In a new report, Resisting the Rule of the Rich, Oxfam claims that an ultra-rich elite is using an extreme concentration of wealth to capture democratic systems by shaping laws, media, technology, taxation and public policy in their favour.
“This report confirms what the ITUC warned about last year in our call to ’Stop The Billionaire Coup’ – we are witnessing a coordinated billionaire coup against democracy. Extreme wealth is deliberately converted into political power to erode democratic institutions and workers’ rights.” ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle
“The ITUC document the Trump–Musk model exposes how extreme wealth, control over digital platforms and authoritarian politics merge to directly undermine democratic checks and balances.
“As political and business leaders gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum, this report makes clear the economic and political cost to working people of this ever-greater concentration of wealth and power. Billionaire wealth is growing three times faster than the world economy, while millions of people in poverty suffer. Growth is being captured, not shared. Billionaires are no longer merely influencing governments; they are now seeking to govern directly, bypass institutions, weaken labour protections and normalise the erosion of democratic norms, such as trade union rights.
“But it is not inevitable; it is a choice and we can reverse it. We must fight for democracy so that it delivers for working people and is led by them,” added Luc Triangle.
The report paints a stark picture:
- The number of billionaires has passed 3,000, while 3.83 billion people (48 per cent of the world’s population) in 2022 were living in poverty. From 2015 to 2024, the number of people facing food insecurity increased by 42.6 per cent to 683 million, including 92 million in Europe and the USA.
- The top 12 billionaires now hold more wealth than the poorest 50 per cent of the world’s population.
- Women perform 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work per day, contributing at least US$ 10.8 trillion to the global economy.
- One hundred American billionaire families funded one-sixth of all election spending.
- More unequal countries are up to seven times more likely to suffer democratic erosion, as governments increasingly respond to inequality with repression instead of redistribution.
- Big Tech is enabling this coup by the ultra-rich, as billionaires control over half of global media, including nine of the 10 largest social-media firms and eight of the 10 largest AI companies.
Luc Triangle concluded: “As the report identifies, building workers’ power is the best means to curb this accumulation of political power by the super-rich. Trade unions are the foundation of strong, free, democratic societies. Where collective bargaining and freedom of association are respected, workers have power, inequality shrinks, democratic institutions are stronger and economies are more stable. As the world’s largest social democratic movement, trade unions will fight to defend and extend these basic rights.
“Tax justice is now more than just a fiscal tool – it is a democratic safeguard. Extreme wealth must be taxed to limit its political power. Fair and progressive tax policies – including wealth taxes, inheritance taxes and minimum corporate taxes – are needed more than ever for social justice and to finance social progress.
“We cannot allow extreme wealth to erode democracy and dismantle trust. Trade unions offer a roadmap to build the New Social Contract: universal social protection, strong social dialogue, equality, fair taxation and fair wages. This is the only sustainable foundation for peace, resilience and prosperity.”
It is the world’s people and not the super-rich who must shape the future.