Do they have your best interests at heart? A shocking 50 PERCENT of the global wealth precariously belongs to only ONE PERCENT of the world's population

Known as Davos men, the most elite wealthy gather for one week during the year to speak on the world's most pressing issues, usually skipping out on the staggering wealth inequality.

Davos men, the world's most elite billionaires and politicians, gather at the World Economic Forum to once again attempt to tackle inequality between the rich and poor as the disparity continues to grow.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Every year the world's richest people come together at the ski resort of Davos in Switzerland. This year the anti-poverty charity Oxfam will use its prestigious position in the event to "demand urgent action to narrow the gap between rich and poor."

"We want to bring a message from the people in the poorest countries in the world to the forum of the most powerful business and political leaders," said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International and one of the six co-chairs at the WEF this year. "The message is that rising inequality is dangerous. It's bad for growth and it's bad for governance. We see a concentration of wealth capturing power and leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for."
 
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Studies show that by next year one percent of the world is expected to have more wealth than than the other 99 percent. Oxfam's current research shows that the better-off one percent now owns 48 percent of the world's wealth and the worst-off 80 percent only have 5.5 percent of the world's wealth.

By 2016, the richest one percent will own more than 50 percent of the world's wealth, according to current trends.

According to Oxfam, just 80 people own the same amount of wealth as more than 3.5 billion people combined.

"Do we really want to live in a world where the 1% own more than the rest of us combined? The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," explained Byanyima.

"I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it," Pope Francis expressed last year in a letter to those at the World Economic Forum. His words did little good to the Davos men, though, as nothing really changed.

Although inequality is being tackled with political agendas all around the world, the one percent continue to use their wealth as lobbying tools in different congresses. Their wealth is being inherited by the next generation and used the same way.

According to Oxfam, the richest 80 people's wealth doubled in cash terms the last five years and 20 percent of all the world's billionaires have interests in the financial and insurance sectors. During the 2012 US election cycle, this financial sector gave $571 million for campaign contributions.

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Davos men are supposed to act without any segregated country loyalty, but rather in the interest of all globally. The numbers, statistics and rising inequality shows otherwise. They are acting according to their own wealth-powered agendas.

"I was surprised to be invited to be a co-chair at Davos because we have a critical voice," said Byanyima. "We go there to challenge these powerful elites. It is an act of courage to invite me. Extreme inequality is not just an accident or a natural rule of economics. It is the result of policies and with different policies it can be reduced. I am optimistic that there will be change."

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