Dr John Mohan Razu
We live in a world of paradoxes. Out of numerous paradoxes, one of the most striking and stunning paradoxes is new billionaires are added in the list and those who already figure in the list move higher as they add their wealth. While on the other, this decade has pushed billions into squalid conditions. We see with our naked eyes new wealth is created at alarming levels right across the globe, at the same time we also with the same eyes see billions of people who have absolutely no access. This is indeed the paradox. A tiny percentage of people enjoy the wealth in absolute terms but those who also the participants of the wealth creation do not become the beneficiaries of the wealth.
For example, Forbes data shows that US billionaires as per the Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) on Inequality projects that the richest people in the country grew from 3 trillion dollars at the start of COVID in March 2020 to over $5 trillion in October the same year. This wealth is two-thirds more than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the bottom 50 percent of the American households estimated by the Federal Reserve Board. Same sources state that the “great good fortune of these billionaires over the past 19 months is a stark contrast with the 89 million Americans who have lost jobs; over 449 million have been affected by the virus and many millions died from it.
Added to those, Elon Muk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX the world’s richest man who grew by an incredible 751 percent during pandemic. ATF and IPS in their press release affirm that “most of these billionaires’ gains will go untaxed under current rules and will disappear entirely for tax purposes when they are passed onto the next generation.” All these reveal that the super-rich pay paltry tax which is lower than middle income taxpayer like teachers, nurses and firefighters. The staggering sums of billionaires’ wealth within the United States and world over is reflected in the forms of poverty, hunger, unemployment, inflation and numerous sufferings of the poor and working-class population numbering billions of people.
India is also contributing to the chart of global rich. According to a report by Forbes, the total number of billionaires in India rose to a record 166 in fiscal year 2021-22, about 18.5 per cent higher than previous year. The combined wealth of billionaires grew nearly 26 per cent to a whopping $750 billion, the report added. In addition, 10 richest people in India, added one-third more wealth as compared a year ago. Mukesh Ambani continued to remain Asia’s richest man. He is also 10th richest person in the world with a net worth of $907 billion. Adani Group chief Gautam Adani added $40 billion to his fortune and becoming Asia’s second richest man.
A decadal affluenceof the super-rich and abysmal decadence living conditions of billions of people shows the scandal and filth of our fragmented lopsided world.Techno oligarchs have furthered their wealth in multiple terms. COVID-19 has leveraged their assets to greater levels as everything went on-line for which technology continue to play a major and critical role. The decade (2012 to 2021) has leveraged to the billionaires to add on to their wealth as their ventures enabled to accrue more profits. It clearly enjoins the very fact that whether it is catastrophe, conflicts, wars, financial meltdown, recession or whatever, the super-rich benefits in all these episodes, but the poor and the vulnerable suffer.
The rich won in this decade. The rich always wins and therefore one rule for the elite, another rule for the people. This disconnect continues, but widening. In the name of free-market economics and unregulated market dynamics there is economic boom equitable distribution hardly takes place whereas trickle-down theory still is functional and in that the super-rich take the bulk share. In this case, the Indian conspicuously producing more millionaires and billionaires Business elite with capital become richer and those who sell their labor for wages continue to remain poorer. Humanistic economics view this dynamic as unfair and unjust.
All over the world the working classes are struggling to meet both the ends and so protesting for minimum wages. It is ridiculous that after 75 years of our Independence India has 93 percent of labor-force is still in inform sectors. The labor laws are prone to the rich and thus sides the capitalists. Nowadays labor unions have lost their bargaining power and have to work within stringent laws. There have been protests looming across the world as against rising prices, inflation, poor wages and unemployment. This is why working classes keep asking for living wages. Technology has radically shifted and changing the human employability.
We live in a rich man’s world. The world around us has changed and is changing but the gap between the haves and have-nots is not narrowed but widening. Added to all these,the matrix ofpopulism has furthered the concentration of wealth within the hands of a few. Political and ideological templates leveraged protectionism and populism as attractive slogans insulating partisan political narratives and binaries that caught the attention of the right-wing outfits.Challenge the status quo and unjust establishments The political narratives are to be countered because they promotes injustices and unfairness.
