We came upon this huge boat while we were walking in the marina in Palaion Faliron the other day. It is massive, as big as the ships that take hundreds of passengers to the islands in the summer.
It's so big that however hard I tried, I could not get all of it in one shot. And it's private.
This is the other half of it.
Next to where this boat was moored, a helicopter pad.
We could not comprehend the need for such a big private boat and such gross conspicuous consumption seemed obscene to us. It brought home the vast and growing gap between rich and poor in our world today.
And then yesterday morning I read in the Guardian that the latest Oxfam report has shown that the 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world's population and that 1% of people own more wealth than the other 99% combined. In order to reverse this, Oxfam suggests the following: a crackdown on tax dodging; higher investment in public services; higher wages for the low paid.
The Equality Trust have made the following statement: 'Inequality, both globally and also in the UK, is now at staggering levels. We know that such a vast gap between the richest and the rest of us is bad for our economy and society. We now need our politicians to wake up and address this dangerous concentration and power in the hands of so few'.
Hear, hear.
