How unequal is today’s society?
In 2022 the wealthiest 10% of the world’s population owned 76% of its wealth. Even more striking, the wealthiest 1% owned 38%1 of wealth. In comparison, in 1820s Europe, the top 10% and 1% sat on 80 and 50 percent of the continent’s wealth, respectively.2
One might say that this distribution of wealth is “unjust”. Another would see it as “natural”, with the wealthiest having “worked their way to the top”. No matter what people believe, extreme wealth inequality has disastrous consequences. This leads us to an inevitable conclusion: the top 1% should not exist. Period.
They Destroy the Environment
At a fundamental level, it is easy to understand why wealthier people have a greater environmental impact than the remaining 99%. More disposable income leads to more extravagance: luxury cars, super-yachts, pools, private jets, and more. Naturally, this leads to more carbon emissions, but how much compared to the rest of us?
The richest 1% pollutes as much as the poorest 66% of the population.3 This amounts to a staggering 5.9 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted in 2019. However, this catastrophic quantity of carbon emissions is also due to the nature of their wealth. Indeed, a certain portion of it is in the form of investments. At least 50% of their emissions come from their investments4. In 2022, billionaires had on average 14%5 of their investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels.
Such reckless financial decisions cost the world billions of dollars and thousands of lives, with numbers set to increase in the following decades.6 In addition, climate change is destroying countless species and ecosystems7 . Moreover, climate change disproportionately affects minorities and the poorest in our society. These are people with no financial protection from climate disasters or the economic consequences of said disasters.
The top 1% has not heeded the ageless proverb “With great power comes great responsibility”. If someone were to buy a car that required human blood to run, would we whine “It’s their money, they can do what they want”?
Nonetheless, these same people remain untouchable, unaccountable, and glorified by the very people they are hurting. This is partly the fault of our elected officials who are supposed to protect the remaining 99%. Unfortunately, they seem to be protecting their own backs more than anything else. For instance, 25% of the United States Congress owns stock worth millions in the fossil fuel industry8. This is also a problem on the other side of the Atlantic. Over a dozen members of the French government own shares in the infamous oil company Total Energies.9 In short, our elected officials have nothing to gain and everything to lose in pursuing the wealthiest for their crimes against the environment.
They Undermine Democracy
Billionaires have immense capital at their disposal. Whether this power is rightfully earned or not is a separate question. However, their tremendous financial power also translates to significant political power. This threatens the foundations of democracy itself.
To begin, their superior political power can be seen through privately owned media. The wealthiest have the means to purchase and create media that propagate their political opinions. These opinions reflect their interests, which are namely conserving and increasing their wealth. Let’s take an example:
PragerU is an American nonprofit that produces content for adults and children as « a free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education ». It boasts over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and 2 million followers on Instagram. Since its creation, its videos have amassed 7 billion views10. What makes it so popular is the self-described « content funnel »11 strategy that progressively draws viewers from short digestible content on Youtube to lengthy videos on prageru.com. In 2021 it had a revenue of over 56 million.
However, what is less known is PragerU’s origins.
It was founded by Dennis Prager, a renowned conservative talk show host worth $12 million. Incidentally, he thinks:
“There were undoubtedly many nice slaveholders.”12
In 2013, PragerU received seed money (6.5 million USD) from the Wilks brothers. The Wilks brothers are fracking billionaires infamous for their conservative Christian fundamentalist views13:
"[homosexuality is] a perversion tantamount to bestiality, pedophilia and incest.”
“If [God] wants the polar caps to remain in place, then he will leave them there,”
-Farris Wilks
To no surprise, these right-wing political views are deeply engrained in PragerU’s content. Climate change denialism14, transphobia15, and racism16 are all prominent features of PragerU's so-called “educational” videos.
However, despite the large media coverage of these conservative viewpoints, PragerU also advocates for policies that would favor wealthy citizens. For example, it heavily criticizes the idea of a wealth tax.
To sum up, PragerU is a media outlet founded by a wealthy conservative, funded by billionaire conservatives, and that propagates far-right views. PragerU’s narrative pushes the acceptance of an ultra-wealthy and powerful elite. PragerU exemplifies how dangerous billionaire-operated media is to our democracy.
More generally, as the top 1% gains in financial power, its foothold in the media widens. The political viewpoints not held by the wealthy (mainly leftist beliefs) are pushed into the shadows, not providing people with nuanced or objective news. Billionaires can thus sway public opinion in their favor, influencing the course of elections. This utterly negates the notions of freedom of the press and nuance in public debate that are vital for democracy.
To continue, growing wealth and income inequality directly undermines the voice of the people in democracy. A study suggests that growing financial power for the rich leads to a heightened influence on legislative agendas.17 Subsequently, the implemented policies would tend to favor the richest 1% of the population, contradicting the principle of vox populi*. How do they influence politics? By letting the money flow from their pockets to the right politicians. Let’s have a closer look at where this phenomenon is endemic, the United States of America.
*vox populi: the voice of the people
In 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered a ruling on the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In short, this case involved Citizens United (a conservative nonprofit) challenging the Federal Election Commission’s restrictions on campaign financing. More specifically, these restrictions prevented corporations from spending unlimited funds on election campaigns.18 In other words, these were restrictions that kept the average citizen’s voice equal to that of the top 1%.
The Supreme Court ruled that campaign finance restrictions on corporations restricted their so-called “First Amendment rights”. Thus, it ruled that corporations could spend unlimited money on election campaigns.19 As a result, the amount of dark money in campaign funding exploded.20 Additionally, fundraising committees called Super PACs21 began immediately raising billions for preferred candidates and political parties.
The fundamental problem with this Supreme Court decision is that it favors by a wide margin the top 1%. By allowing corporations to raise millions for a particular candidate, said candidate will have an advantage over others who do not represent corporate interests. Once in power, corporate-funded officials will implement policies favoring corporations, and by extension, society’s oligarchs22. These policies will favor their everlasting quest for more profits and shareholder returns.
The money from big corporations thus goes directly into the pockets of the so-called representatives, while they claim to be acting in the interest of the public and democracy.
Who will be forgotten and exploited in the race for capital? Everyone else. A Princeton study done before the court ruling was released found that the average American has almost no impact on public policy.232425
They Crash the Economy
Aside from the economic consequences mentioned previously, the richest 1% of the population harms the economy. More exactly, the high concentration of wealth amongst the richest 1% is what inflicts the damage. Indeed, while analyzing the 1 percent share of total income from 1913 to 2007, data shows that it peaked in 1928 and 2007 at around 23%. What is the link between these two years? Both were followed by major economic crashes: the Great Depression and the Great Recession of 2008. Coincidence?
No, it’s not. As wealth and income become concentrated at the top, the bottom loses more of its purchasing power.26
This is because the wealthy save up to 25% of their money and thus spend less proportionally than lower-income individuals. Consequently, less capital flows within the economy towards the middle class. As a result, there is less demand for goods and services, leading to economic stagnation. More widely, inequality favors less investment and innovation.
The loss of purchasing power forces the middle class to borrow back-breaking sums to keep a minimal standard of living.2728 For example, from the 1950s to 1970s, debt in America represented 55% of after-tax income. This was a period during which inequality was at its lowest and the middle class was at its strongest. However, as inequality increased, by 2007, debt represented 138% of after-tax income.29
This being said, did you know the causes of the Great Recession and the Great Depression? At the very least, excessive debt was a major cause of both.3031
“In consequence, as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When their credit ran out, the game stopped.”
— Marriner Eccles, 7th chairman of the Federal Reserve
This debt was caused by a high concentration of wealth amongst the top 1%. The top 1% and its quest for infinite wealth works against the economy.
They Deprive You of Opportunities
The more inequality grows, the more we stay poor and they stay rich. Children born to a higher social class start with more advantages than those born in poverty. Children with wealthy parents have resources that others do not, and are thus given unparalleled opportunities to succeed in life. With this accumulation of capital, class differences are reinforced.
No one chooses their parents, so why should they have to suffer poverty and broken dreams for it?
Final Words
It is now painfully obvious that the ultra-rich are destroying society’s future. Their actions are unsustainable for the environment, democracy, and the economy as it stands. The top 1% aims only to increase their material prosperity and not to improve society. The values they propagate are the foundations for a world where this unjust oligarchal hegemony is wholly uncontested.
Knowing this is all well and good, but what is to be done? A wealth tax? Better laws? Revolution? Regardless of the solution, this remains a burning question. Nonetheless, as Karl Marx once wrote:
“Let the ruling classes tremble […]. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries unite!”
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/Global-inequalities-Stanley
https://www.almendron.com/tribuna/data-problems-with-capital-in-the-21st-century/ (section 2. b)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/richest-1-account-for-more-carbon-emissions-than-poorest-66-report-says
https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/carbon-billionaires-the-investment-emissions-of-the-worlds-richest-people-621446/
https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/carbon-billionaires-the-investment-emissions-of-the-worlds-richest-people-621446/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/climate-loss-and-damage-cost-16-million-per-hour/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/animal-populations-plummeted-by-nearly-70-percent-last-50-years-new-report/
https://prospect.org/power/members-of-congress-own-up-to-93-million-in-fossil-fuel-stocks/
https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/130323/douze-deputes-six-senateurs-et-trois-ministres-sont-actionnaires-de-totalenergies#paywall-anchor?userid=632305ef-e461-4cc8-88f5-33ee412c5c20
https://www.prageru.com/about
https://assets.ctfassets.net/qnesrjodfi80/UfBbMy7KkcxxjzVTlRhHM/63ad56badf6b7e2219621d58471cf56e/PragerUandYou_2021_Booklet_FINAL_WEB__1_.pdf
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/dennis-prager-nice-slaveholders-prageru-b2162461.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0RB0ZE/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/06/prageru-climate-change-denier-republican-donors
https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-condemns-x-elon-musk-for-accepting-timeline-takeover-of-transphobic-fact-free-documentary
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/florida-conservative-group-education-vendor-prageru-awful-rcna96524
https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2019/04/22/comment-les-tres-riches-ont-pris-le-pouvoir_1722751/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained?gclid=CjwKCAiAi4fwBRBxEiwAEO8_HoL_iNB7lzmjl27lI3zAWtx-VCG8LGvsuD32poPLFw4UCdI-zn9pZBoCafkQAvD_BwE
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained?gclid=CjwKCAiAi4fwBRBxEiwAEO8_HoL_iNB7lzmjl27lI3zAWtx-VCG8LGvsuD32poPLFw4UCdI-zn9pZBoCafkQAvD_BwE
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/secret-spending-states
https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/super-pacs/2022
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
video at 12min10s
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/spp-2021-0017/html
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/spp-2021-0017/html
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert Reich (Part 1, Chapters 1 and 8)
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert Reich ( Part 1, Chapter 8)
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/great-recession.asp#toc-causes-of-the-great-recession
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert Reich