Billionaires and politicians gathering in Switzerland this week will come under pressure to tackle rising inequality after a study found that – on current trends – by next year, 1% of the world’s population will own more wealth than the other 99%.' Quote from New Oxfam Report in The Guardian 19.1.15
There is a talk in the media about the top 1%. There is a lot of talk about the increasing wealth gap. There is a lot of talk about the inequalities on our planet.
Frankly it's all making me feel like I should live on a beach, catch fish for my tea and try my best to slip off the grid. In the BBC documentary The Super Rich and Us, Oxfam says that the top 1% of the world's population has more piles of cash than they could ever hope to spend in a life time, or even the life time of their offspring, until the end of time. It explores the alarming damage that is continually happening to our oceans and our soil and is making me want to say "Stuff it".
Evil Boss
All this information about the wealthy becoming ever more wealthy, and not sharing, has lead me to believe that in my insignificant life time I am just a tiny tiny cog in an extremely large and very slippery machine, designed to keep me in my place.
When I think about my monthly salary being paid into an evil bank all thoughts of job satisfaction are smashed to smithereens once I have paid evil utility company, evil tax man, evil supermarket owner and the worst of all, evil oil company for the petrol in my car which helps me get to my work place to earn the monthly salary so I can pay the evil people and it all just starts all over again.
Protests
Around the world some of the population has been objecting to the current system. They are taking to the streets. Wall Street, London, Central Hong Kong. We have seen the Arab Spring. We have seen the financial credit crisis of 2008 have a devastating effect on home owners in the US and we have been given a glimpse into just how ruthless the banking system is. What do Bankers need a bonus for anyway?
Trickle Down Economic theory - is it working?
What's the Big Idea?
I am tempted to just roll over muttering "Life's a bitch and then we die" but I am predisposed to optimism and general good thoughts (rainbows and birds singing, general skipping here). So in an effort to change the world I did what everyone else does and Googled it. I am very pleased to report there are some big ideas out there.
Collaborative Consumption
Sharing is the way forward. We no longer require our homes to be cluttered up with plastic boxes containing CDs, VCDs or DVDs. We have the technology to share music and film virtually. The way we listen or view has changed for the greener. Sharing other products like power tools that you only need for one job once a year or boats or camping equipment is made possible through websites like Divvy (https://letsdivvy.it/) which can bring like minded people together and make this happen.
Sharing is caring
Don't own a car
Share a car instead. www.zipcar.com has been operating in London for 15 years and gives members the freedom of using a car when they need to without the expense of shelling out for one or having to listen to a car repair man make a sharp intake of breath while he bamboozles you with talk of 'big ends going' or 'cam shafts shafting'. When you don't need it someone else does. More of this idea in more cities please! This would mean less cars on the road, less traffic jams and less demand for oil from previously mentioned evil oil companies.
Property
Can we just stop buying places to live? This seems a jolly sensible idea to me. If no one wanted to buy property then it would be become valueless and so the whole game of property prices, mortgage lenders and the millstone of debt for most of ones working life would crumble making a egalitarian world full of happy tenants paying a fair rent for maintenance and up-keep. See it's easy isn't it?
Numbers = Actual Money?
I have considered my options and looked at how much money I have earned in my working life so far. I've looked for it under the bed and behind the radiator, I just can't find it. It doesn't exist. The numbers shown in my ebank are not tangible so the evil bank could increase those numbers if it wanted to? Once my numbers go to a big fat Zero then they could just put more numbers in? Then when necessary I can make my numbers go to the evil bank accounts of evil utility providers and evil supermarket owners. We'd all be happy. It seems an easy solution? Or we could all just share and share alike and rid ourselves of the whole concept of money (more birds and rainbows, skipping and even pan pipes here).
Play Nice
It is clear that if just 1% of the population has more wealth than the other 99% it is unsustainable. What do we do? Downsize and buy a bike? Live on a beach and catch fish? Only visit places within walking distance? Eat only food grown in our window boxes? Share everything and play nice with our neighbours? Or...continue to run the economy in its current form, continue to burn fossil fuel at a rate to consume it all forever and continue to be employed for a monthly wage to then feed the current economy and pay out said monthly wage to previously mentioned evil oil company?
Love thy neighbour
The Youth
My solution is to let the youth sort it out. Once they glance up from which ever screen they are looking at and put their vitality, enthusiasm for life, fertility and blind optimism into gear we'll all be alright. So there you have it. The answer isn't 42, its younger. The youth of today, those young narcissists, need to step up to the brink and take up the responsibility of changing the world while I busy myself catching that fish for my tea on that beach where I'm about to live.
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