Things are tight under this financial Mafia's regime of austerity, at least for you and I, the ordinary Joes. How has your income been doing in the last year? What with wage cuts/freezes, and inflation, you are certainly poorer this year than you were last year. However, is that the picture across the world? Well no, according to a Credit Suisse Bank, report, global wealth rocketed last year to a staggering new record of $241 trillion, that's an increase of 4.9% on last year. Global wealth is projected to rise by approximately 40% to $334 trillion by 2018.
Does that mean that you and I will be 40% better off by 2018? Well again, no, we will probably experience the same in the next 5 years as we experienced in the last year, a fall in real income. Where does all that extra wealth go? You have probably heard of the trickle down theory, well the only thing that trickles down is piss. According to Professor Shorroks, there is virtually no social mobility, 87% of the world's population stay where they are, if you're rich the chances are you will stay rich, likewise, if you're in the gutter, then you'll probably stay in the gutter. It's the system, it's the system, matey. Here in the UK, the aggregate total wealth of all private households is £10.3 trillion, but the wealthiest 20% own 62% of that total, and the top 10% of households are 4.4 times richer than the bottom 50%. As the world gets richer, that is not likely to change to a more equal position.
While all this wealth is slushing around in its very small circle, the truth is that two-thirds of all adults in the world have under $10,000 of net wealth each, and billions have nothing at all. World wide the figures for the distribution of that record $241 trillion pot of world wealth are, the top 1% own 41%; top 10% own 86%; bottom 50% own just 1%, and as we know in this system there is virtually no social mobility, so that is the way it will stay. But there is an alternative, scrap capitalism and start to build that better world based on the needs of all our people, built on the foundations of mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability, and free from the festering cancer of profit.
You can get more details on the cruel and unjust, wealth inequalities in this world of capitalism from International Journal of Socialist Renewal.
