The 21st century has seen an explosion in the number and wealth of billionaires, driven largely by financial market surges, deregulation, and favourable tax policies. It is no coincidence that historic levels of global wealth inequality have gone hand in hand with conspicuous levels of poverty and homelessness.
Billionaires control a massive and growing share of global wealth. The most affluent 1% of adults control roughly half the world’s assets, while the richest 0.001% have three times more than the world’s poorest 50%. The rich accumulate assets at almost double the rate of everyone else, so extreme concentrations of wealth worsen from month to month…
American comedian Tom Papa says individual billionaires should be allowed to keep their enormous wealth, by only for a few hours.
MPs, MLAs and council members seem to prioritize salaries, expense accounts, and pensions. If only they would have the same concern for action on homelessness. If they did, this would happen…
In an age of extreme media coverage and immediacy, the associated defeat of intelligence is worrying. Genuine intellectual debate all too often disappears in favour of ersatz ideas dominated by the one-track thinking and the politics of offence.
Professor Robert Reich discussed the connections between wealth and power. Oligarchs have used their wealth and power to gain control of legacy media and that control is being used to increase their wealth and power.
With the Musk/Trump administration ripping huge holes in America’s social safety net, it is frightening to observe how major media properties have sagged onto bended knees to pay homage to wealth and power. There is a parallel to Germany in the 1930s. There, political leaders took control of media that did not serve the Nazi Party. A cocktail of naked opportunism and misplaced arrogance among the country’s most powerful men facilitated the rise of the Third Reich. With the media silenced or controlled, it was relatively easy for evil men to consolidate power and punish opponents…
If a Canadian were to put aside C$500 a week, it would take more than 38,331 years to accumulate a billion dollars, and more than 21 million years to accumulate the wealth held by the man who wants to be King of the Universe.
A candidate for the People’s Party of Canada asked if I would join his podcast for a discussion of government functions. Having no interest in promoting or assisting that party, I declined. So, who are the people who support the People’s Party?
According to Oxfam International, the richest 1 percent have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50 percent of the world’s population. Oxfam has calculated that for every $1 raised in tax in G20 countries, less than 8 cents comes from taxes on wealth.
Conventional wisdom says that economic disparities lead to political violence, or mildly violent collective actions. Yet few politicians anywhere are willing to address root causes of social difficulties. It is so much easier to accuse disaffected people of being indolent, abusive, drug-ridden lawbreakers. Those positions gain political success in many places. The Australian Institute of International Affairs noted confusion about the level of American support for Trump and the political party he captured and dominates:
For as long as I can remember, we’ve been told that putting more wealth in the hands of the already wealthy will benefit everyone through greater economic growth, more jobs, and higher wages. Academic studies find the opposite is true. However, with most major media outlets controlled by the super-rich, these studies are barely reported…
Overall, Canada ranks 15th in the World Happiness Report, although it is first among nations with populations of more than 30 million. However, when the happiness of citizens under age thirty was ranked, Canada was listed at a miserable 58th, trailing countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Some may wonder if those countries will be receptive if youthful Canadian refugees turn up at their borders.
Ultra-wealthy elites…Political corruption…Vast inequality…
These problems aren’t new — in the late 1800s they dominated the country during America’s first Gilded Age.
We overcame these abuses back then, and we can do it again.
A tweet written by Jeffrey Levin made sense to me. So, I produced a Canadian version.
Compounding the economic risk factors that are manifesting is a widespread domestic discontent with current economic systems, perceived to be rigged and unfair. Concern about inequality underlies recent social unrest on almost every continent…
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.” Even with contribution limits, generous as they are, government remains biased toward serving interests of prosperous citizens…
Neoliberalism has brought us extreme concentrations of wealth and power and a society governed by and for the rich. The Guardian reports America’s three wealthiest billionaires—Bezos, Gates and Buffett—have as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population combined. Funders—like the American Koch brothers and Fraser Institute directors who are connected collectively to around a trillion dollars in assets— do not want creative solutions to labour’s stagnant wages or growing inequality…
Today, British Columbia is far richer than fifty years ago but that wealth is distributed much differently. As a result, despair is widespread, homelessness grows, thousands die each year from drug abuse, more than one hundred die by homicide. Uncounted humans are wasted. Our current provincial government is searching for answers but influential citizens in this province are more than satisfied with the status quo. As John Kenneth Galbraith said, they are searching “for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/jan/06/ben-jennings-donald-trump-attitude-international-law-cartoon?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
[…] A century ago, an American advertising executive popularized the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Toronto Star…
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