The never-changing story on extreme wealth, hunger and poverty

THE words "grotesque" and "obscene" are often the adjectives used to describe the wealth accumulation of the world's richest 1 percent. And the level of profiteering by the corporate giants that have been reliable cash spigots for the world's wealthiest even during the Dickensian "worst of times." Remember the tough years of 2021-2022? Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said that 722 corporate giants reaped $1 trillion in profits every year in those two years while many national economies were barely surviving.

In its latest report, poverty tracker Oxfam was at a loss for words to describe the over-the-top, unstoppable and hard-to-scale wealth accumulation of the global rich. So, Oxfam just laid that out in easy-to-understand language. Even minus the adjectives, the gist of the report remained a heartbreaking, depressing story — and a very familiar one.