Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon makes $275 million a day Breaking that down, it means that Bezos makes $11.5 million per hour, which is roughly $191,000 per minute, or $3,182 every single second. We live in the age of the ultra-rich, and in many ways, we often demonise the individuals. However, they simply flourished in a society and system that allowed them to accumulate this much wealth in the first place. A few months ago the US Democratic Presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Tweeted "Amazon made $11,200,000,000 in profits last year. Its federal income tax bill: ZERO. It is simply not true that we cannot afford to invest in housing or health care or education. We will make massive corporations finally pay their fair share." How can it be that while over 736 million people live below the poverty line (according to 2015 data so the number is expected to be considerably higher today), while one human being accumulates this much wealth? Inequality isn't only unjust per se, it plays a major role in causing social unrest, violent conflicts, mass migration or climate change. Tackling these global issues requires to fight systemic inequality itself. Welcome back to FairPlanet's weekly roundup, and this time we'll be looking at wealth inequality and the very systems that created it. |