Abstract
It is strange to observe how many of the problems that the world is facing today stem from (unbridled) capitalism, and more specifically from the economic and legal mechanisms that were developed in the late Middle Ages and that gave shape to the at present still prevailing capitalist socio-economic order, without the public opinion being aware of, or paying any noteworthy attention to this fact.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
It should in this regard also be pointed out that the private bank sector is probably the sector that is most in favor of the neoliberal ideology, however only in as far as it should be applied to all other market players, next to public authorities, but not when the free market forces result in problems for the bank sector itself, in which case all neoliberal ideology is easily thrown overboard and banks shamelessly shout for state support measures to “bail them out” of the problems for which they are themselves the ones most responsible.
- 3.
Indeed, although the basic simplicity of the mechanism is completely bewildering and its inherent unfairness in contradiction to all what one might expect from a civilized democratic socio-economic order, it is thus the more surprising that there still can be hardly any true academic or societal debate on the matter.
- 4.
Last consulted on March 5 2019.
- 5.
See https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/visualizing-global-debt (last consulted on March 5 2019).
Japan is hereby reported to have the highest level of government debt to GDP of any of the 51 countries that were taken into consideration in McKinsey’s research, at 214 percent in the second quarter of 2017. International financial centers Hong Kong and Luxembourg were reported to top the list for nonfinancial corporate debt to GDP, largely reflecting the activities of foreign companies. China’s total debt was reported to have quadrupled over the last decade, a rise of USD 32 trillion, fueled by debt of the nonfinancial corporate sector. By contrast, the economies of Germany, Portugal, and Spain were reported to have been deleveraging over the past few years, with declining total debt relative to GDP.
- 6.
Davis (2018).
- 7.
https://www.iif.com/ (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 8.
- 9.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 10.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 11.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 12.
Source: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/, as consulted on 21 December 2018.
- 13.
Obviously, this is but a flawed calculation. Ideally, the exact amount of debt should be measured against the exact number of people on Earth on the exact same moment in time.
- 14.
Compare Davis (2018):
The number is now so astronomically high that it’s impossible to pay off, and so there really is no point to even trying. In fact, governments are not at all concerned with paying off the debt because they know the number has lost it’s meaning in the face of such cartoonish proportions.
(Davis (2018).)
- 15.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 16.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 2.
- 17.
Lobosko (2018).
- 18.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 19.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 20.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 21.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 2.
- 22.
See Lund et al. (2018) who, moreover, mention that:
there are also signs that creditworthiness of borrowers has declined. This could prompt more defaults in the years ahead as a record amount of bonds come due and as future borrowing costs rise.
- 23.
The private sector debt is composed of the stock of liabilities held by the sectors “Non-Financial corporations” (S.11) and “Households” and “Non-Profit institutions serving households” (S.14_S.15). The instruments that are taken into account to compile private sector debt are “Debt securities” (F.3) and “Loans” (F.4). The data in the table are presented in consolidated terms, i.e. do not taking into account transactions within the same sector, and expressed in % of GDP and millions of national currency. Definitions regarding sectors and instruments are based on ESA 2010.
- 24.
- 25.
See Piketty (2014), p. 685 p., esp. Ch. XVI. The question of public debt, pp. 540–570.
The high credit dependency of many countries also explains the great importance of their so-called “credit rating” (which, according to some sources, is currently estimated to be even more important than the presence of natural resources). Such a credit rating does offer a (so-called “independent”) indication of the probability that a country will be able to pay back its debts (providing credit rating agencies with an enormous power which sometimes co-determines the prosperity of the monitored countries). (See for instance Harari (2014), pp. 365–366). It is hereby further to be noted that the credit rating of a country, for example, helps determining the interest rates which private banks charge for lending to such a country, putting the capitalist “principle of anti-solidarity” even more in place: countries already facing financial difficulties usually get a lower credit rating, making them subject to higher interest ratings than those applied to (more) prosperous countries, which often makes it for the former countries even more difficult to overcome their financial problems. (See Skidelsky (2010), p. 25).
- 26.
See further in Chap. 5 of this book.
- 27.
Oxfam (2015).
- 28.
More precisely USD 60.793 trillion on December 15th 2014 (see Byttebier (2015a), p. 197).
- 29.
- 30.
- 31.
The website of “The Economist” mentions an older version of the world (public) debt clock, however apparently not being kept up-to-date. Nevertheless, it is interesting to quote the following general remark mentioned on this website:
Does it matter? After all, world governments owe the money to their own citizens, not to the Martians. But the rising total is important for two reasons. First, when debt rises faster than economic output (as it has been doing in recent years), higher government debt implies more state interference in the economy and higher taxes in the future. Second, debt must be rolled over at regular intervals. This creates a recurring popularity test for individual governments, rather as reality TV show contestants face a public phone vote every week. Fail that vote, as various euro-zone governments have done, and the country (and its neighbours) can be plunged into crisis.
(See https://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock; as consulted on 20 December 2018.)
- 32.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 1.
- 33.
Institute of International Finance (2018), pp. 1–2.
- 34.
Institute of International Finance (2018), p. 2.
- 35.
Last consulted on March 5 2019.
- 36.
Still according to the same website, on October 21st 2016, the global world debt amounted to a sum of 62.066 trillion USD (with the USA accounting for 18.060 trillion USD). On again consulting the same website on November 14th 2018, the (estimated) debt of all the countries in the world together had increased to an amount of more than USD 73.8789 trillion. (See furthermore Byttebier (2017), p. 234 a.f.).
- 37.
Last consulted on March 5 2019.
- 38.
As mentioned before, in the meantime American public debt has passed the threshold of USD 22 trillion. (See http://www.usdebtclock.org/).
- 39.
In its 2019-report “Public good or private wealth” (see Oxfam (2019)), Oxfam especially warns on the debt situation of developing countries:
More and more governments are facing rapid increases in their levels of debt, especially in Africa. Faced with essential development needs and insufficient aid and domestic revenues, many developing country governments have borrowed to fund their development. Kenya, for example, is now spending almost 50% of its revenues on debt repayments. Over the past six years, sub-Saharan governments have issued $81bn in dollar bonds to investors looking for high yields.
On top of this are more opaque loans from bilateral governments such as China and India, as well as OECD-based commercial lenders. The large amount of private and short-term debt makes these countries vulnerable to changing financial conditions. According to the IMF, 23 countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of suffering a debt crisis – most of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, Zambia was borrowing at lower interest than Spain; it is now paying 16% interest.
Many developing countries are now facing major problems servicing their debts and are having to make tough choices about revenues and spending, often under pressure from the IMF. In such cases, making decisions about which taxes to raise and what spending to cut, and the impact that this will have on rich and poor people and on men and women, is critical. The IMF has committed to supporting countries to tackle inequality, which is very positive, but Oxfam’s research shows that so far there has been little evidence of this happening. There is also virtually no effort being made to reduce debt burdens through restructuring and cancellation, and thereby to cut the amount of funds that are being diverted away from social spending. A new wave of IMF bailouts will be an opportunity for the IMF to put its words into action and support countries to make the economic choices that reduce inequality. Too many countries are continuing to balance their books at the expense of poor women and men. This undermines countries’ capacity to tackle inequality. History shows that without a new approach that centres on taxing those most able to pay, these economic programmes will hit the poorest women and men hardest.
Government borrowing is of course not all bad, and if it is sustainable and invested well it can reduce inequality, not increase it. But often much of this lending is for projects of dubious value, the costs of which are often heavily inflated, fuelling corruption and capital flight. Much of this debt is linked to poorly conceived PPPs.
Rapid global action is required to tackle this problem before it spirals out of control. A combination of financing, rescheduling and debt cancellation will have to be put in place so that reckless creditors take their share of the burden. Choices around fiscal austerity must focus on raising taxes from the richest individuals and corporations as well as cutting down on corruption and waste, not on raising taxes and cutting services to poor people. An independent debt restructuring and arbitration mechanism should be created to provide a safe and neutral negotiation space that protects debtor countries’ poor citizens. This should be combined with a major increase in foreign aid so that countries are able to invest in fighting inequality without borrowing from future generations.
(Oxfam (2019), pp. 70–71.)
- 40.
Galbraith (1990), p. 20.
- 41.
This insight is, moreover, hardly new and has clearly been known to many brilliant academics of the past, such as obviously Keynes and Galbraith.
After the second world war (and under the influence of Keynes), this insight even co-determined international monetary politics for a brief period of time, to be gradually abandoned under the influence of neoliberal monetary doctrines (especially as of the 1970s). Nevertheless, in Section I (ii) of the IMF-articles of agreement, one of the main purposes of the IMF is still defined as a “balanced growth of international growth”. See also https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/07/27/15/31/IMF-World-Bank (last consulted on March 5 2019). Furthermore, the whole set-up of the original IMF-treaty was to make sure that money growth would be kept within reasonable boundaries in order to allow the real economy to follow its pace.
- 42.
Kruithof (2012), p. 76.
- 43.
- 44.
Hallerberg and Bridwell (2008), p. 74.
- 45.
This fact already by itself demonstrates how inherently unjust such a system of government financing based upon taxation may become.
- 46.
A clear example has been the UK which managed to acquire a huge wealth in the past by exploiting its former colonies.
- 47.
From a legal viewpoint, a variety of countries makes a distinction between true taxes (in the strict sense of the word) and a variety of other state-imposed contributions, such as social security contributions. Economically speaking, these all come down to forms of state imposed skimming of the wealth generated by the economy.
- 48.
In a most minimal way, such governments only allow public expenditure for safety, both internal (through justice and police) and external (through financing a strong army).
- 49.
It needs to be emphasized that, when mentioning “income from labor”, this not only refers to labor performed as an employee, but for example also to labor performed as an independent worker (or in a small business). Indeed, in addition to working classes in a strict sense of the word, also small independent business owners, as well as small and medium enterprises, are clearly interesting sources of income through taxation for many (Western and Western inspired) governments.
- 50.
It even appears that the larger a capital investment, the easier it gets to organize isolating it from taxation, for instance due to the fact that transaction costs for a potential re-allocation of capital become relatively more insignificant when the capital to be moved is larger, but also because it is easier for large enterprises to resort to big consultancy firms which provide services of fiscal optimization and to apply “corporatocratic” mechanisms of (fiscal) policy influencing, such as lobbying and blackmail. (See already above, Sect. 2.2.2.5).
- 51.
- 52.
Sachs (2011), p. 118.
- 53.
Oxfam (2014), p. 16.
- 54.
Oxfam (2019).
- 55.
Oxfam (2019), p. 13.
- 56.
Oxfam (2019), p. 22.
- 57.
Oxfam (2019), p. 22.
- 58.
Oxfam (2019), p. 22.
- 59.
Oxfam (2019), p. 22.
- 60.
Oxfam (2019), p. 23.
- 61.
All this being based upon the (old liberal) idea that the rich (entrepreneurs) are the (sole) driving force within society which implies that they should be burdened by taxation as little as possible, in order to allow them to pursuit their purportedly noble striving for ever more wealth, given the beneficial effects this has for the rest of society.
- 62.
Oxfam (2016), p. 5.
- 63.
From a historical point of view, this observation is hardly new, although the neoliberal reasoning behind it relatively is, given the fact that the intrinsic injustice of taxing (poor) people is probably as old as tax mechanisms themselves, and that, from a historical angle and on a global scale, it have usually been the lower classes of any given society that suffer the most from the pressure of taxes (and other charges) imposed on them by the richer elite. (See Bernstein (2004), p. 30, who also explicitly points out that in the post-modern world, the weakest and poorest are the ones who are most heavily taxed).
See also further in the report “Even it up” of Oxfam:
For instance, today’s lopsided tax policies, lax regulatory regimes and unrepresentative institutions in countries around the world are a result of this elite capture of politics. Elites in rich and poor countries alike use their heightened political influence to benefit from government decisions, including tax exemptions, sweetheart contracts, land concessions and subsidies, while pressuring administrations to block policies that may strengthen the hand of workers or smallholder food producers, or that increase taxation to make it more progressive. In many countries, access to justice is often for sale, legally or illegally, with access to the best lawyers or the ability to cover court costs only available to a privileged few.”
(Oxfam (2014), p. 59).
- 64.
- 65.
Field (2018), p. 93.
- 66.
To the extent that this even seems to be the official standpoint of American President Donald Trump.
- 67.
- 68.
These could even be of a spiritual nature, such as for instance bishops.
- 69.
As already explained before, the money creating activities of private banks would later in history swift from issuing paper money to issuing scriptural money.
- 70.
Hence, the qualification of such paper money as being of a “representative” nature.
- 71.
Hence, the qualification of such paper money as being of a “fiduciary” nature.
- 72.
This has moreover been a “bumpy ride” with a lot of reported cases of the general public losing its “trust” or “faith” in the new “paper money”, which in as many cases resulted in monetary crises.
- 73.
Clearly, there were many other factors that led to the industrial revolution such as for instance technological inventions.
- 74.
See especially Galbraith (1974).
- 75.
See already the figures mentioned in Sect. 4.2.
- 76.
Harari has in this regard compared such an economic system with a shark that needs to swim continuously to prevent it from suffocating. (See Harari (2014), p. 388).
- 77.
It is, hence, hardly a coincidence that the targets set out in the international climate agreements aim at keeping the rise of the average global temperature beneath a certain number of degrees (usually “2”) above the average global temperature of the pre-industrial era.
- 78.
It is in this regard striking that the capitalist human being is even provisioning the exploitation of other planets (as witnessed by the contemporary intention to colonize the planet Mars, with the open question on what to do or to find there). (See furthermore Byttebier (2018), p. 86).
- 79.
As a result, in the contemporary purportedly “free” world, barely any independent scientific research is still taking place, but on the contrary, all scientific research is driven by, or undertaken in collaboration with, capitalist industry.
In the present-day academic world, this has led to a blind belief that all scientific research must be useful for industrial (or other forms of economic) development. (On this, see for instance, Debusschere (2015), p. 15).
- 80.
Not surprisingly, Field has mentioned climate change as the worst of the damage caused by capitalism. (See Field (2018), p. 98).
We shall here abstain ourselves from further making the case how the prevailing capitalist economic system has created all kinds of environmental problems (resulting in, amongst others, climate change). For this, we refer to the vast specialized research on this matter of the past years.
- 81.
The latter is even referred to as “a right to pollute”. (For a critical stand on this matter, see Kyeremeh (n.d.)).
- 82.
Alston (2018).
- 83.
Especially when made “unbridled” again; see especially Byttebier (2018), p. 90 a.f.
- 84.
This has been one of the main concerns that is expressed in the writings of Karl Marx.
- 85.
- 86.
Compare Field (2018), p. 45.
- 87.
Deploying these wealth redistribution techniques did not come easy, but required decades of hard struggle (in some countries even revolutions) by the working classes.
- 88.
See also Byttebier (2018), p. 167 a.f., Sect. 4.7.
It hereby appears from these studies that countries that have been “neoliberalized” the most during the recent past are those in which one may witness the most dramatic increase of poverty, next to the fastest expansion of the gap between rich and poor.
Among these countries one may find, for instance, the USA and the UK, where even more in the aftermath of the severe financial crisis (and the subsequent economic recession) of 2007–2008 (which on its own accord may be considered as a scheme of redistributing wealth to the benefit of the rich and to the detriment of the poor), poverty is booming, while the rich classes at the same time see their huge fortunes even more expand and this literally by the second.
(See furthermore Field (2018), p. 45).
- 89.
See already in the previous Chaps. 2 and 3 of this book, from which it appears that, in order to accomplish such an ideal economic environment for the entrepreneurial class, the whole legal system has been submitted to its interests, with as notorious example of fields of the law that have been shaped in order to serve the interests of the rich and powerful:
-
Monetary and financial law (by, above anything else, validating the societal scam of granting the power to create money to private market players);
-
Contract law (by having created a system in which the more powerful contract party can basically do as he pleases with his weaker co-contracting parties);
-
Company law (which is basically a system that aims at cost what cost protecting the interests of shareholders by ensuring that the largest part of the wealth created by the economic systems flows towards these shareholders);
-
Fiscal law (which, especially under the impulse of neoliberal doctrine, has become a mechanism in which the majority of (poor) people are the ones mostly submitted to taxation and semi-taxation, while a small elite of rich people are the ones least submitted to taxation and semi-taxation);
-
…
We can here further refer to the numerous lectures and articles of the French philosopher Foucault who already in the 1980s explained how economic neoliberalism was reshaping the whole legal system for serving the sole interests of the rich and powerful members of society.
-
- 90.
Field (2018), pp. 98–99.
- 91.
See, in general, Byttebier (2018).
- 92.
Some of these findings have before been presented in Byttebier (2018), p. 167 a.f.
- 93.
Piketty (2014).
- 94.
Piketty’s research, for instance, demonstrated that, during the past decades, an evolution has been taking place towards a structural (extremely) high level of inequality, where the majority of the world’s wealth is increasingly ending up in the hands of a small group of people.
Piketty in this regard, for instance, mentioned that, in the USA, the 10% richest people own 72% of the country’s wealth, and he warns that in Europe the situation is evolving in the same direction. The author describes the consequences of such an extreme inequality as disastrous, as societies characterised by such an extreme inequality are unable to further progress. (See also Pauli (2014), pp. 32–35).
Since then, the inequality crisis has clearly been worsening. On a global scale, 82% of the wealth created in 2017 went to the richest 1% of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity got nothing. (See Oxfam (2018)).
- 95.
Oxfam (2014).
- 96.
Oxfam (2014), p. 8 and p. 32.
- 97.
Oxfam (2014), p. 8 and p. 32.
- 98.
Oxfam (2014), p. 32.
- 99.
McCarthy (2014).
- 100.
According to other research undertaken by Crédit Suisse (and made public in the “Crédit Suisse Global Wealth Report”), in 2014, 41% of the (USD-)millionaires of the world lived in the USA; Japan was ranked second with a “much lower” 8%. Seven percent of the world’s millionaires were reported to live in France, and 6% in both Germany and the U.K. Also in 2014, 775 (USD-) billionaires were reported to live in Europe (9 more than in 2013); 609 in North-America; 650 in Asia and 40 in Africa. (See McCarthy (2014)).
- 101.
- 102.
Oxfam (2015), p. 2.
- 103.
Oxfam (2015), p. 3.
- 104.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2015).
- 105.
Treanor (2015).
- 106.
Treanor (2015).
- 107.
The report hereby defines “wealth” as the value of assets including property and stock market investments, but excluding debt (see Treanor 2015).
- 108.
Treanor (2015).
- 109.
See also Treanor (2015).
A further surprising fact mentioned in the “Global Wealth Databook 2015” of Crédit Suisse was that, measured in personal wealth (and not: “income”), there were in 2015 more poor people in America than there were in China. This is mainly due to the Western banking system being more prevailing in the USA and in Europe than in the rest of the world. As a result of this, more Americans and Europeans are in debt than people elsewhere in the world (whereby such bank debt accounts for a negative factor in calculating one’s personal wealth). It appeared that “America” (in this study this implies both the USA and Canada) had some 10% of the poorest people in the world and also some 30% of the richest; Europe had about 20% of the world’s poorest people and 35% of the richest and China had none of the world’s poorest people and about 7 or 8% of the world’s richest people.
In recent times, it however seems that especially the Chinese entrepreneurial sector is resorting to ever more debt (see above in Sect. 4.2).
- 110.
Oxfam (2016).
- 111.
Bahree (2016).
- 112.
This indicates that, to the extent that capitalist is ever more made “unbridled” again, the trickle-down-economics is but a blunt lie.
- 113.
OECD (2013).
See also https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/trends-in-income-inequality-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth_5jxrjncwxv6j-en (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 114.
https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute/global-wealth-report.html (last consulted on March 5 2019).
Global wealth grew at a faster pace to USD 280 trillion, the highest since Crédit Suisse began tracking it in 2000. The US accounted for more than half the increase. The growth was fueled not only by widespread gains in equity markets but also substantial increases in non-financial assets, the report said. Average global wealth grew 4.9 per cent to a record $56,540 per adult, with the richest 1 per cent owning about half of all household wealth (see Anonymous (2018)).
- 115.
Anonymous (2018).
- 116.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2017), p. 4.
- 117.
If this were indeed the case, it appears that, once again, the egoistic, selfish and greedy behavior of the rich and powerful may be leading the world economy to yet another severe financial crisis.
- 118.
Anonymous (2018).
- 119.
- 120.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2017), p. 39.
- 121.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2017), p. 16.
- 122.
Oxfam (2017).
- 123.
In the previously quoted Oxfam report of 2016, this number was 62.
- 124.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 125.
Oxfam (2017), p. 2.
- 126.
Strangely, the report mentions both figures.
- 127.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 128.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 129.
Oxfam (2017), p. 3.
- 130.
Corporate tax dodging was reported to cost poor countries at least USD 100 billion every year. This is enough money to provide an education for the 124 million children who aren’t in school and fund healthcare interventions that could prevent the deaths of at least six million children every year. (See https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019)).
The Oxfam 2017 report even so outlines in detail how the super-rich use a network of tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of tax and an army of wealth managers to secure returns on their investments that would not be available to ordinary savers. (See https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019)).
- 131.
Oxfam (2017), p. 3 a.f.; see also https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019).
Oxfam for instance interviewed women working in a garment factory in Vietnam who work 12 h a day, 6 days a week and still struggle to get by on the USD 1 an hour they earn producing clothes for some of the world’s biggest fashion brands. The CEOs of these companies are some of the highest paid people in the world.
- 132.
For example, billionaires in Brazil were reported to influence elections and to have successfully lobbied for a reduction in tax bills while oil corporations in Nigeria were reported to have managed to secure generous tax breaks. (See https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world (last consulted on March 5 2019)).
- 133.
Oxfam (2018).
- 134.
Oxfam (2018).
- 135.
Oxfam (2018).
- 136.
Oxfam (2018).
- 137.
See in general Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 2.
- 138.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 7.
- 139.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 7.
- 140.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 7.
- 141.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 7.
- 142.
Compare Field (2018), p. 98, pointing out that inequality between rich and poor nations is on the increase and roughly tripled from 1960 to 2016.
- 143.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 8.
- 144.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), p. 9.
- 145.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), pp. 20–21.
- 146.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), pp. 20–21.
- 147.
Crédit Suisse Research Institute (2018), pp. 20–21.
- 148.
- 149.
Oxfam (2019).
- 150.
Oxfam (2019), p. 11.
- 151.
Oxfam (2019), p. 11.
- 152.
Oxfam (2019), p. 11.
- 153.
Oxfam (2019), p. 12.
- 154.
Oxfam (2019), p. 12.
- 155.
One could wonder if Jef Bezos is truly the richest man on Earth. To the extent that rich bankers’ families have already for centuries now been sucking huge wealth out of the economy, one could expect that they are the true richest people on Earth. However, they clearly go at great length to keep their vast fortunes hidden from the general public. (See also above, in Chap. 2, footnote 38). Interestingly, Jeff Bozos himself got divorced in 2019 thus making his ex-wife Mackenzie one of the richest women with (approximately) USD 35.6 billion of Amazon Stock.
- 156.
Oxfam (2019), p. 29.
- 157.
See https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/ (last consulted on March 5 2019). See similarly https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 158.
Gordon (2019).
- 159.
Gordon (2019).
- 160.
- 161.
Galbraith (1974).
- 162.
See, in general, Byttebier (2018).
- 163.
On the crisis of the British welfare state in general, see Taylor-Gooby (2013).
- 164.
Alston (2018).
- 165.
Taylor-Gooby (2013), p. 2.
- 166.
Taylor-Gooby (2013), p. 2.
- 167.
See Alston (2018).
According to Alston, in 2018, 14 million people, a fifth of the UK population, lived in poverty. Four million of these were more than 50% below the poverty line, and 1.5 million were destitute, unable to afford basic essentials.
- 168.
See at https://www.jrf.org.uk/ (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 169.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2017).
- 170.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2017), p. 3.
- 171.
Apparently, this is similarly the case in many other (European) countries, as can, for instance, be deducted from the 2018-“yellow jackets” protests against the rising prices of fuel in France and Belgium. (See Raphael (2018)).
As Raphael reported:
The (…) wave of demonstrations began with a Facebook grouping to protest a 7.6 euro cents per liter ($0.09) tax increase on diesel fuel, to help pay for President Emmanuel Macron’s environmental agenda. Opposition to the tax tapped into widening discontent over living standards and with a president who often appears arrogant and detached.
(Raphael (2018).)
- 172.
- 173.
Social Metrics Commission (2018).
- 174.
Social Metrics Commission (2018), p. 5.
Compared to previous measures, the report also showed that those families struggling to make ends meet because of childcare and housing costs and those who lack a financial buffer to fall back on were much more likely to be in poverty.
- 175.
Social Metrics Commission (2018), p. 7.
- 176.
Whitham (2016).
- 177.
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/poverty-in-the-uk/challenging-extreme-economic-inequality (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 178.
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/poverty-in-the-uk/challenging-extreme-economic-inequality (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 179.
Whitham (2016).
- 180.
Whitham (2016).
- 181.
Alston (2018).
- 182.
CK (2018).
- 183.
https://povertyusa.org/facts (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 184.
Gatti (n.d.).
- 185.
Gatti (n.d.).
- 186.
Alston (2017).
- 187.
Alston (2017), n° 3.
- 188.
Alston (2017), n° 25.
- 189.
Alston (2017), n° 11.
- 190.
See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/food-banks-archbishop-of-canterbury-urges-politicians-to-face-up-to-britains-hunger-9909324.html (last consulted on March 5 2019); See also http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/hunger-has-not-vanished-from-our-affluent-even-overweight-society%2D%2Das-archbishop-welby-has-pointed-out-9909189.html (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 191.
- 192.
Moore (2018). See also Bulman (2018); https://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/poverty-in-the-uk (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 193.
Roser and Ortiz-Ospina (2017).
- 194.
http://www.feedingamerica.org/ (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 195.
This was moreover reported to be the highest number in over 50 years. (See Feeding America (2014), p. 3).
- 196.
http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/hunger-and-poverty/ (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 197.
See http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/14poverty.cfm (last consulted on March 5 2019).
- 198.
See Feeding America (2014).
See also http://help.feedingamerica.org/site/PageServer/?pagename=HIA_hunger_in_america&s_src=W14CDIRCT&s_subsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.feedingamerica.org%2F&_ga=1.31822968.715348318.1418886761 (last accessed on June 16 2018).
- 199.
See Feeding America (2014), p. 1:
Unemployment and poverty rates have remained high since the Great Recession of 2008, and the number of households receiving nutrition assistance from the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has increased by approximately 50 percent between 2009 and 2013. Demand for charitable food assistance has also expanded. HIA 2014 finds an increased number of individuals relying on charitable assistance to access nutritious foods for themselves and their families.
See also Feeding America (2014), p. 3:
The economy has experienced an unusually slow recovery since the deep recession in 2008 and 2009. The nation’s poverty rate reached 15.1 percent in 2010, the highest rate since 1993. The poverty rate remained at 15 percent in 2012 with 46.5 million people living in poverty. This is the largest number living in poverty since statistics were first published more than 50 years ago.
- 200.
Coleman-Jensen et al. (2017).
- 201.
Coleman-Jensen et al. (2017).
- 202.
See http://www.feedingamerica.org/ (last consulted on March 5 2019). See also Feeding America (2017).
- 203.
McGrath (2018).
- 204.
McGrath (2018).
- 205.
McGrath (2018).
- 206.
Recently, this even seems to have been acknowledged by the American press. (See Watson (2019)).
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Byttebier, K. (2019). Some Major Unanswered Challenges of Our Times. In: The Tools of Law that Shape Capitalism. Economic and Financial Law & Policy – Shifting Insights & Values, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24182-7_4
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