We are returning to a world of the haves and have-nots
COLUMNIST
IF YOU’RE counting the pennies or fearing debt after Christmas, then rest assured. At least all the cash splashed on Amazon gifts will go to a good cause.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos needs more money. He is only the world’s richest person topping the list of the wealthiest 500 people on the planet. And those 500 people saw their wealth swell by £745bn this year, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.
That is more than four times last year’s gain, as stock markets reached record highs.
While the rich get richer, 700,000 more young people and pensioners in Britain alone have been “plunged into poverty” in the past four years, according to another report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
While most people globally are seeing their income stagnate or fall, the very richest are enjoying the biggest rise in their fortunes for a century.
We hardly need another survey to show us what’s going on. We are returning to a Victorian era of haves and have-nots. The wealth gap is widening to a yawning abyss not seen since the turn of the last century.
It has reached a point where we are literally tripping over growing numbers of homeless people sleeping on the streets in our big cities.
The world’s super-rich now hold the highest concentration of wealth since before World War One. According to the recent UBS/PwC Billionaires report there are now 1,542 dollar billionaires across the world – and some of them are getting a bit nervous.
That report’s lead author Josef Stadler has revealed his billionaire clients are worried there will be a “strike back” because of growing inequality and the widening gap between rich and poor.
One simple option would be to give some of their fortunes away. They could even give their staff and employees a pay rise in real terms.
Surely the world has been fed a lie about austerity for too long? There is plenty of money and food about, but it is not being evenly distributed. Those people holding unimaginable pots of cash would still be immensely wealthy billionaires even if they distributed what would be lifechanging sums to their staff and others through fairer business models.
While we need successful businesspeople, surely true success means having a sustainable system.
You wouldn’t have to veer too far left to share just a bit more fairly.
The pendulum has swung so much in favour of the mega rich that we now live in a dangerously divided world.
Global tension, war, immigration and terrorism is stoked by inequality and hunger, even if there are other issues at play.
If fears of “strike back” sounds paranoid, there is at the very least a growing and real unrest in Britain as elsewhere. This unrest may not bubble over today or tomorrow, but it is waiting in the wings unless we create a fairer system to manage wealth.
The current generation of young people in Britain are estimated to be the first since WWII who can expect to be worse off than their parents.
They face unaffordable housing, low-paid jobs and student debt as they navigate a world of zero hours contracts and robots stealing the jobs many paid to study for.
Graduates now face pension savings that are tens of thousands of pounds smaller as a result of student loan repayments.
Analysis from mutual insurer Royal London last week calculates that recent graduates could retire with pension pots a fifth smaller than previous generations.
But they are probably more concerned with lack of cash now.
The average student graduating in Wales in 2017 left university with a debt of £19,280 to repay.
That’s up from £15,890 owed by students who graduated in 2016, £12,540 for those who graduated in 2010, and £2,720 owed by people leaving university in 2000. Fees, loans and living costs are rising. As if anyone, graduate or not, needs reminding of that.
What we need now are fewer reports and more action. Most people are well aware of growing inequality. Reports and analysis, like reminder lists, give the illusion that something is being done.
Rather than watch on as wages freeze and living costs rise we should all go out and do something about it.
Join a union, get political. If that’s not your thing start a company with a fairer business model.
How much money does one person need anyway?
Even Jeff Bezos seemed to be pondering that last August when he tweeted out a request for suggestions on how to use his vast fortune for philanthropic causes.
While the rich get richer, 700,000 more young people and pensioners in Britain alone have been “plunged into poverty” in the last four years