It is now a matter of statistical record that the "recovery" after the 2008 economic crisis was a transfer of wealth to those who already dominated the game. The poor got poorer, and so did the well-adjusted and middle class.

The times are getting more difficult not just for those on the bottom, but for all who are not towards the top.

Columnist Jeff Sparrow at the London Guardian wrote a column on the growing nightmare of inequality at a time when the economy will be sparing few from harsh conditions. The headline is particularly punchy:

By every meaningful measure, today's elites are gods. This should make us angry

According to Oxfam, the wealth of those richest 62 people grew by more than half a trillion dollars since 2010, even as the wealth of the bottom half of the world dropped by 41%. That, mind you, took place in the period after the global financial crisis, during the years of supposed recovery.

In other words, inequality increased massively when the economy was growing, with most of the new wealth created going to the rich rather than those who needed it most.