You are reading a single comment by @t-v and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
s a thought experiment, if you divided those assets equally between a world population of 8.1 billion people, it amounts to $1,753 per person.
Not that I disagree with your overall point. But for me the more interesting thought experiment in that scenario is: what if we divided say 80% of that wealth among the bottom 80%? Ie from a lifestyle pov a negligible change for billionaires.
hugo7
@t-v
There are reportedly 2,781 billionaires worldwide, controlling combined assets of $14.2 trillion (source: Forbes). As a thought experiment, if you divided those assets equally between a world population of 8.1 billion people, it amounts to $1,753 per person. A sum roughly equal to the annual GDP per capita in some of the world's poorest countries, or one month's rent cheque in a major global city.
The real issue with billionaires then is not the sum of the assets they control, per se, but the ability to convert that into power. The politics of almost every country is distorted in the interests of those 2,781 billionaires. In other words, the top 0.0000003% determine the fundamental aspects of how our societies function.
I don't have any solutions, beyond quantifying the problem in simple terms. A suggestion is that we ought to think in terms of inequality of power, instead of inequality of access to resources, even if they are indelibly linked.