Bernie Sanders writes that now is the time to take on the oligarchs. The data tells the story of the last thirty-five years:
Difficult as it is to comprehend, the fact is that the six richest people on Earth now own more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s population – 3.7 billion people. Further, the top 1% now have more money than the bottom 99%. Meanwhile, as the billionaires flaunt their opulence, nearly one in seven people struggle to survive on less than $1.25 (90p) a day and – horrifyingly – some 29,000 children die daily from entirely preventable causes such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.
At the same time, all over the world corrupt elites, oligarchs and anachronistic monarchies spend billions on the most absurd extravagances. The Sultan of Brunei owns some 500 Rolls-Royces and lives in one of the world’s largest palaces, a building with 1,788 rooms once valued at $350m. In the Middle East, which boasts five of the world’s 10 richest monarchs, young royals jet-set around the globe while the region suffers from the highest youth unemployment rate in the world, and at least 29 million children are living in poverty without access to decent housing, safe water or nutritious food. Moreover, while hundreds of millions of people live in abysmal conditions, the arms merchants of the world grow increasingly rich as governments spend trillions of dollars on weapons.
So, what's to be done?
Now, more than ever, those of us who believe in democracy and progressive government must bring low-income and working people all over the world together behind an agenda that reflects their needs. Instead of hate and divisiveness, we must offer a message of hope and solidarity. We must develop an international movement that takes on the greed and ideology of the billionaire class and leads us to a world of economic, social and environmental justice. Will this be an easy struggle? Certainly not. But it is a fight that we cannot avoid. The stakes are just too high.
A new and international progressive movement must commit itself to tackling structural inequality both between and within nations. Such a movement must overcome “the cult of money” and “survival of the fittest” mentalities that the pope warned against. It must support national and international policies aimed at raising standards of living for poor and working-class people – from full employment and a living wage to universal higher education, healthcare and fair trade agreements. In addition, we must rein in corporate power and prevent the environmental destruction of our planet as a result of climate change.
We can start, Sanders writes, by getting rid of tax havens:
Just a few years ago, the Tax Justice Network estimated that the wealthiest people and largest corporations throughout the world have been stashing at least $21tn-$32tn in offshore tax havens in order to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. If we work together to eliminate offshore tax abuse, the new revenue that would be generated could put an end to global hunger, create hundreds of millions of new jobs, and substantially reduce extreme income and wealth inequality. It could be used to move us aggressively toward sustainable agriculture and to accelerate the transformation of our energy system away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of power.
But it takes political will -- something which, these days, is in short supply.
Image: NBC News
12 comments:
The real solution is not to look at the numbers. People are rich, no worries if you have a good roof over your head, food on the table, broadband and eduction for your kids. Foucus on these and the rest will take care of itself.
For example in Toronto do what they do in Hong Kong, but the right way. The "goverment" in Hong Kong sells reclaimed from the sea land to their friends at just the rate to keep rent above 50% of income.
In Toronto they cud fill in the shore from the Humber to Don, create a quarter million affordable housing units and break the speculators back forever.
If you want to deal with tax havens, you have to cut the head off the snake. The head of the snake is located in the US, the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. These are the five largest banking centres managing private wealth assets, and it should come as no surprise that they're all tax havens themselves.
The US is one of the most hypocritical countries, demanding that other jurisdictions give up wealth information about US citizens but offering no reciprocity in return. It's easier to set up anonymous shell companies in Nevada, Delaware, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and New York than in notorious tax havens such as the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. A single address in Wilmington, Delaware is the registered address of about 285,000 companies, including firms owned by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. There, account information is well-protected, no annual reporting or information-sharing is required and there are no income taxes. This makes the US a strong tax haven, with extra-protective secrecy policies, no income tax, and strong growth. It’s a preferred heaven for offshore asset owners.
If Bernie's serious about tackling tax havens, he should start at home. But I don't recall his campaign platform saying anything about shutting down US tax havens and submitting to OECD reporting requirements under the Automatic Exchange and Common Reporting Standards (i.e. reciprocity of information).
Cap
I agree, Cap. Honesty -- like charity -- should begin at home.
I agree that affordable housing is part of the solution, Steve. But surely the numbers can't be ignored.
The statistics are shocking and obscene, Owen. If they don't jolt us, I can't think of what will.
"Obscene" is the right word, Lorne. This can't go on. The pitchforks will come out.
When I read Sanders' remarks in your post this morning, I was puzzled that I came away feeling just a little angry at what he had said. I mulled that over for a while. Eventually I realized that I was reacting to Bernie's "unicorn" solution.
What are the chances of uniting low income and working people "all over the world" if we can't mobilize blue and white collar workers at home? Look at the freedoms we have. Freedom of speech, of assembly, of political thought. Think of the mobility and communications advantages we have. Now, contrast those with the freedoms and technological levels of the have-nots and dispossessed in other lands.
What if you spoke out about this in Turkey, spoke out against Erdogan? What would happen to you, to your job, to your family? How many other countries are nearly as bad or even much worse than Turkey?
How bold would we be in our prescriptions for reform if we lived in a far more repressive state?
When I began my blog a decade ago I dedicated it to "the restoration of progressive democracy." Looking back over those ten plus years, how far have we come in even pursuing that goal?
Gains made during the Arab Spring have largely been erased. Tunisia is holding on - barely. Authoritarianism, which is antithetical to widely held political and economic power, is ascendant in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, parts of Europe, even the United States. Too often it's a deftly concealed iron fist cloaked in a velvet glove of faux populism.
When America, and Canada for that matter, fall so far short of the critical mass necessary for fueling any drive for a progressive restoration, what possible good will come of diluting the effort for a world wide movement? If we can't make it happen here with every advantage available to us, a broader movement would be self-defeating.
Political will is in short supply, Mound. I suspect that anger will preced any political action. And what will be left in the wake of that anger is an open question.
I would never look to Hong Kong as a solution to anything especially when it comes to housing of any kind. The real estate situation here is driven by Mainland China's greed for a perceived life style at any cost. There is a lot of money floating around over the border and the Chinese keep it nicely controlled to allow only those desirables who will perpetrate the ideals to migrate here. Like other parts of the world, we have our own handful of rich who will try to undermine the poor and the working class to it's own ends. I am of the opinion that the western world has been envious of China's ability to keep the peasants down and to be unwavering in their acceptance of the supremes that lead them into tyrannical capitalism.
We have a tendancy these days to see life through a narrow economic prism, zoombats. There's more to life than economics.
.. once upon a time ..
a wise man suggested looking after problems in our own backyard.. rather than adopting causes we really can't control.. or understand. I think it was one of the wild men who started GreenPeace.. and moved on to Sea Wolves. In my tiny view one of our greatest Canadians. He was willing to sail the high seas and contest Japanese 'scientific research' whale harvests, Antarctic poaching, sea bottom dredging.. you name it. Ok with useful donations, nevertheless he suggested 'looking after your own backyard' instead of getting fierce about seal hunters.. or leather soled shoes.. or, well uh.. fill in the blank.. I take it to heart.. but still wish to be incredibly aware of how Canada will squander our west coast wild salmon as we did with our east coast fisheries.. An entire ecosystem will collapse in sync with herring and wild salmon.. I cannot list all the species involved.. it hurts me far too deeply.. each and every species, gone..
These days looking after our own backyard should be easier than looking after the entire planet, salamander. But cooperation -- whether local or global -- seems to be a dirty word.
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