The ultra-wealthy are perfectly happy to keep us poorer folk artificially divided by "left vs right" and "urban vs rural" and skin color and immigration status, and so on, busily blaming each other for the world's problems. Many of them invest in media conglomerates to keep those distraction narratives flowing and prevent the blame from falling where it really belongs.
Maybe it's math illiteracy that keeps many people from realizing just how poor we actually are compared to the 1% or even the 5% at the top; from realizing that nobody possibly works a billion times harder than everyone else to "earn" that wealth; from realizing that the ultra-wealthy could easily solve many of the world's urgent problems if they would give up only a small percentage of their wealth, money they could not spend in a 100 lifetimes anyway.
Any dream you have of joining those people is pure fantasy. The game is very much rigged, and the income of the ultra-wealthy is ultimately skimmed from the productivity of the billions of others working hard beneath them. It will be a truly interesting day if the majority of people ever reach these conclusions.
Absolutely, I read something recently (of course I can't remember where) that indicated that many people tend to think of a billion is just "a bit more than a million" rather than a thousand times more. It's only when they see it on a bar graph, for example, that can can see how the billions tower over the millions, making them look about as significant as zero.
This is an admirably concise lesson for all humans.
I find myself wondering if a more refined definition of capital might help us reorder the unequal distribution of resources.
What if we began by (finally and realistically) assuming that Capital is universally owned, first by Planet Earth as a whole, organic "being" and then equally by all life on earth? Each blade of grass, each river, each porcupine, each mountain, each homo sapiens, each butterfly is part of this global capital. Then, if we were to allocate a monetary value to each of these elements of Planet Earth's bounty, there could eventually and inevitably occur a fair accounting of what everyone and everything on Planet Earth is worth.
Take the Mississippi River. What is the actual cost (to Planet Earth, plus all life on Earth, etc.) for company A to use this mighty river for its business of hauling appliances or produce or people from town to town? Included, of course, would be the negative costs of harm done to the river and its aquatic residents whether animal or plant, by this company's equipment profile? To whom should these fees be paid?
Instead of Taxes, what if everyone and everyithing was entitled to send and receive invoices to be covered by users of Earth's bounty?
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I don't find this idea crazy at all. There's so much more wealth in this world than just money. It's a shame that's the only capital some of us seem to care about.
Very persuasive arguing, as usual with you. As a Canadian, I'm kind of surprised to see that the old inheritance taxes we had are smaller than those of the U.S. and Britain.
I am starting to question how I feel about inheritance. I can't believe a handful of kids will inherit BILLIONS in the next 50 years. nobody needs BILLIONS. nobody should start with BILLIONS anyway. I am not saying zero. zero is not great and inequality is a difficult concept. but inheritance? ehhhhhh I need to know more.
The issue is that The Rich have not been idle. To the contrary, they have invested all their vast resources into developing and refining myriads upon myriads of sophisticated manipulation systems that let them slowly draw in all the reins and lock in mechanisms for controlling literally all levers of power. Who will hold them accountable? The politicians they bought? The NGOs they fund? The experts they finance? The lawmakers they bribe?
'...spread of pro-rich fiscal reforms, new opportunities for tax evasion and avoidance and deregulation of the financial sector...'
These are deeply unfair as well as regressive systemic problems prevalent in many of our societies. The common people all need to unite and strongly push back against and demand proper reforms to the whole system. That's the only way things will actually change for the better.
Really well-said points, Katie! It's good to raise awareness about such problems.
Thanks Katie, this is a fascinating and thoroughly researched piece.
A few thoughts that come to mind:
I am a British citizen and there was a tax loop-hole where some (wealthier) residents could claim 'non-domicile' status. In short, it led to them avoiding paying tax on overseas income in the UK. This loop-hole has been closed by the current government (although it was originally a Labour policy). And I was reading the other day how some non-doms are now looking to leave the UK as the country is seen as less attractive from a tax stand-point.
And then in a different story, I have been following the news about Elon Musk's Telsa payout package - an eye-watering $44.9 billion (US), and I despair at how this was agreed. How have we got to the point where figures such as these given? Also, I am aware that this package was previously thrown out by a judge in Delaware, so Musk complained and threatened to move the company to another US state, which is what he then did!
What is interesting to me around both of these stories however is how easy it appears for wealthy individuals to move their money around, or in Musk's case, make demands on governments. It feels a bit like, 'Do what I say, or I'll take the money and run'.
So while I completely agree that there should be higher taxes on wealthier individuals, I wonder what these individuals would do when faced with that? Would they be more likely to move their money or company somewhere else?
The ease with which the wealthy can move their money is indeed a major issue. A decade or so ago, I remember there was an exodus of French businessmen and celebrities from France after the government implemented a new high tax on the wealthy. A potential solution to that is a global wealth tax, for instance. Although it's definitely an ambitious one and I'm not sure how likely it is we'll see it happen during our lifetimes...
"There is a kind of refusal to serve power that is not a revolt or rebellion, but a revolution in the sense of reversing meanings, of changing how things are understood." Ursula K. Le Guin
I've been on strike since the 70s. Not against a company, or a ruling body, or the rich, but against certain ideas ingrained in my thinking. I have a blind impulse to acquire and consume that feels as artificial as my early religious indoctrination did, as if my thinking had been poisoned with it. Of course I see most everyone pursuing the same non-goals, for example, a huge new house to be alone in, when all they need is a modest home that's already loved-in. When I question them (you) about it, I mostly get defensive anger, coupled with suggestions that I am pursuing some unsavory ideology or other.
Long ago, in another world, I was in fact personally unsavory, and held the world's record for callowness of youth, but somehow I managed to notice this bizarre impetus to achieve validation and security by maximizing the hoard. And found it terminally silly.
Validation comes from knowing you have the means to live because you live within your means.
Security is a delusional concept. You are a leaky sailboat on a shoreless ocean. One day soon you will sink without a trace and sail no more. In the meantime, you have options. Piling your little boat high with shit you don't need may not be the very smartest one, is what I'm saying.
I strike the debt system. I strike the new-clothes-new cars-new-phones system. I strike the subscribe-to-corporate-media system, and I strike that funny reflex judgement you make when you see me pulling up in my 1996 Toyota Tacoma. Chances are good that I could write a check for whatever you're driving, because I have not spent my earnings on interest, are you with me?
This desperation to fill the tick of need with the best of one's life blood drives so much of modern life. Is it any different for Musk? Sure, bigger bills, and hoo boy, no stinkin' Lincoln for him; gotta have that spaceship. And oh wow, right: He will never be able to walk down a city street by himself or sit on a park bench in the rain with a stranger: never ever. People wonder why the rich seem so weird.
From out here on the margins, that big fancy gold-and-zircon-encrusted hamster wheel of Elon's doesn't look much different from our little tiny zinc ones, and he is giving it the hours and days of his life, just as we are, and just like us, he is going perzackly no damn where. Collecting rents and fiddling with doo dads is no life for a grown up.
I'll finish by asking you to consider the art and the science and social cooperation that conjoin and arise in a loaf of fresh bread. Here the heads of grain bow to the breeze; a farmer's hope, a planet's miracle. The gathering in and the carrying off; the slow crunch of the turning wheel. The miller knows he's pouring meal into a future he may never see; summer's brass gong calling to the winter hearth. Hands at the dough board, hands at the oven, loving hands that part the loaf from its pan.
Are you sure, my darling people, are you certain that gathering up a big pile of loaves is more essential to a human life than the baking of each one?
Blaming the rich is easy. Scum floats, you know. Let's be a different sort of pond, first of all, then see what rises to the top.
The ultra-wealthy are perfectly happy to keep us poorer folk artificially divided by "left vs right" and "urban vs rural" and skin color and immigration status, and so on, busily blaming each other for the world's problems. Many of them invest in media conglomerates to keep those distraction narratives flowing and prevent the blame from falling where it really belongs.
Maybe it's math illiteracy that keeps many people from realizing just how poor we actually are compared to the 1% or even the 5% at the top; from realizing that nobody possibly works a billion times harder than everyone else to "earn" that wealth; from realizing that the ultra-wealthy could easily solve many of the world's urgent problems if they would give up only a small percentage of their wealth, money they could not spend in a 100 lifetimes anyway.
Any dream you have of joining those people is pure fantasy. The game is very much rigged, and the income of the ultra-wealthy is ultimately skimmed from the productivity of the billions of others working hard beneath them. It will be a truly interesting day if the majority of people ever reach these conclusions.
Sometimes I really think people don't realise just how much a billion is, let alone the hundreds of billions some of the richest have amassed.
Absolutely, I read something recently (of course I can't remember where) that indicated that many people tend to think of a billion is just "a bit more than a million" rather than a thousand times more. It's only when they see it on a bar graph, for example, that can can see how the billions tower over the millions, making them look about as significant as zero.
Dear Katie (if I may call you so),
This is an admirably concise lesson for all humans.
I find myself wondering if a more refined definition of capital might help us reorder the unequal distribution of resources.
What if we began by (finally and realistically) assuming that Capital is universally owned, first by Planet Earth as a whole, organic "being" and then equally by all life on earth? Each blade of grass, each river, each porcupine, each mountain, each homo sapiens, each butterfly is part of this global capital. Then, if we were to allocate a monetary value to each of these elements of Planet Earth's bounty, there could eventually and inevitably occur a fair accounting of what everyone and everything on Planet Earth is worth.
Take the Mississippi River. What is the actual cost (to Planet Earth, plus all life on Earth, etc.) for company A to use this mighty river for its business of hauling appliances or produce or people from town to town? Included, of course, would be the negative costs of harm done to the river and its aquatic residents whether animal or plant, by this company's equipment profile? To whom should these fees be paid?
Instead of Taxes, what if everyone and everyithing was entitled to send and receive invoices to be covered by users of Earth's bounty?
Crazy? Of course. But, is it?
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I don't find this idea crazy at all. There's so much more wealth in this world than just money. It's a shame that's the only capital some of us seem to care about.
Very persuasive arguing, as usual with you. As a Canadian, I'm kind of surprised to see that the old inheritance taxes we had are smaller than those of the U.S. and Britain.
I am starting to question how I feel about inheritance. I can't believe a handful of kids will inherit BILLIONS in the next 50 years. nobody needs BILLIONS. nobody should start with BILLIONS anyway. I am not saying zero. zero is not great and inequality is a difficult concept. but inheritance? ehhhhhh I need to know more.
Billions minus the big amount of money required to run the businesses and operate philanthropic industries. But still, a very big amount.
Thanks, David!
In a world that is all about bread, the ultra rich are the mould
That's a good metaphor. And just like mould, they're just taking up space and destroying everything.
Amazing article.
The issue is that The Rich have not been idle. To the contrary, they have invested all their vast resources into developing and refining myriads upon myriads of sophisticated manipulation systems that let them slowly draw in all the reins and lock in mechanisms for controlling literally all levers of power. Who will hold them accountable? The politicians they bought? The NGOs they fund? The experts they finance? The lawmakers they bribe?
We have some tough decisions in front of us.
Thank you! True, they've been quite busy.
'...spread of pro-rich fiscal reforms, new opportunities for tax evasion and avoidance and deregulation of the financial sector...'
These are deeply unfair as well as regressive systemic problems prevalent in many of our societies. The common people all need to unite and strongly push back against and demand proper reforms to the whole system. That's the only way things will actually change for the better.
Really well-said points, Katie! It's good to raise awareness about such problems.
Yeah, fuck the rich. They contribute nothing to society. Like Warren Buffet said, they’re waging was on everyone else
quoting a pretty famous rich there...
Thanks Katie, this is a fascinating and thoroughly researched piece.
A few thoughts that come to mind:
I am a British citizen and there was a tax loop-hole where some (wealthier) residents could claim 'non-domicile' status. In short, it led to them avoiding paying tax on overseas income in the UK. This loop-hole has been closed by the current government (although it was originally a Labour policy). And I was reading the other day how some non-doms are now looking to leave the UK as the country is seen as less attractive from a tax stand-point.
And then in a different story, I have been following the news about Elon Musk's Telsa payout package - an eye-watering $44.9 billion (US), and I despair at how this was agreed. How have we got to the point where figures such as these given? Also, I am aware that this package was previously thrown out by a judge in Delaware, so Musk complained and threatened to move the company to another US state, which is what he then did!
What is interesting to me around both of these stories however is how easy it appears for wealthy individuals to move their money around, or in Musk's case, make demands on governments. It feels a bit like, 'Do what I say, or I'll take the money and run'.
So while I completely agree that there should be higher taxes on wealthier individuals, I wonder what these individuals would do when faced with that? Would they be more likely to move their money or company somewhere else?
The ease with which the wealthy can move their money is indeed a major issue. A decade or so ago, I remember there was an exodus of French businessmen and celebrities from France after the government implemented a new high tax on the wealthy. A potential solution to that is a global wealth tax, for instance. Although it's definitely an ambitious one and I'm not sure how likely it is we'll see it happen during our lifetimes...
"There is a kind of refusal to serve power that is not a revolt or rebellion, but a revolution in the sense of reversing meanings, of changing how things are understood." Ursula K. Le Guin
I've been on strike since the 70s. Not against a company, or a ruling body, or the rich, but against certain ideas ingrained in my thinking. I have a blind impulse to acquire and consume that feels as artificial as my early religious indoctrination did, as if my thinking had been poisoned with it. Of course I see most everyone pursuing the same non-goals, for example, a huge new house to be alone in, when all they need is a modest home that's already loved-in. When I question them (you) about it, I mostly get defensive anger, coupled with suggestions that I am pursuing some unsavory ideology or other.
Long ago, in another world, I was in fact personally unsavory, and held the world's record for callowness of youth, but somehow I managed to notice this bizarre impetus to achieve validation and security by maximizing the hoard. And found it terminally silly.
Validation comes from knowing you have the means to live because you live within your means.
Security is a delusional concept. You are a leaky sailboat on a shoreless ocean. One day soon you will sink without a trace and sail no more. In the meantime, you have options. Piling your little boat high with shit you don't need may not be the very smartest one, is what I'm saying.
I strike the debt system. I strike the new-clothes-new cars-new-phones system. I strike the subscribe-to-corporate-media system, and I strike that funny reflex judgement you make when you see me pulling up in my 1996 Toyota Tacoma. Chances are good that I could write a check for whatever you're driving, because I have not spent my earnings on interest, are you with me?
This desperation to fill the tick of need with the best of one's life blood drives so much of modern life. Is it any different for Musk? Sure, bigger bills, and hoo boy, no stinkin' Lincoln for him; gotta have that spaceship. And oh wow, right: He will never be able to walk down a city street by himself or sit on a park bench in the rain with a stranger: never ever. People wonder why the rich seem so weird.
From out here on the margins, that big fancy gold-and-zircon-encrusted hamster wheel of Elon's doesn't look much different from our little tiny zinc ones, and he is giving it the hours and days of his life, just as we are, and just like us, he is going perzackly no damn where. Collecting rents and fiddling with doo dads is no life for a grown up.
I'll finish by asking you to consider the art and the science and social cooperation that conjoin and arise in a loaf of fresh bread. Here the heads of grain bow to the breeze; a farmer's hope, a planet's miracle. The gathering in and the carrying off; the slow crunch of the turning wheel. The miller knows he's pouring meal into a future he may never see; summer's brass gong calling to the winter hearth. Hands at the dough board, hands at the oven, loving hands that part the loaf from its pan.
Are you sure, my darling people, are you certain that gathering up a big pile of loaves is more essential to a human life than the baking of each one?
Blaming the rich is easy. Scum floats, you know. Let's be a different sort of pond, first of all, then see what rises to the top.
I keep thinking the average person knows this already. SIGH
Refreshing to read someone raising this topic, few others do
What a FABULOUS and FANTASTIC read!
Bravo!
My story "The Elder Colossus" touches on exactly this and introduces the hashtag / insult #moneyfuckers. https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/all-tomorrows-futures