Why the Super-Rich Keep Getting Richer
▻https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/07/why-the-super-rich-keep-getting-richer
Those on the right-wing of politics argue that extreme wealth is a function of hard work, creativity and innovation that benefits society. But wealth and income inequality have increased dramatically in most advanced economies in recent years. The richest of the rich are much wealthier today than they were several decades ago, but it is not clear that they are working any harder.
Productivity has not risen alongside inequality in recent years. In fact, in the US and the UK productivity has flatlined since the financial crisis – and in the US it has been declining since the turn of the century.
There is another explanation for the huge profits of the world’s largest corporations, and the huge fortunes of the super-rich. Not higher productivity. Not simply globalisation. But rising global market power.
Many of the world’s largest tech companies have become global oligopolies, and domestic monopolies. Globalisation has played a role here, of course – many domestic firms simply can’t compete with global multinationals. But these firms also use their relative size to push down wages, avoid taxes and gouge their suppliers, as well as lobbying governments to provide them with preferential treatment.