of governments, which grew by only $44 trillion.
What is the solution? Heed Aristophanes’ warning four centuries before Christ: elect leaders who represent the interests of the majority of the population, not corrupt and opportunistic politicians linked to the plutocracy, who defend the ambitions of the wealthy minority and vote against the rights of the working majority, like so many deputies and senators in Brazil’s National Congress today.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English