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Recession is over for the richest few, while billions will live in poverty for at least a decade - Oxfam

The report, called 'The Inequality Virus', was published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is being held virtually this year. It showed that the 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their coronavirus losses within just nine months, but "it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic."

"The rigged economic system is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression while billions of people are struggling to make ends meet," the report said.

It's likely the same happened during the great recession, it certainly was the case during the financial crash of 2009.

Rising inequality means it could take at least 14 times longer for the number of people living in poverty to return to pre-pandemic levels than it took for the fortunes of the top 1,000 billionaires to bounce back, Oxfam explained. The billionaires' total wealth hit $11.95 trillion in December 2020, equivalent to G20 governments' total Covid-19 recovery spending.

According to the report, the world's 10 richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began. That is "more than enough to pay for a Covid-19 vaccine for everyone and to ensure no one is pushed into poverty by the pandemic." At the same time, the pandemic has ushered in the worst job crisis in over 90 years with hundreds of millions of people now underemployed or out of work.

"We stand to witness the greatest rise in inequality since records began. The deep divide between the rich and poor is proving as deadly as the virus," Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, said.

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The company faced such a mountain of threats and criticism that one of its top executives went into hiding. The suit is based on statements Giuliani made on Twitter, in conservative media and during legislative hearings where the former mayor of New York claimed the voting machine company conspired to flip votes to President Joe Biden.

"For Dominion — whose business is producing and providing voting systems for elections — there are no accusations that could do more to damage Dominion's business or to impugn Dominion's integrity, ethics, honesty, and financial integrity," the lawsuit says. "Giuliani's statements were calculated to — and did in fact — provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm."

The lawsuit argues that Giuliani worked in concert with Trump supporters and lawyers Sidney Powell, L. Lin Wood and conservative media outlets "determined to promote a false preconceived narrative about the 2020 election."

Dominion has also sued Powell, who claimed that the company was created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late leader Hugo Chavez and that it has the ability to switch votes.

"Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $1.3B will allow me to investigate their history, finances, and practices fully and completely. The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart. It is another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously. As such, we will investigate a countersuit against them for violating these Constitutional rights." — Rudy Giuliani

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