The world’s 85 richest people have a combined net worth equal to the entire to that owned by half of the world's population – the 3.5 billion people starting at the poorest and going on up to the 50 percent line.  This shameful statistic is being revealed by a new report from Oxfam.

The report called “Working for the Few” says the widening chasms of global economic inequality created by the rapidly increasing wealth of the richest, warning of the major risks it poses to “human progress.”

“This massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive political and economic systems,” the report said.  “Instead of moving forward together, people are increasingly separated by economic and political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and increasing the risk of societal breakdown.”

Oxfam says the richest one percent of people in the world now amounts to almost A$125 Trillion – that’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom economic half of the world's population. 

And people know that the fix is in.  Oxfam notes that surveys show that majorities of people in six countries (Spain, Brazil, India, South Africa, the UK, and the US) believe that laws are skewed in favor of the rich.

210 people became billionaires in 2013, joining an exclusive club of 1,426 individuals whose combined net worth is US$5.4 trillion.  In the past decade, India’s billionaire population exploded tenfold, from six to 61.  That’s in a country where more than half of the people don’t have indoor plumbing.