{"id":18169,"date":"2021-01-26T21:19:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T21:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=54106"},"modified":"2021-01-26T21:19:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T21:19:38","slug":"we-are-the-1-the-wealth-of-many-australians-puts-them-in-an-elite-club-wrecking-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/26\/we-are-the-1-the-wealth-of-many-australians-puts-them-in-an-elite-club-wrecking-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"We are the 1% \u2013 the wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"
ANALYSIS:<\/strong> By Alex Baumann<\/a>, Western Sydney University<\/a> and Samuel Alexander<\/a>, University of Melbourne<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Among the many hard truths exposed by covid-19 is the huge disparity between the world\u2019s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world\u2019s billionaires increased<\/a> their already huge fortunes by 27.5 percent.<\/p>\n And as many ordinary people lost their jobs and fell into poverty, The Guardian<\/em> reported \u201cthe 1 percent are coping\u201d by taking private jets<\/a> to their luxury retreats.<\/p>\n Such perverse affluence further fuelled criticism of the so-called 1 percent, which has long been the standard rhetoric of the political Left<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2011, Occupy Wall Street protesters called out growing economic inequality by proclaiming<\/a>: \u201cWe are the 99 percent!\u201d. And an Oxfam report<\/a> in September last year lamented how the richest 1 percent of the world\u2019s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of humanity.<\/p>\n But you might be surprised to find this 1 percent doesn\u2019t just comprise the super-rich. It may include you, or people you know. And this fact has big implications for social justice and planetary survival.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n