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As the world’s mandarins prepare for their annual reunion in Davos, Switzerland, the British charity Oxfam is calling attention to income inequality by pointing out that eight billionaires — three of them Jewish — hold as much wealth as the poorest half of the Earth’s population.

In their ranked list, headed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($75 billion), the Jews come in at six, seven and eight. They are Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg ($44.6 billion), Larry Ellison ($43.6 billion), chief executive of the software maker Oracle number seven and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($40 billion).

“Across the world, people are being left behind. Their wages are stagnating yet corporate bosses take home million dollar bonuses; their health and education services are cut while corporations and the super-rich dodge their taxes; their voices are ignored as governments sing to the tune of big business and a wealthy elite,” said Winnie Byanyima, the leader of Oxfam International.

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This is the thirty first annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. In that time the share of wealth owned by the global elite has increased by all measures.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

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