Billionaires adding to poverty

Level 2

Intermediate

1 Warmer
a. Write the following numbers. one hundred and eighty-nine billion _________________________________________________ thirty-one trillion _________________________________________________ b. How many billionaires can you name? c. What is Oxfam?

2 Key words
Write the key words from the article next to the definitions below. Then find the words in the article to read them in context. The paragraph numbers are given to help you. accumulation inequality aid poverty income tackle extremes tax havens hindering the wealthy

1. stopping someone or something from making progress or developing __________________ (para 1) 2. to make an organized attempt to deal with a problem, often a social problem __________________ (para 1) 3. the process by which something increases in amount over time __________________ (para 2) 4. money that someone gets from working or from investing money __________________ (para 2) 5. financial help __________________ (para 2) 6. a situation in which someone does not have enough money to pay for their basic needs __________________ (para 2) 7. people who are extremely rich __________________ (para 5) 8. as different from each other as they could possibly be __________________ (para 6) 9. a situation in which people are not equal because some have more opportunities, power, money, etc than others __________________ (para 6) 10. places where people go to live, or where they keep their money, so that they do not have to pay higher taxes in their home country __________________ (para 15)

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013 NEWS LESSONS / Billionaires adding to poverty / Intermediate

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Billionaires adding to poverty

Level 2

Intermediate
9 She said: We can no longer pretend that the creation of wealth for a few will benefit the many too often the reverse is true. 10 The report said the issue affected all parts of the world. In the UK, inequality is rapidly returning to levels not seen since the nineteenth century. In China, the top 10% now earn nearly 60% of the income. Chinese inequality levels are now similar to those in South Africa, which is now the most unequal country on Earth. 11 In the US, the share of national income going to the top 1% has doubled since 1980 from 10 to 20%, the report says. 12 Members of the richest 1% are estimated to cause as much as 10,000 times more pollution than the average US citizen. 13 Oxfam said world leaders should learn from countries such as Brazil, which has grown rapidly while reducing inequality. 14 Stocking said: We need to reverse decades of increasing inequality. As a first step, world leaders should formally agree to reduce inequality to the levels seen in 1990. 15 She said closing tax havens, which hold as much as $31 trillion, or as much as a third of all global wealth, could collect $189bn in additional taxes.
Guardian News and Media 2013 First published in The Guardian, 19/01/13

Billionaires fortunes hinder fight against poverty, says Oxfam

Phillip Inman, economics correspondent 19 January, 2013 1 The huge fortunes made by the worlds richest 100 billionaires are increasing inequality and hindering the worlds ability to tackle poverty, according to Oxfam. 2 The charity said the accumulation of wealth and income often led to a reduction in secure jobs and decent wages for the poorest people. This made it more difficult for people who survive on aid or low wages to improve their situation and escape poverty. 3 Oxfam said the worlds poorest could be taken out of poverty several times over if the richest 100 billionaires would give away the money they made in 2012. 4 Without naming anyone, the charity argued that the $240bn made in 2012 by the richest 100 billionaires would be enough to end extreme poverty four times over. 5 It is unusual for charities to attack the wealthy, because they are usually seen as a source of money. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are among a group of 40 US billionaires who have said they will give much of their wealth to aid projects, but there is little detail about the level of their annual donations. Russian, Middle Eastern or Chinese billionaires have not promised to do the same. 6 In the report, The Cost of Inequality: How Wealth and Income Extremes Hurt Us All, published just before the World Economic Forum in Davos, the charity asks world leaders to commit to reducing inequality to at least 1990 levels. 7 The report found that the richest 1% had increased their incomes by 60% in the past 20 years. And the financial crisis has sped up, not slowed, the process. 8 Barbara Stocking, Oxfams Chief Executive, said studies show that countries suffer low levels of investment and growth as workers are forced to survive on a smaller share of total incomes.
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013 NEWS LESSONS / Billionaires adding to poverty / Intermediate

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Billionaires adding to poverty

Level 2

Intermediate

3 Comprehension check
Answer these questions with information from the article. 1. How much did the worlds richest 100 billionaires increase their wealth by in 2012? 2. How much money would be needed to tackle world poverty? 3. Why does Oxfam criticize even those US billionaires who do donate part of their wealth? 4. Why do Oxfam especially criticize billionaires in China, Russia and the Middle East? 5. What is the name of Oxfams report? 6. Which country should world leaders learn from, according to Oxfam? 7. In which country is financial inequality most extreme? 8. In what way is it claimed that billionaires cause environmental damage? 9. What does Oxfam want world leaders to do first? 10. What one action could relieve much of the poverty in the world?

4 Word fields
a. Find all the money-related words in the article and write them into the box.

b. Write example sentences for those words that you know but dont know how to use yet.

5 Discussion
How did you feel when you read this article? Do you think that world poverty can be ended by the worlds richest people?

6 Writing
Write either a letter or email about this article and its contents to one of the following: a. a newspaper b. a billionaire c. your local member of parliament.

7 Webquest
Go to http://www.oxfam.org/ and find out more about Oxfams work.

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013 NEWS LESSONS / Billionaires adding to poverty / Intermediate

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Billionaires adding to poverty

Level 2 KEY
1 Warmer

Intermediate

4 Word fields
a. billionaires, poverty, economics, fortunes, richest, wealth, income, wages, aid, poorest, money, the wealthy, donations, cost, financial crisis, investment, growth, tax

a. 189,000,000,000; 31,000,000,000,000 b. possible answers: Bill Gates; Richard Branson; Oprah Winfrey; Mark Zuckerberg; Donald Trump; Giorgio Armani; George Lucas; J K Rowling; Steven Spielberg c. a worldwide charity: Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. http://www.oxfam.org/

2 Key words
1. hindering 2. tackle 3. accumulation 4. income 5. aid 6. poverty 7. the wealthy 8. extremes 9. inequality 10. tax havens

3 Comprehension check
1. $240bn 2. a quarter of the above sum 3. because they dont provide details of their annual donations 4. They have not promised their wealth to aid projects. 5. The Cost of Inequality: How Wealth and Income Extremes Hurt Us All 6. Brazil 7. South Africa 8. They pollute far more than the average person. 9. formally agree to reduce inequality to the levels seen in 1990 10. closing tax havens
O FR BE C O DO O M W P W N IA EB LO B SI A L TE DE E D

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NEWS LESSONS / Billionaires adding to poverty / Intermediate