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Person Counts What Could Be Done With Billionaires’ Money And It Gives You A Perspective On The Economy
Forbes reported that despite the pandemic, it was a record-setting year for the world’s wealthiest—with a $5 trillion surge in wealth and an unprecedented number of new billionaires. The number of billionaires on its 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to 2,755—660 more than a year ago. Altogether they are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion on the 2020 list. And that really saddened Jane Chung.
A few days ago, Chung published a Twitter thread, taking stabs at the individuals featured in the World’s Billionaires List as well as society which allows the rich to get richer and makes the poor even poorer. And she has a point. Extreme poverty rates are on the rise for the first time in 20 years. Continue scrolling and read what Chung had to say about this.
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Image credits: Jane24477
“It’s really difficult to imagine wealth of that magnitude,” Chung told Global Citizen. The Big Tech accountability advocate at the nonprofit Public Citizen said that after a certain point, another zero is just another zero, and adding more zeros doesn’t really register in our heads.
“I think putting it in terms of the real issues we’re facing in the world, most of them notably manmade and caused by capitalism, shows how they can be totally eradicated and solved with not even all of the wealth of the people involved in Big Tech,” Chung explained.
Image credits: Jane24477
Image credits: Jane24477
She said that her analysis surprised a lot of people. “The most common reaction was, ‘Yeah, I knew they were rich but I never thought about it in terms of how they could actually positively impact society, if they tried or had the desire to.”
Even though the thread was inspired by Chung’s anger and hopelessness at the state of inequality, its overall reception has transformed her negative emotions into positive ones.
“I think the responses I’ve gotten are inspiring a lot of hope in me,” Chung said. “Whether they’re folks who have been organizing toward abolition and other causes for a really long time, or folks who are just realizing that a few people hold all of this wealth in our society, I think a lot of people are really fired up about this, and that’s exciting for me. I hope that we can channel it for the better.”
Image credits: Jane24477
Image credits: Jane24477
Image credits: Jane24477
Image credits: Jane24477
Before the pandemic, Oxfam reported that 2,153 billionaires owned more wealth than the poorest 4.6 billion people worldwide. This level of inequality not only distorts economies by investing inordinate power in the hands of a small group of people, but also exacerbates the conditions of poverty, the United Nations said.
Inequality has been on the rise across the globe for several decades. Yes, 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.
Here’s what people think of the viral thread
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soni w 4 years ago
Big tech companies are filthy rich because we all made them that way. If everyone didn't have to upgrade everything every few months to keep up with #trending, these f*****s would be broke. Before you all whinge about their wealth, have a good look at what you're buying!!
Gandalf the Pink 4 years ago
Sales is just one piece of the puzzle. It's also how fairly the company workers get treated and where cutdowns are being made. And of course, where are the resources mined. Is it well paid expert miners in countries with lots of safety regulations or is it poor miners who destroy their bodies in countries with no safety guidelines? So, I absolutely believe we all could learn to buy smart, be mindful of trends and repair before throwing. But big tech companies often do a larger amount of awful things than just products that become obsolete too fast.
Load More Replies...
Aahzmandus Pervect 4 years ago
The first and biggest problem with this analysis if the fact that billionaires don't have all of theit wealth in cash.
ProfessionalTimeWaster 4 years ago
The second problem is she thinks poverty can be eradicated by distributing money to poor, when the focus should be on generating wealth. She sees how much money they have, but not how much employment these companies generate (directly and indirectly).
Load More Replies...
King Joffrey 4 years ago
I don't mind these guys are so rich, what bothers me is that they got so rich while paying their employees as little as they can get away with. I don't want Bezos to stop world hunger, I only want him to pay his employees a living wage and didn't treat them like robots.
Ivana 4 years ago
I think the employees at Amazon did a little of the work it took to make Jeff so rich, yet Amazon did everything in it's power to scare employees to vote against a union. Jeff Bezos does not "work" that much harder than everyone else. He just exploits labor and sellers by forcing them to reduce the costs of their products so they make a minimum amount of profit and can't pay their employees well, while also not compensating Amazon employees for the wealth their labor generates and maintaining a serious injury rate that is almost three times higher the industry standard. Exploitation of labor, that is how these people make their money, the line about hard work is a little worn out when your own employees bust their asses for minimal compensation.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
All the money in the world can't cure global hunger. Money doesn't make anything like food come into existence; it only motivates people to make it come into existence. In a time of famine, spending can help move food from places where the famine has not struck to places where it has... if, unlike during the East African famine of the mid-80s, you can keep it from simply propping up warlords. To defeat global poverty, you don't need food; you need schools and stable governments and some way of inspiring confidence in the local population that what you do will be what makes their lives better, in spite of the fact that they will relate better to the warlords who don't want you there.
Radek Suski 4 years ago
~Now imagine what we could do with all the money the Catholic Church sits on
Sasha Kuleshov 4 years ago
Oh yeah, we had to fight to get 2,000 dollars out of the government but the fortune 500 companies got 25 BILLION DOLLARS 'cause they "needed" the money to "stay afloat" (I'm looking at you American Airlines >:I )
Gabby M 4 years ago
Collectively, consumers and employees have a lot of power. If consumers stopped supporting those companies, and workers stopped working until they got better pay and working conditions, then that would be a step in the right direction. Of course, consumers are not likely to stop supporting those companies, and if workers did protest, then the rich companies would just find desperate workers elsewhere. It's a broken system.
Kira Okah 4 years ago (edited)
You could tax them 100% of their total wealth including assets and successfully fund the US government for a whole *eight months*, for one time only! Or is that a thing people don't think of, that the government spends more money per year than all the billionaires have as non liquid assets?
Hristo Itchov 4 years ago
Not really, because it all depends on how the government uses those funds. If it is used to improve the quality of life for its constituents, then it would only help fuel the economy up and produce even more wealth.
Load More Replies...
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Also understand how things are taxed. For example, if you earn 50K in whatever currency, your first 15K will be taxed at, say, X rate; the earnings from 16K-30 K at X-plus-two%; 30-50 K at X-plus-four%.... by the time you hit a million a year, that 40% is only tax rate on, say, the last 200K earned ------ the math isn't as easy as a bumper sticker makes it sound. TAX EXTREME HIGH INCOMES. They'll still be million/billionaires, but the rest of us might get a chance at education and healthcare!
soni w 4 years ago
Big tech companies are filthy rich because we all made them that way. If everyone didn't have to upgrade everything every few months to keep up with #trending, these f*****s would be broke. Before you all whinge about their wealth, have a good look at what you're buying!!
Gandalf the Pink 4 years ago
Sales is just one piece of the puzzle. It's also how fairly the company workers get treated and where cutdowns are being made. And of course, where are the resources mined. Is it well paid expert miners in countries with lots of safety regulations or is it poor miners who destroy their bodies in countries with no safety guidelines? So, I absolutely believe we all could learn to buy smart, be mindful of trends and repair before throwing. But big tech companies often do a larger amount of awful things than just products that become obsolete too fast.
Load More Replies... Aahzmandus Pervect 4 years ago
The first and biggest problem with this analysis if the fact that billionaires don't have all of theit wealth in cash.
ProfessionalTimeWaster 4 years ago
The second problem is she thinks poverty can be eradicated by distributing money to poor, when the focus should be on generating wealth. She sees how much money they have, but not how much employment these companies generate (directly and indirectly).
Load More Replies... King Joffrey 4 years ago
I don't mind these guys are so rich, what bothers me is that they got so rich while paying their employees as little as they can get away with. I don't want Bezos to stop world hunger, I only want him to pay his employees a living wage and didn't treat them like robots.
Ivana 4 years ago
I think the employees at Amazon did a little of the work it took to make Jeff so rich, yet Amazon did everything in it's power to scare employees to vote against a union. Jeff Bezos does not "work" that much harder than everyone else. He just exploits labor and sellers by forcing them to reduce the costs of their products so they make a minimum amount of profit and can't pay their employees well, while also not compensating Amazon employees for the wealth their labor generates and maintaining a serious injury rate that is almost three times higher the industry standard. Exploitation of labor, that is how these people make their money, the line about hard work is a little worn out when your own employees bust their asses for minimal compensation.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
All the money in the world can't cure global hunger. Money doesn't make anything like food come into existence; it only motivates people to make it come into existence. In a time of famine, spending can help move food from places where the famine has not struck to places where it has... if, unlike during the East African famine of the mid-80s, you can keep it from simply propping up warlords. To defeat global poverty, you don't need food; you need schools and stable governments and some way of inspiring confidence in the local population that what you do will be what makes their lives better, in spite of the fact that they will relate better to the warlords who don't want you there.
Radek Suski 4 years ago
~Now imagine what we could do with all the money the Catholic Church sits on
Sasha Kuleshov 4 years ago
Oh yeah, we had to fight to get 2,000 dollars out of the government but the fortune 500 companies got 25 BILLION DOLLARS 'cause they "needed" the money to "stay afloat" (I'm looking at you American Airlines >:I )
Gabby M 4 years ago
Collectively, consumers and employees have a lot of power. If consumers stopped supporting those companies, and workers stopped working until they got better pay and working conditions, then that would be a step in the right direction. Of course, consumers are not likely to stop supporting those companies, and if workers did protest, then the rich companies would just find desperate workers elsewhere. It's a broken system.
Kira Okah 4 years ago (edited)
You could tax them 100% of their total wealth including assets and successfully fund the US government for a whole *eight months*, for one time only! Or is that a thing people don't think of, that the government spends more money per year than all the billionaires have as non liquid assets?
Hristo Itchov 4 years ago
Not really, because it all depends on how the government uses those funds. If it is used to improve the quality of life for its constituents, then it would only help fuel the economy up and produce even more wealth.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Also understand how things are taxed. For example, if you earn 50K in whatever currency, your first 15K will be taxed at, say, X rate; the earnings from 16K-30 K at X-plus-two%; 30-50 K at X-plus-four%.... by the time you hit a million a year, that 40% is only tax rate on, say, the last 200K earned ------ the math isn't as easy as a bumper sticker makes it sound. TAX EXTREME HIGH INCOMES. They'll still be million/billionaires, but the rest of us might get a chance at education and healthcare!
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