Davos 2016 meeting: Technological change reshaping planet; richest 1% holds more wealth than rest 99%

Davos 2016 meeting is on and business leaders, politicians and celebrities have gathered in the Swiss Alps to engage in collaborative activities, primarily focusing on shaping the global, regional and industry agendas. Friday's agenda includes economic outlook for the Eurozone, global security outlook, violent extremism and securing Middle East and North Africa to name a few.

The leaders are meeting at a time when the world is thoroughly divided between the rich and the poor. The poor seem to be falling further behind the rich, and political fracture in Europe, Middle East and USA is a huge concern.

According to anti-poverty charity Oxfam, the richest 1 percent holds more wealth than the rest 99 percent put together, that is 62 people (53 of them men) has more wealth than the poorest half of the entire world population, reports Reuters. Unfortunately, the gap is widening.

President of United States of America, Barack Obama recently touched on the issue stating that technological change is greatly responsible for this disparity as it is reshaping the planet. He added that “the pace of this change will only accelerate.”

“Companies in a global economy can locate anywhere, and face tougher competition. ... As a result, workers have less leverage for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top,” Obama said.

The next wave of technological development is being hailed as the fourth industrial revolution. However, it threatens additional social upheaval and a primary focus of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016. Numerous traditional jobs will lose the battle to robots.

Conflicting expectations of the future and rising income inequality have created a record trust gap between informed publics and mass populations in many countries. The gap seems to be the largest in India, France, the UK and the US.

The conflicts have even seeped into Europe, which has caused immense ideological rifts as to handling the worst refugee crisis since World War II. In the Middle East, hatred between Shi’ites and Sunnis have reached tipping point, while Saudi Arabia and Iran openly fight for influence in a region torn apart by war and extreme atrocities of Islamic extremists.

“It's a major wake-up call," said Jyrki Raina, the general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. "Inequality is one of the biggest threats to economic well-being and it needs to be addressed.” The Union represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors.