According to analysis by Oxfam, the “richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years)”. 63 cents of every dollar of new wealth made in the last two years has gone to the top 1%. Moreover, “an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.”
The top 10% own 85% of the world’s wealth according to UN analysis and that’s from 2006. So if you are one of the 7.1 billion or so that aren’t in that top 10% then you’ve spent at least 18 years fighting for your share of that last 15%. That bright and wonderful future we’ve all been promised where there’s enough production for everyone to work fewer days to afford luxuries and no one has to worry about having a house and food? We’re there NOW and have been for at least a few decades. There’s enough wealth to take care of everyone in the world and our reality is what humanity is doing with those possibilities instead.
What really bothers me is that we wouldn’t have to go full communism - a 5% tax isn’t going to make everyone equal and it won’t ruin the lives of the rich. Going from 1 billion to 950 million or from 500 million to 475 million isn’t going to meaningfully affect the food, housing, vacations, etc of the ultra-rich. It’s not about restricting how rich people can get, it’s about changing how poor people can be for the better. So much is being given away for basically no real difference.
According to analysis by Oxfam, the “richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years)”. 63 cents of every dollar of new wealth made in the last two years has gone to the top 1%. Moreover, “an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.”
The top 10% own 85% of the world’s wealth according to UN analysis and that’s from 2006. So if you are one of the 7.1 billion or so that aren’t in that top 10% then you’ve spent at least 18 years fighting for your share of that last 15%. That bright and wonderful future we’ve all been promised where there’s enough production for everyone to work fewer days to afford luxuries and no one has to worry about having a house and food? We’re there NOW and have been for at least a few decades. There’s enough wealth to take care of everyone in the world and our reality is what humanity is doing with those possibilities instead.
What really bothers me is that we wouldn’t have to go full communism - a 5% tax isn’t going to make everyone equal and it won’t ruin the lives of the rich. Going from 1 billion to 950 million or from 500 million to 475 million isn’t going to meaningfully affect the food, housing, vacations, etc of the ultra-rich. It’s not about restricting how rich people can get, it’s about changing how poor people can be for the better. So much is being given away for basically no real difference.
That’s a feature, not a bug