Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds
#HackerNews #wealthinequality #economicdisparity #socialjustice #povertyalleviation #globalwealth
The US is ranked #6 in the world for extreme income inequality. That's right. You can literally count on one hand the countries that do it worse than us.
You want to know why one of the wealthiest countries in the world (when looked at in aggregate) is disintegrating before our very eyes? That's the reason.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/10/where-in-the-world-are-wealth-and-income-most-unequal
#WorldInequalityReport
#IncomeInequality
#WealthInequality
#Inequality
#GINI
#USA
#Populism
#Oligarchy
#Plutocracy
Alex Akselrod
boosted
#BernieSanders Lays Out Plan to Fight #Oligarchy as Wealth of Top #Billionaires Passes $10 Trillion
"If there was ever a moment when #progressives needed to communicate our vision to the people of our country, this is that time," wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Despair is not an option."
Jake Johnson
Dec 31, 2024
"A Bloomberg analysis of billionaire wealth published Tuesday found that the combined fortunes of the 500 richest people on the planet surpassed $10 trillion this year, a finding that came shortly after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders issued an urgent call to action to prevent the emergence of 'an oligarchic and authoritarian society.'
"The new analysis notes that the world's top 500 billionaires 'got vastly richer' this year with the help of "an indomitable rally in U.S. technology stocks."
"Just eight billionaires— #ElonMusk, #MarkZuckerberg, #JensenHuang, #LarryEllison, #JeffBezos, #MichaelDell, #LarryPage, and #SergeyBrin—added more than $600 billion to their collective wealth in 2024 and accounted for 43% of the $1.5 trillion increase in net worth among the world's 500 richest people, according to Bloomberg.
"'But it was Musk—the so-called 'first buddy' of President-elect Donald Trump after unprecedented support for his reelection campaign—who dominated the world's wealthiest in 2024,' Bloomberg observed, adding that Trump himself also saw his fortune surge to a record high this year, 'boosted by the performance of his majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.'
"Musk's use of his enormous fortune to influence the U.S. political system—including via his purchase of one of the world's largest social media platforms and donations to Trump's 2024 campaign—amplified existing concerns about the corrosive impact of massive wealth concentration on democracy.
"And #WealthInequality in the U.S. could soon get worse, with Trump and the incoming Republican-controlled Congress set to pursue another round of tax cuts for the #UltraRich and large #corporations."
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-billionaire-wealth
#TaxTheRich #EatTheRich #Oligarchy #CorporateColonialism #Corporatocracy #Authoritarianism #TechBros #CapitalismMustDie
https://youtube.com/shorts/O-kS_jyBshw?si=6ShFX7WzNdkQu27m
Gary on the importance of picking rich parents.
Invasive species
boosted
So, for the record, founding a company, passing your income & expenses through it, running it at a loss, then closing the company and opening a new one, is really simple. And now there’s proof that billionaires hide obscene amounts of wealth via this One Weird Trick.
A new study by some of the country’s most preeminent economists has finally put concrete numbers to the disparity. The billionaire class tax rates were lower than the average paid by ALL American households. Their taxes went down 30% because Trump1, and now even more with Trmp2. It’s grift all the way down.
To help offset the revenue losses, the Trump administration is stripping health coverage from millions of low-income Americans and shrinking Food Stamps. The rich, including Trump, will keep getting richer. The poor will pay for it.
Pitchforks, anyone?
Link is a pdf to the study. I’ve scanned it, it appears clean.
So, for the record, founding a company, passing your income & expenses through it, running it at a loss, then closing the company and opening a new one, is really simple. And now there’s proof that billionaires hide obscene amounts of wealth via this One Weird Trick.
A new study by some of the country’s most preeminent economists has finally put concrete numbers to the disparity. The billionaire class tax rates were lower than the average paid by ALL American households. Their taxes went down 30% because Trump1, and now even more with Trmp2. It’s grift all the way down.
To help offset the revenue losses, the Trump administration is stripping health coverage from millions of low-income Americans and shrinking Food Stamps. The rich, including Trump, will keep getting richer. The poor will pay for it.
Pitchforks, anyone?
Link is a pdf to the study. I’ve scanned it, it appears clean.
Jonathan Schofield
boosted
I read that UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has purchased a seaside apartment in Hove. This is the third property she owns. I don't understand why this is acceptable. If people stopped buying more than one home, wouldn't it be much easier for everyone to be able to find property to live in? Why does anyone need more than one house?
As the Pink Floyd song goes,
'A new car, caviar, four-star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team'
#wealthInequality
I read that UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has purchased a seaside apartment in Hove. This is the third property she owns. I don't understand why this is acceptable. If people stopped buying more than one home, wouldn't it be much easier for everyone to be able to find property to live in? Why does anyone need more than one house?
As the Pink Floyd song goes,
'A new car, caviar, four-star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team'
#wealthInequality
Every billionaire is proof our system is broken. As hospitals struggle and schools face cuts, a tiny elite hoard unimaginable wealth. Taxing the super-rich isn’t radical - it’s common sense. Billionaires are not a sign of success but policy failure. As greens we have been calling for a wealth tax since 2017. Since then inequality has widened. Let’s tax wealth, invest in people, and build a fairer society for everyone.
So how *do* we create a society and world "economy" that doesn't depend on the accumulation of wealth or perhaps doesn't have money at all?
#utopian #noReally #endCapitalism #ClimateEmergency #wealthinequality #society #world
Is there a clearer example of what is wrong with this World that those with vast wealth spending huge sums to go up in a space rocket to feel weight free for a few minutes?
Meanwhile people starve, die from preventable disease, have their lives destroyed in wars and even working people in the west struggle to get by.
I feel so angry.
#WealthInequality
#Socialism
#Space
