CORPORATISATION

National Times

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Billion-dollar questions ( The Saturday Paper )

There are more billionaires today than at any other point in history. Their combined wealth is greater than the gross domestic product of every country except China and the United States. That wealth has more than doubled in the past decade.

In the past 12 months, another 141 people have become billionaires. There are now 14 people whose private wealth is estimated at more than US$100 billion. Four years ago, only one person had this kind of money.

The Forbes list shows there are 15 billionaires who are 30 years old or younger. All have inherited their wealth. A further $5.2 trillion is expected to be passed between generations in the next two decades.

The richest person in the world is Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive of luxury goods company LVMH. His wealth is estimated at $233 billion. Elon Musk is the second richest person in the world, worth $195 billion.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is third, worth $194 billion. The fourth is Mark Zuckerberg, whose wealth increased by $116.2 billion in a single year. The fifth is Larry Ellison, founder of the technology company Oracle. He is worth $141 billion.

The inequality described by this is extraordinary. The power of each of these men is hard to fathom. In some instances, it is greater than the power of countries.

Musk has gleefully perverted public discourse. He has encouraged hatred and misinformation. He is serially entertained by his own crudeness. His employees have died making him rich. They are not allowed to unionise or go to the bathroom.

Zuckerberg is currently toying with refusing Australians access to news on his platforms. His company has distorted the outcome of elections. It has harvested and sold people’s information. It has made politics more vicious and reactionary.

The wealth of these individuals is obscene. It is a pure expression of greed, of empty and implacable desire. The money they have they could never spend. With it, they could come close to ending hunger. They could arrest climate change. They could solve poverty.

At the same time as the world’s richest people grow richer, the poor have become poorer. There is an ever-widening gap. The power of the very rich is such that it shapes politics. Labour and tax laws are written for them.

There is no purpose to this sort of wealth. It is simple, unending avarice. Forbes’ list is intended as a celebration of success. In reality, it is an indictment.