Survival of the Richest

Oxfam's Economic Justice Director, Nabil Ahmed, and Oxfam International's Inequality Policy & Advocacy Lead, Max Lawson, discuss their latest Global Inequality Report, which highlights the accelerating pace at which the world's billionaires have increased their wealth exponentially in recent years. They also discuss the ways in which governments can reverse this trend through taxation.

[BobbbyJoeKlop]

In 1971 the dominance of fiat in banking began globally. Followed by a group of 'leaders' in banking that told the public: self-regulation is the best policy. Now we see the results half a century on. It's not complicated; these people printed extraordinary sums of money to give to themselves and those in their network. Laundered through various clever means and mechanisms like the expansion of consumer credit, stock buybacks, asset price inflation, etc. In the end, they just wound up pulling one of the oldest con jobs in the book: counterfeiting. Only with a few extra steps and loop-d-loops to throw sand in the eyes of the public. And they can keep it going by printing all the money in the world to bribe, cajole, and influence whoever and whatever they want without a check. For as long as the dollar is the reserve currency.

This isn't a diatribe to promote Gold, Bitcoin, or whatever. It's to call it as I see it: theft on a scale unprecedented in the entire history of our species.

[laogong]

Illuminating.. What value has democracy, when it has no control of wealth and power?.

[Pinstripe]

It's mostly the Yachts that get raised, not the boats.

[geoffreynhill]

A solid trio with the great Rob Johnson on drums, socking it to the Mega-Rich! 😎(from Green Fire, UK) 🌈🦉

[shadowofmyfutureself]

Cracking discussion. Thanks Rob and you fine Oxfam chaps

[treyb]

What about the truth being that the richest few have so much ownership of such a large part of living earth that they think that: If they have their minions destroy other parts of the living earth, then their parts are worth more! And they have been acting and delegating work to follow with their destructive ideology.

[jamespardue]

They'll push until there's torches and pitchforks (metaphorically), they historically have before. They can't help themselves.

[PoliticalEconomy]

Oxfam vs. Piketty's World Inequality Database, which one is better?

[sholoms]

Haven't listened yet, but just pulling it up to see 3 smiling (white) guys beneath the heading, "Survival of the Richest" I thought, YES --a T-shirt moment!

[BobQuigley]

We're adding 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases pollution to our shared atmosphere annually. This number has grown every year since industrial revolution. Doing this by burning through the fossil fuel energy equivalent of 100 billion barrels per year. Quality and quantity of oil declining, getting more difficult to recover. There's no Oil Fairy refilling the holes. Thanks for great conversation.

[user_user]

I know the title is supposed to be ironic. Then again the work of Gregory Clark points out that in the past the rich DID in fact surive better and the intelligence to get riches, then qualified as a selection criterium.

I think this is still true, and the rich are reading sociobiology textbooks. I think it is not how it SHOULD be, but how things are.

[davidwilkie]

So the question is how to define "Richest", cash in the Bank that has no value without constant renewal.., of the inherent medium of exchange, ..in maintaining a technologically innovative culture, ..or so it seems, and the richness of cultures is in the keeping of knowledge in circulation and application. ("Nobody to blame", a concept of rise or decline)

[dr.eldontyrell-rosen]

What do you mean by "greed" by a corporation? That's a human emotion.

[PoliticalEconomy]

Can anyone on your team justify redistribution? Sounds like a contradiction to me. Why should the referee arbitrarily take away points from the winning team and redistribute them to the losing team? That defeats the whole purpose of competition. Also, corporations are already profit shifting, relocating, and tax evading. Wont they just double down on those? I see the report addresses some of these questions, ill check it out.