Richest 20 billionaires own same wealth as 50% of world’s population
On Tuesday, the popular business magazine released its annual list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, which inadvertently shed light on the vast economic inequalities worldwide.
One eye-catching statistic stood out: The combined wealth of just 20 of the top billionaires featured – $2.1trn – is greater than the wealth owned by 50% of the world’s population.
As for the top 1% of Americans, they have a combined net worth of around $35.2 trillion. That’s comparable to just over 30.4% of all household wealth in the US.
In 2010, the 388 richest individuals owned more wealth than half of the entire human population on Earth
By 2015, this number was reduced to only 62 individuals
In 2018, it was 42
In 2019, it was down to only 26 individuals who own more wealth than 3.8 billion people.
And now in 2021, 20 people own more than 50% of the entire planet.
This isn’t democracy, this is a feudal plutocracy on a burning Earth…
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…Every aspect of our existence is monetarised for big data to sell us more stuff we can’t afford. We are alienated and anesthetized by a consumer culture that keeps us neurotic and disconnected. Our work, our existence, every move we make are all built to suck money to a minority class that sits above us while under neoliberalism, globalization, financialization, and automation, our existence as individuals has only become more disposable.
We are but meat bags secreting hormones addicted to dopamine rewards for fat, sugar, salt and sex in a cultural landscape of individualism uber allas where we sing sweet secret lies to ourselves to make sense of a world around us that is frightening and in constant entropy.
Radical nationalism is required to counter the gridlock of individualism.
The current political spectrum in New Zealand can not radically adapt fast enough to adopt the changes we must make if we are to survive the climate crisis. It will require a radical Political Movement that elects a Party to implement a radical Nationalistic agenda.
These pressures and changes will occur whether we want them or not.
2023 will be the first election when Gen X + Millennials will be a greater voting population than the Boomers.
An election changes a Government.
A revolution changes the State.
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‘On Tuesday…. The combined wealth of just 20 of the top billionaires featured – $2.1trn – is greater than the wealth owned by 50% of the world’s population.’
That was Tuesday.
It’s now Thursday and the numbers need updating:
The combined wealth of just 20 of the top billionaires featured – $2.15trn – is greater than the wealth owned by 51% of the world’s population.
In the casino of modern finance and speculative gains that the system has been morphed into, what could possibly go wrong?
‘What a remarkable moment in time: every asset is lofting higher, with no limits in sight. The path ahead is already well-scouted: the U.S. economy will add a million jobs a month until the cows come home, Covid will continue fading until it basically disappears as an issue, the dollar and volatility will continue their death-march toward zero (good for risk assets), oil and commodities are entering a new super-cycle of growth, as are stocks, bonds (now that pesky yields are falling), cryptocurrencies and housing– all are entering super-cycles of high growth and essentially limitless expansion of speculative gains.
It’s dreadful having a skeptical default setting, but there you have it: what could go awry? Seemingly nothing. Everything’s accounted for and for anything out of the blue, we have the trusty Fed Put, the Federal Reserve’s implicit promise to crush any spot of bother with a wall of freshly issued dollars and near-infinite credit.
Look on our works, ye Mighty, and despair, for we are the greatest power in the Universe! Resistance is futile, and so on. Indeed.
Since we’re in an era in which speculators in any asset can’t possibly lose, it’s no surprise that punters are borrowing buckets of cash to increase their stake in the casino’s can’t lose gaming tables…..
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr21/go-awry4-21.html
I don’t think it is acceptable that individuals own so much money and wealth, there should be a cut off for the amount of wealth a person can have before they are not allowed anymore. It is more wealth than anyone can spend in a lifetime.
I don’t begrudge people being billionaires, but I do think they should pay more tax not less than everyone else, and the new mechanisms like ‘charitable trusts’ are yet another marketing come tax avoidance scheme. In fact worse because they are lobbying for themselves while taking down the reputation of legitimate charities that help others for zero personal gain vs new charities that help selected others for their own personal gain.
So many of the billionaires are people are from the US but don’t seem to pay their share of taxes around the world – just get more tax breaks from government in corporate welfare.
Also of note for NZ, this massive wealth is generated mostly through ‘new technology’ or design. Two areas in NZ that are being siphoned off by the old boys league in NZ, corporate stealing from individuals that could create massive wealth and prosperity in NZ, prioritising the mentality in NZ against expert advice and people who actually produce real outcomes, supporting old money vs new ideas in government spending, glorifying corporate crooks like Eric Watson, helping rip off the NZ workforce who they begrudge paying wages to and keeping the low wage mentality as their number one priority, and keeping the status quo by legal shackles.
Its not a matter of personally begrudging billionaires of their gains sucked out of society but more a matter of understanding that wealth is created by labour and there is no way in hell a person can create a billion dollars if the worked 24/7 for many centuries.
Behind every extreme concentration of wealth is a scheme that skims off wealthy from many others. Banking is one and a basic cause of inequality.
The wealth owned by 3.8 billion is approximately one third of the money spent by the USA on invasion and wars since 2001.
The waste and greed of the psychopaths is grown out of rewarding crime.
Yes the future of humans and other planet inhabitants is near the edge of the cliff and being vigorously pushed by Western megalomania supported by the raft of mindwashed public who should be up in arms filling the street with protest.
I post this again as it needs to be digested by many as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8ZiYtS10CM
I agree with you John W the issue is about uneven distribution of wealth and the workers not getting their share of the profits of their labour. I’m all for the no more than 20x the highest to lowest paid in a company ratio becoming the norm.
Italian cooperatives have a rule about the relationship of a CEO’s salary to the lowest full time worker and it may be 10x but a check on that is needed.
https://coop.exchange/blog/9c7615e4-645b-11e9-bf70-06ceb0bf34bd/9-facts-about-the-amazing-italian-cooperative-sector
I’ve often advocated a type of benevolent nationalism that looks after our own first,- similar to the days of Savage et al. Many of the lists of things you have blogged on, Mr Bradbury, fit that bill. In essence, a refutation and abolishment of all aspects of the neo liberal ideology from our politics.
Do that, – and reintroduce a modern form of Keynesianism tailored to our needs, and you would be well on your way to economic prosperity not just for the few,… but for the many, as Corbyn would have it.
And that is indeed, what MUST happen.
Billionaires are psychotic and a danger to life on Earth. They wantonly pillage and impoverish nations, and then waste their ill gotten gains on fucken rockets to Mars. How are these parasites tolerated
These are strange times…
Yeah it sounds ds really shocking that kind of statement and statistics. I was shocked hearing something similar 40 years ago anyway.
It’s net worth figures right?
Had a critical thought about it more recently:
What is the net worth of the bottom percentage? It would be zero right? I mean sad as it is, eg a naked starving African refugee child’s net with would be zero… And there’s millions of humans with zero net worth?
Then humans with net worth of say a 50c or less (rags for clothes and little or no more worth the warlords stealing) … 10’s millions more?
Compare to a rich person like J Ardern whose net worth is over $1M.
Is it possible to say the Ardern has the ame wealth as 10M poor people?
(whatever the actual numbers are, could be a lot more)
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