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Every year, Oxfam releases a report meant to shock the public about the extent of income and wealth inequality. This year’s report claims that the eight richest people on Earth have as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population (3.6 out of 7.2 billion people). That’s certainly shocking. It’s also profoundly misleading. As others have pointed out, Oxfam reached that number with a questionable methodology, which also led them to several other absurd conclusions. According to their own graphs, more poor people live in North America and Europe than China (see the far left of the chart...

Oxfam's deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence resigned this afternoon admitting she is 'ashamed' the prostitute scandal happened on her watch. Ms Lawrence was the programme director for Oxfam's Chad and Haiti relief efforts, which have been plunged into scandal after investigations revealed staff paid victims for sex... Ms Lawrence said: 'I am deeply sad to announce that I have resigned as deputy chief executive of Oxfam GB. 'Over the last few days we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behaviour of staff in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon... Oxfam is...

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday. Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay...

Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in today's Wall Street Journal that George Soros's Open Society Institute has been funding terrorism. In a column entitled Friends of Terror in Peru, O'Grady notes that Thursday's vote by the European Parliament to take the Peruvian guerrilla group known as the Tupac Amaru (aka MRTA) off its terrorist list has Peru in an uproar. For good reason: The MRTA is notorious for kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians to advance its political agenda. More recently, Peruvian officials have linked it to Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Movement," which seeks to destabilize democracies in Latin America, and to the...

The NYT published a press release from Oxfam claiming that the richest 1% control more than half the world's wealth. I don't know if that's true, but if it is... who cares? Even if it is true, where exactly is this money being held? Investors with interests in finance, insurance and health saw the biggest windfalls, Oxfam said. Using data from Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires, it said those listed as having interests in the pharmaceutical and health care industries saw their net worth jump by 47 percent. Oh, they're being held in businesses. Businesses, that, you know, employ...

The combined wealth of the world’s richest 85 people is now equivalent to that owned by half of the world’s population—or 3.5 billion of the poorest people—according to a new report from Oxfam. In a report titled “Working for the Few” released Monday, the global aid and development organization detailed the extent of global economic inequality created by the rapidly increasing wealth of the richest, warning of the major risks it poses to “human progress.” […] Oxfam said that based on its polls conducted across the world, it is believed that there are many laws and regulations designed to benefit...

The figures are astonishing. There are more than 195,289 registered charities in the UK that raise and spend close to £80 billion a year. Together, they employ more than a million staff – more than our car, aerospace and chemical sectors – and make 13 billion ‘asks’ for money every year, the equivalent of 200 for each of us in the UK. But many charities have become hungry monsters, needing ever more of our money to feed their own ambitions. And while registered charities claim that almost 90p in every pound donated is spent on ‘charitable activities’, many spend at...

By Ryan KhuranaIt’s time for the World Economic Forum once again, when a subset of the world’s rich elite meet in Davos, Switzerland for a luxurious few days of self-congratulations, while they lampoon another subset of the rich elite for all global problems. The festivities as usual are heralded by the Oxfam report on global inequality, this year entitled “Reward Work, not Wealth.”Oxfam calculates, using a data set provided by Credit Suisse, that 42 people own 50 percent of the world’s total wealth. From this and other insights about the top 1 percent, such as their collective ownership of 82...

One of the world’s largest, allegedly corrupt charities has joined forces with one of the world’s largest, allegedly corrupt governments to guilt trip the Western world into welcoming 60 million migrants to their shores. On Sunday, the European Commission and Oxfam launched their YouSaveLives campaign to give “a face and a name to this vast army of invisible people.”

The government has ordered Oxfam to hand over files on charity staff who paid for sex in earthquake-torn Haiti. The demand follows an investigation by The Times that revealed Oxfam covered up the use of prostitutes by senior aid workers. Matt Hancock, the culture secretary who is responsible for charity regulation, said: “These allegations are deeply shocking and Oxfam must now provide the Charity Commission with all the evidence they hold of events that happened in Haiti as a matter of urgency. “The reported historic behaviour of senior aid workers is abhorrent and completely unacceptable. Charities must ensure that they...

Top staff at Oxfam paid Haitian prostitutes for sex in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, it has been claimed.Senior aid workers were found to have paid for sex while involved in the massive cleanup operation after the natural disaster killed 220,000 people and left millions more homeless, the Times reports.The charity, which receives £300million a year in government funding, conducted an internal investigation which led to three men being sacked for gross misconduct.Four others were allowed to resign, it is claimed.One source told the Times that an Oxfam worker had arranged "sex parties" at a villa rented by the...

Oxfam claims to help fight global inequality. It apparently does so by redistributing abuses around the world. When Oxfam claims to help the children, it's best to ask just what sort of help it offers. The charities watchdog has demanded an urgent clarification from Oxfam after allegations that the charity covered up an inquiry into whether its staff used sex workers in Haiti during a 2011 post-earthquake relief effort. All the "Save the Worlders" had quite a time in Haiti. Just ask the UN and the Clintons. And they partied at the expense of the Haitians. One of the men...