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The Herald Scotland
07-08-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Us vs them: why the rich are destroying our world
The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer, as the old song from the Great Depression goes. Approximately 3000 billionaires worldwide collectively increased their wealth by $6.5trillion since 2015, bringing their total worth to 14.6% of global GDP. McDonald's work should be read alongside another new book, Goliath's Curse by Dr Luke Kemp from Cambridge University. The 'Goliath' in Kemp's study of civilisational collapse is the elite - the rich who have ruled over us since the Bronze Age. Read More: His thesis is that societies collapse due to the annexing of wealth by a tiny elite who he calls 'walking versions of the Dark Triad'. The Dark Triad is a psychological term for the worst of humanity's characteristics: narcissism, machiavellianism and psychopathy. Taken together these books warn: things fall apart when the rich get too rich, and we're living through a moment when the rich have definitely got too rich. That disparity in wealth - the figure which marks America as unequal as Caesar's Rome - has a technical term: the Gini Coefficient. Not much separates Britain and America on this measure. Among the list of 37 OECD countries, Britain is 30th; America 32nd. Costa Rica comes last. The wider a society's Gini coefficient, the greater the levels of unhappiness and anger; the higher the risk of crime. A picture begins to emerge when you put these disparate facts together: of western societies strip-mined by the few to the point of destruction, of billions of working people cannibalised by a rapacious elite whose unobtainable lifestyles are built overwhelmingly on inherited wealth. We're living through a new 'Gilded Age': the period at the end of the 19th century marked by grotesque material excess, political corruption, and endemic poverty. It didn't end well. Ask the Tsar of Russia and his family. The Russian Revolution stands as the greatest, most violent, attempt to slough off the previous Gilded Age. Obscene wealth inequality leads to obscene results. However, reactions around the world at the beginning of the last century to intolerable wealth disparities played their part in the collapse of European monarchies, the first global war and the rise of new political parties like Labour in Britain. If this is a new Gilded Age, then while the world's billionaires live in gold, the rest of us live in rust. There's a cartoon from around 1900 called 'From the Depths', drawn as a warning to the rich to rein in their greed. It shows a glittering ballroom filled with dancers in gowns and tailcoats. The dance floor is held up on the backs of the hungry and ragged poor. One desperate man has punched through the floor, his clenched fist rising up. An aristocrat looks down fearfully at this breech into his candlelit world. The very same mood is growing in the west. A poster has just gone up outside a London hospital. It says 'Know Your Parasites'. First on the list is ticks. The advice reads 'remove with tweezer'. Then there's worms. The advice reads 'remove with medication'. Next come billionaires. The advice reads 'remove with wealth tax'. It shows the faces of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Jeff Bezos (Image: PA) The old Gilded Age had its rail and steel barons, the new Gilded Age has its tech barons. One of the most stomach-churning sights of this year was Bezos's Venice wedding. He rented a city to display his riches, while we pressed our noses against the windows of his palace. Meanwhile, the world burned. Meanwhile, here in Britain, eight-in-ten dentists report treating cases of DIY dentistry. The NHS spends £50billion on the effects of deprivation and child poverty. One senior NHS employee recently told the Guardian that Britain is experiencing 'medieval' levels of untreated illness in our poorest communities, including folk attending A&E 'with cancerous lumps bursting through their skin'. Scottish charities tell of mums dropping three dress sizes as they're going hungry to feed their kids. Outside any city centre office you'll see sports cars one moment, and homeless people the next. Far from fellow citizens reduced to lives of begging, there's the likes of Dame Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide chief executive and darling of the Labour government, with a £7million annual pay package. Never forget the bankers. That's where the poison lies. They crashed our economy, and instead of being jailed, our governments across the west bailed them out with our money. Bankers rolled in gold, while our lives and countries were shredded by austerity. The number - and size - of super-yachts being built increases yearly, from 1024 in 2022 to 1203 in 2023. There's a smart slogan doing the rounds these days: Your enemies don't come in small boats, but private jets. In the feudal past, the rich assaulted and raped the poor. Today, our news is filled with the crimes of multi-millionaire sex offenders like Donald Trump's friend Jeffrey Epstein. What makes today so different, though, to times long gone when the poor rose up to defend themselves is that the rich have managed to divide us as never before. Most media - dominated by the billionaire class - manufactures culture wars pitting ordinary citizens against each other. Better to have us at our own throats, than at theirs. If we cleared the smoke from our eyes, we'd realise we can change what's happening before it's too late. For change must come. This can't continue. And far better for peaceable than violent change. I began with a statistic of sheer despair: the matched inequality of America and slaving-owning Rome. Here's another statistic. It comes from Oxfam. The wealth of the world's richest increased by $34trillion since 2015. If we took that money - not their entire wealth, just the interest on their wealth over ten years - we'd end global poverty 22 times over. There is hope. You just have to want it. Neil Mackay is the Herald's Writer-at-Large. He's a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics
The Citizen
19-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Global Wealth Report: More dollar millionaires in SA, but also bigger inequality
The latest Global Wealth Report shows that the world became richer but it is a mixed picture, with most of the growth in North America. The Global Wealth Report for 2025 shows an increase in global wealth, but unfortunately South Africa did not share in this growth, while the country continues to be one of the most unequal countries in the world. It did, however, see an increase in dollar millionaires. UBS, a wealth manager and universal bank in Switzerland, compiles the Global Wealth Report with insights into personal wealth. The latest edition analyses 56 markets, estimated to represent over 92% of the world's wealth. The world's wealth landscape continued to evolve In a year marked by shifting economic tides and the data in the report echoes this. According to the report, global wealth increased by 4.6% in 2024 after a 4.2% increase in 2023, but it also shows that South Africa experienced negative real growth in average wealth per adult in 2023 and 2024. South Africa finds itself among the countries in negative territory for average as well as median wealth growth, alongside countries such as India, the UAE and Turkey. ALSO READ: SA still the most unequal country in the world – Oxfam Global Wealth Report shows inequality in SA In addition, South Africa ranked third-highest in the world for wealth inequality, with a Gini Coefficient of 0.81, just behind Brazil (0.82) and Russia (0.82), and equal to the UAE. This chart shows the wealth inequality in the world: ALSO READ: Six South Africans on Forbes Real-Time Billionaire list Global Wealth Report also had good news for SA However, South Africa did see a positive increase in dollar millionaires with a growth rate just under 2% but still indicating increasing upper-tier wealth and supporting the wider Everyday Millionaire trend. As an emerging market, South Africa is listed as one of the 15 emerging economies that collectively hold up to 30% of global wealth as of 2024, a statistic that has remained relatively flat since 2017. Iqbal Khan, co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management, says the speed of growth was far from uniform, largely tilted towards North America, with the Americas overall accounting for the majority of the increase, with more than 11%. 'A stable US dollar and buoyant financial markets were key contributors to this growth. Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) were lagging behind, with growth rates of below 3% and less than 0.5% respectively.' ALSO READ: Where do the super-rich in SA live? Trends identified in the Global Wealth Report The 16th edition of the Global Wealth Report highlights these regional and demographic themes: Adults in North America were the wealthiest on average ($593 347) in 2024, followed by Oceania ($496 696) and Western Europe ($287 688). However, measured in US dollar, in real terms over half of the 56 markets in the sample not only did not take part in the world's growth last year, but saw their average wealth per adult decline. Despite this, Switzerland continued to top the list for average wealth per adult on an individual market level, followed by the US, Hong Kong and Luxembourg. Denmark, South Korea, Sweden, Ireland, Poland and Croatia recorded the biggest increases in average wealth, all growing at double-digit rates when measured in local currencies. The number of dollar millionaires increased by 1.2% in 2024, an increase of more than 684 000 people compared to the previous year, with the US adding over 379 000 new millionaires – more than 1 000 a day. The US, mainland China and France had the highest number of dollar millionaires, with the US accounting for almost 40% of global millionaires. There has been a marked and consistent increase in wealth all across the world over the past 25 years, both overall and in each main region individually. Total wealth increased at a compound annual growth rate of 3.4% since 2000. This decade, the wealth band below $10 000 ceased to be the most populated one in the sample, overtaken by the next-higher band between $10 000 and $100 000. Over the next five years, the report's projections for average wealth per adult point to continued growth, with the expansion led by the US as well as Greater China, Latin America and Oceania. ALSO READ: Bill Gates explains why his children will inherit less than 1% of his wealth This chart shows the change in total personal wealth from 203 to 2024: Khan also points out that this year's report highlights the rise of the Everyday MILLIonaire (EMILLIs), everyday millionaires with investable assets of between $1 million to $5 million. Their numbers have more than quadrupled since 2000, reaching around 52 million globally by the end of last year. This group now accounts for approximately $107 trillion in total wealth, approaching the $119 trillion held by individuals with over $5 million in assets. Khan says the growth of this segment has largely been driven by increasing real estate prices and exchange rate effects. 'Despite regional differences, the long-term upward trend in the Everyday Millionaire group is visible around the globe.' ALSO READ: Want to build wealth? This is how Differences in wealth distribution among generations The Global Wealth Report also highlights the differences in wealth distribution among generations in the US. It shows that Millennials (born after 1981) have the highest proportion of their assets in consumer durables and real estate and invest more heavily in private businesses. Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) hold over $83 trillion in net wealth, far surpassing Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), the Silent Generation (born before 1945) and Millennials. Khan points out that globally, wealth allocation also varies, with the US standing out with its high allocation in financial investments, Australia in real estate and Singapore in insurance and pensions. 'Over the next 20–25 years, more than $83 trillion is expected to be transferred, with $9 trillion moving horizontally between spouses and $74 trillion moving between generations. The largest volume of wealth transfers is anticipated in the US of over $29 trillion, Brazil with nearly $9 trillion and mainland China with more than $5 trillion). ALSO READ: Wealth gap widens, ANC dodges wealth tax Global wealth expected to grow Robert Karofsky, co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management, says with global wealth expected to continue to grow, the ability to manage that wealth in a dynamic and complex financial environment becomes even more important, requiring strategic foresight and expert guidance. Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, notes that wealth is not just an economic measure but a social and political force. 'As we navigate the fourth industrial revolution and increasing public debt, the way wealth is distributed and transferred will shape opportunity, policy and progress. 'This year's report underscores the evolutionary shifts in wealth ownership, especially the growing influence of women and the enduring importance of property and long-term asset trends.'
