Inequality around the world
Inequality around the world
And why I dwell on the data
Inequality has been on the rise across the globe for several decades. Some countries have reduced the numbers of people living in extreme poverty. But economic gaps have continued to grow as the very richest amass unprecedented levels of wealth. Among industrial nations, the United States is by far the most top-heavy, with much greater shares of national wealth and income going to the richest 1 percent than any other country.1
Why is it we tolerate 1 percent of our species owning almost 50% of the resources? I do not understand how that is OK with anyone. Why is it we tolerate 13 out of 100 people owning almost 90% of global resources? I do not understand how that is OK with anyone. Why is it that we are not obsessed with the fact that .003% of humans have 6.5% of all things that matter? I do not understand how that is OK with anyone.
Maybe human inequality keeps growing like cancer because the people at the bottom are unaware of just how much they are missing out on. Maybe human inequality keeps growing like a fungus because the top ten billionaires (all men) are richer than the country of Brazil, and they aren’t satisfied with that status quo. Maybe $1.448 trillion in combined assets is only a start, and they won’t be satisfied until they are the guardPlease,ians of every single measure of value and every real asset.
The billionaires don’t give a shit that 25% of our species has no access to safe drinking water.2 Rich people don’t care that 13% of our species has no access to electricity.3 Fuck ‘em. What matters is getting rich. Others are irrelevant. That’s why the 68.5 million humans who don’t have a place to call home4 because of rich, powerful people should be completely ignored. The human pictured below is irrelevant. Capitalism is what matters most.
I do not believe any of that. I want to eat the rich. I want robust systems of governance that demand human equity and punish resource hoarders and wealth demons. I want everyone to have a roof over their heads that allows them to sleep feeling safe, and with a full stomach and the knowledge that they are extremely unlikely to wake up with dysentery.
Please. Give a shit. Help me eat the rich.
https://inequality.org/facts/global-inequality/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
https://ourworldindata.org/energy-access
https://everyshelter.org/what-is-adequate-shelter/
Both photos are gut-wrenching.
I don't know why Americans are so apathetic about our diminishing civil rights, economic inequality, weekly mass shootings, rising fascism, collapsing ecosystem, etc, but we are.
We see mass, sustained protests and strikes in other countries, but persuading 50% of the country to vote once every 2 years is a monumental challenge. GenZers are hovering over the abyss, yet only 27% voted in the midterms.
I keep telling people that it can and will get worse unless they fight for change through voting, running for local office, protests, strikes, unionizing, and litigation.
I am hoping for a "Let them eat cake" moment. When the obscenity of what you have so well described becomes just too much to tolerate.
It will take an orator of powerful skills to speak at the perfect moment - which may occur during a horrific disaster.
I'd like to see someone on the national stage have the guts to demand a clawback of assets. To say that there should be a limit on wealth. To say that nobody deserves more than a billion or half a billion. Pick a number.
How does the richest nation in the history of the planet get away with not providing every kid shelter, food and healthcare?