The world's richest 1% today
owns more wealth than 95% of humanity. Last year total billionaire wealth increased by $2trn, growing
three times faster than the year before. The wealth of the world's five richest men has
more than doubled since 2019, soaring from $506bn to over $1.1trn. That list includes Trump’s cheerleader-in-chief, Musk, who paid a true tax rate of
just over 3% in the US between 2014 and 2018, according to an investigation by ProPublica. The average worker in advanced economies, meanwhile, has typically seen their real pay
fall or stagnate.
The contrasting fortunes of the mega-rich and everyone else are not unconnected. Despite what our leaders claim, capitalism in the ‘developed world’ has primarily become an engine for redistributing wealth upwards – both from its
own citizens and the
rest of the world. Skyrocketing inequality is also
inextricably linked to the climate and environmental crisis. As well as hoovering up much of the world’s wealth, the richest 1%
emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds of humanity. As such, tackling the climate crisis and reducing inequality must go hand in hand.
azmirror.com
