Confronting Colombia's Inequality
August 31, 2022
By Sam Pizzigati
Inequality.org
The alarm bells are sort of ringing, Bloomberg reports, in Colombias most fashionable neighborhoods of Bogotá and Medellin.
Colombias newly elected progressive president has just proposed a wealth tax, on his first day in office no less. In Latin America, the worlds most unequal region, an egalitarian move like that would normally have a nations most privileged enraged and frothing. And some of that frothing certainly is showing up since Gustavo Petro, Colombias first left president, proposed his new levy on grand fortunes.
A top exec with Colombias largest financial conglomerate now even says he sees a significant risk the nations stock market will practically disappear under Petros reign.
But Colombias rich are, by and large, showing little of such hysterics. Simply put, Colombias wealthiest just dont feel their new president can deliver any real squeeze on their considerable net worths. Petros lack of a congressional majority and Colombias powerful constitutional court and central bank, as The Financial Times has comfortingly informed global investors, will most likely temper any radical impulses on the new administrations part.
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The headquarters of Bancolombia, a major Colombian commercial bank, in Medellin. (Juan Camilo Trujillo, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
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A view of Medellin, Colombia, from the Metro Cable. (Pedro Szekely, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
More:
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/08/31/confronting-colombias-inequality/