Oxfam Cares More About Ideology than Poverty - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world - Martin van Staden:
January 27, 2018 - "Oxfam recently published its latest report on global inequality, pretentiously titled Reward Work, Not Wealth. In the report, Oxfam not only regurgitates all the same economic fallacies we’re used to — chief among them, the labor theory of value and the notion that wealth inequality is a problem to be solved — but it goes on to make dangerous and authoritarian recommendations to governments on how they should respond to this supposed 'inequality crisis'....
"Oxfam is among that cabal of non-government organizations that love the much-touted slogan that the world’s wealth is increasingly being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people..... In this year’s report, however, Oxfam cites research that 2017 saw the biggest increase in the number of billionaires in human history; 'one more every two days,' the charity claims. But ... Oxfam ... considers this phenomenon as indicative of 'extreme wealth' ... a problem that must be ended.
"Either wealth is increasingly being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people ... or, as Oxfam reported this year, there has been a substantial, indeed unprecedented, increase in the number of billionaires. Oxfam should decide what its angle is going to be....
"The report makes another incredible claim: globally, billionaires’ wealth increased by $762 billion in 12 months. According to Oxfam, this 'huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times over.' There is, of course, a massive problem with this claim. In 2011 alone, the United States government spent more than $668 billion on 126 welfare programs.... According to Michael Tanner at the Cato Institute, the United States has spent nearly $15 trillion on welfare since the War on Poverty was declared by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964....
"Poverty is ended through employment, savings, and, crucially, a political environment conducive to economic freedom and economic growth; not by throwing money at the problem. Thankfully, on the up-side totally ignored by Oxfam, global extreme poverty has fallen dramatically over recent decades. It is likely that extreme poverty will be eliminated within the current generation. This won’t satiate Oxfam, however, because it concerns itself with the rich, not the destitute....
"Among a laundry list of state-centric suggestions, Oxfam calls on governments to 'use regulation and taxation to radically reduce levels of extreme wealth, as well as limit the influence of wealthy individuals and groups over policymaking.” It is safe to assume that Oxfam excludes itself — an extremely wealthy lobbying organization, having received over $244 million from governments alone between 2015-16 — from those groups that need limiting. It further advocates that governments should set targets 'for the collective income of the top 10% to be no more than the income of the bottom 40%'....
"It is high time that Oxfam be reduced to irrelevancy, at least as far as public policy goes. Its dodgy methodology, nit-picking of facts, and ideological commitment to the non-problem of inequality – at the expense of the very real problem of destitution – make it an intellectually dishonest player in policy advocacy. To the extent that Oxfam still engages in charity work, we must wish it all the best of luck. But solving poverty will not come out of its recommendations; instead, it will only yield more despair and tyranny.""
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/oxfam-cares-more-about-ideology-than-poverty/
'via Blog this'
January 27, 2018 - "Oxfam recently published its latest report on global inequality, pretentiously titled Reward Work, Not Wealth. In the report, Oxfam not only regurgitates all the same economic fallacies we’re used to — chief among them, the labor theory of value and the notion that wealth inequality is a problem to be solved — but it goes on to make dangerous and authoritarian recommendations to governments on how they should respond to this supposed 'inequality crisis'....
"Oxfam is among that cabal of non-government organizations that love the much-touted slogan that the world’s wealth is increasingly being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people..... In this year’s report, however, Oxfam cites research that 2017 saw the biggest increase in the number of billionaires in human history; 'one more every two days,' the charity claims. But ... Oxfam ... considers this phenomenon as indicative of 'extreme wealth' ... a problem that must be ended.
"Either wealth is increasingly being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people ... or, as Oxfam reported this year, there has been a substantial, indeed unprecedented, increase in the number of billionaires. Oxfam should decide what its angle is going to be....
"The report makes another incredible claim: globally, billionaires’ wealth increased by $762 billion in 12 months. According to Oxfam, this 'huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times over.' There is, of course, a massive problem with this claim. In 2011 alone, the United States government spent more than $668 billion on 126 welfare programs.... According to Michael Tanner at the Cato Institute, the United States has spent nearly $15 trillion on welfare since the War on Poverty was declared by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964....
"Poverty is ended through employment, savings, and, crucially, a political environment conducive to economic freedom and economic growth; not by throwing money at the problem. Thankfully, on the up-side totally ignored by Oxfam, global extreme poverty has fallen dramatically over recent decades. It is likely that extreme poverty will be eliminated within the current generation. This won’t satiate Oxfam, however, because it concerns itself with the rich, not the destitute....
"Among a laundry list of state-centric suggestions, Oxfam calls on governments to 'use regulation and taxation to radically reduce levels of extreme wealth, as well as limit the influence of wealthy individuals and groups over policymaking.” It is safe to assume that Oxfam excludes itself — an extremely wealthy lobbying organization, having received over $244 million from governments alone between 2015-16 — from those groups that need limiting. It further advocates that governments should set targets 'for the collective income of the top 10% to be no more than the income of the bottom 40%'....
"It is high time that Oxfam be reduced to irrelevancy, at least as far as public policy goes. Its dodgy methodology, nit-picking of facts, and ideological commitment to the non-problem of inequality – at the expense of the very real problem of destitution – make it an intellectually dishonest player in policy advocacy. To the extent that Oxfam still engages in charity work, we must wish it all the best of luck. But solving poverty will not come out of its recommendations; instead, it will only yield more despair and tyranny.""
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/oxfam-cares-more-about-ideology-than-poverty/
'via Blog this'
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