It’s that time again – when world elites, global leaders, and the wealthiest individuals on the planet meet in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. Here they discuss widely significant issues from politics, business, the climate and technology.
This meeting of wealthy and powerful individuals provides a stark reminder of the huge inequalities that mar the world we live in. We have just experienced the warmest year on record (once again), communities all across the world have felt firsthand the impact of the climate crisis with extreme and unpredictable weather events; AI is affecting all of us in ways we simply don’t yet understand, while taking enormous resources; we’ve seen wars and horrific violence in all corners of the world. While billionaires are getting even richer and enjoying leisure trips into space, the world’s poorest continue to face enormous challenges just to survive.
Not only are the super-rich able to live lives of excess and luxury at the expense of the climate, but their power and wealth enable them to find loopholes to escape paying fair taxes. This means they are not contributing to the societies they belong to and benefit from.
At JustMoney Movement, we believe that God created a good world where every person has inherent dignity and worth. We are called to work for a world where we can all flourish, but this is threatened by the depth of inequality reflected in the rich and powerful gathered at Davos.
3 ways inequality and extreme wealth is damaging to everyone
It threatens the climate
The world’s richest 1% emit more than double the carbon emissions of the poorest half.
Billionaires are more likely to have larger carbon footprints because they can afford a luxury lifestyle, enjoying private jets, multiple large properties, super yachts, and space tourism.
Furthermore, much of the extreme wealth economy is driven by investments in activities that are destroying the climate, such as fossil fuel extraction, deforestation and technologies like AI that are so resource hungry. A new report from Oxfam shows that every billionaire, on average, invests in companies that will produce 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 every year. The richest 1% of individuals would have to reduce their carbon emissions by 97% by 2030 to stay with the 1.5 degrees limit. On the other hand, the poorest half of the world’s population face the brunt of the climate crisis, to which they have contributed the least.
It threatens democracy
Democracy relies on principles of fairness, representation and the collective voice of people and communities. Where wealth inequality warps this, those with more wealth are able to use their vast resources to undermine and distort the political processes that make a society democratic.
New research from Oxfam estimates that billionaires are over 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.
The super-rich are able to use their vast wealth to buy the favour of politicians and political parties, overriding the power of democracy with a corrupt system. Billionaires also dominate the media, including the press and social media, and so can use these spaces to push their agendas as well. Oxfam’s report states that 9 of the top 10 social media companies in the world are run by just 6 billionaires, and 8 of the top 10 AI companies are run by billionaires.
We only need to look across the Atlantic at our American neighbours to see what this looks like: a society where the richest can buy their way into more and more power, and doing so in a corrupt and hush-hush way, so as to hide underneath the façade of democracy.
This harms the majority of the population whose voices and opinions are either ignored, or unfairly shaped by this deliberate bias, which in turn gives the powerful more power and the cycle continues.
It threatens public services
Governments rely on revenues from taxation to make the case for public investment. But in the UK, our NHS and other public services are crumbling from lack of funding.
Wealth is not taxed fairly in the UK, meaning that proportionally, the average worker pays more tax than the super-rich. This means that those with extreme wealth are not contributing their fair share to keep our society running as it should.
We have been calling for changes to how wealth is taxed in the UK for several years, and momentum is starting to grow.
What can you do?
Write to your MP
Even if you’ve done so already, you can write to your MP asking them to support greater taxation on wealth, to help tackle inequality and pay for public services. Or forward the action to your friends and family.
Pray
You can use these prayer points to pray for these issues in your church, groups, or individually:
- Pray for those attending Davos World Economic Forum, that they would be open in their discussions, recognise their privilege and status in a world shaped by inequality, and use their resources to work for change and for justice.
- Pray for those experiencing the brunt of the climate crisis, that they might find hope and support.
- Pray for climate justice, that world leaders and people everywhere would take urgent and careful action for the climate, so that together we would shape a world where all life can truly flourish.
- Pray for democracy, that political processes would be fair, every voice have an equal weight, and those in power truly reflect the will of the people they represent.
- Pray for tax justice, that taxes might be a tool for good, and for societies where everyone contributes their fair share so that we can all live in places of joy, hope, and support.
- Pray for justice: for a world that is turned on its head, and for economies shaped by values of fairness, inclusion, peace, dignity and compassion.
You are so right.