The global trend of wealth concentration does not bode well for global capitalism. A main precursor of its armageddon is that the money accumulated by capitalists stops circulating and remains inert or unutilized. The huge hoarders think that if “their” money are allowed to roll freely then their profits will decrease, even though it will bring relief to the common masses. Capitalism is caught in its own sorry trap much in the same way as the proverbial monkey’s fist by the food trap. The tragedy is the colossal suffering taking place in so many ways in today’s world.

Read: P.R. Sarkar on Economic Dynamics

Increasing centralization

• 2030: The richest 1% will control two-thirds of World’s wealth.
  –  House of Commons (UK) library figures
• 2019: The world’s 26 richest people own the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity. – Oxfam
• 2018: The super-rich accumulated 82% of the wealth created the year before – the poorest half of world got nothing. – Oxfam
• 2017: World’s 8 richest men are as wealthy as half the world’s population
• 2016: World’s richest 62 people as wealthy as half of the world population. – Oxfam
• 2015: 1% of the world’s population will own more wealth than the other 99% by next year. – Oxfam

In Russia 25 years after the collapse of Communism:

• 1% of the Russian population controlled 71% of all wealth
• 110 persons controlled 35% of all wealth
• More than 9 out of 10 Russians owned less than the equivalent of $10.000
  (source: Credit Suisse 2013)

In India, 57 billionaires have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 70%. The top 1 per cent of the Indian population owns 58.4 per cent of India’s total wealth, according to an Oxfam report.

In the USA, the five largest financial firms — JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — control about 70 percent of all commercial bank deposits and hold on their combined balance sheets over $10 trillion in assets, roughly equal to two-thirds of the American economy. More than 90 percent of their assets is backed by debt, with very little equity capital
(source: Robert Lenzner).