Capitalism favors profit over the ecological integrity of the land that provides the resources for production, and treats the environment as a dumping ground for byproducts and waste. Capitalism is the driving force of ecological destruction. Carbon emissions already released into the atmosphere will continue to warm the planet for years to come. Although a certain level of climate change is guaranteed, it is still possible, through radical action in the coming decade, to give our descendants a better chance at a decent life: to lessen the possibility that they will inherit the hell-scape environment we currently are on course for. The way to solve the environmental emergency, of which climate change is only one aspect, is to replace capitalism with a different social and economic model. Its foundations is a grow-or-die system. Capitalism is threatening the future of humanity.

Capital accumulation creates profits for a small percentage of the population instead of the vast majority of us who do the work to make those profits possible. This has resulted in a system in which eight men have as much wealth as the 3.6 billion people that make up half the world.  

Leading the pack is Elon Musk whose wealth is up by triple digits, $127 billion, in just one freaking year. His gain alone would be good enough to make him the world’s third wealthiest individual after Bezos and Gates. His net worth is now $155 billion.  If Musk continues on the path he has been on during the year, he will soon be number one, and could be the first to reach a trillion. On a typical single day in 2020, Musk’s wealth increased by almost $348 million which comes to $14.5 million every hour, $241,628 every minute, or $4,027 every second.

The total gains of the 1%, as of the third quarter of 2020, came to $1.47 trillion. The net gains of the wealthiest big 10 alone are 21.7% of the entire gain of the roughly 3.3 million wealthiest in the USA. Those holding positions 11-20 have wealth of about half the amount of the top 10, $502.2B, with gains for the year so far of almost $54.9 billion, a figure that would be $70 billion when excluding their colleagues who lost wealth. The total wealth of the top twenty comes in at $1.544 trillion. This amount represents 65.4% of the total wealth of the poorest half of the U.S. population who, as of the end of the third quarter of 2020, held wealth worth $2.36 trillion. The wealth of the 10 wealthiest individuals comes to 44% of the wealth of the poorest 50%, roughly 165.5 million people.

The combined wealth of Australian billionaires has risen by more than 50% over the past year. By comparison, billionaires in the US and UK recorded an increase of about 25% over the same period

The combined net worth of Australia’s billionaires dropped in March – when Covid-19 restrictions ramped up – before rebounding strongly and increasing throughout the course of the year.

By contrast regular families were already having it tough before Covid hit with “anaemic” wage growth, home ownership being at its lowest level in six decades and household debt skyrocketing. More than 1 million people with insufficient assets have pulled money out of superannuation.

Several Australian billionaires, including Solomon Lew, owned firms that had paid out significant dividends after receiving jobkeeper support from taxpayers. Critics have dubbed the design issue as “dividendkeeper”. Lew would pocket $24.25m in dividends after his retail empire, Premier Investments, received almost $70m in wage subsidies during the coronavirus crisis.

Australia’s billionaires became 50% richer during pandemic | Business | The Guardian

 Overcrowded housing has helped to spread Covid-19 in England and may have increased the number of deaths, according to research by the Health Foundation.

People living in cramped conditions have been more exposed to the coronavirus and were less able to reduce their risk of infection because their homes were so small, the thinktank found. Overcrowding was a key reason why poorer people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds in particular had been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, it said. Health Foundation researchers also concluded that overcrowding, together with other housing problems such as damp and insecure tenancies, had led to a rise in physical and mental health ailments.

“While some have weathered lockdown in large homes with gardens and plenty of living space, others have struggled in overcrowded and unsafe conditions. Overcrowding is associated with the spread of Covid-19, making self-isolation more difficult and allowing the virus to spread through more people if one becomes infected.” Adam Tinson, a co-author of the analysis and a senior analyst at the thinktank, explained.

 In March, 830,000 households in England were overcrowded, especially rented properties. That was 200,000 more than the number in that situation a decade earlier.

“People’s housing environments have affected their ability to shield themselves and others from Covid-19. People have been encouraged to stay in their homes as much as possible, but within-household transmission has played a serious role in the spread of the virus,” the analysis says. “Overcrowding, which has been increasing in the years prior to the pandemic, makes it harder to self-isolate and shield, and may have contributed to higher death rates in poorer areas.”

8% of households with the lowest income lived in overcrowded homes, compared with fewer than 1% of those with the highest earnings. Similarly, Ethnic minority households are five times more likely to be overcrowded than white households.

“… illustrating just one of the ways in which existing housing disparities are combining with the pandemic to further widen inequalities in health.”

People being forced to spend more time in overcrowded homes during this year’s various lockdowns has also caused or worsened mental health problems, especially those suffering distress. “Distress is generally higher for overcrowded households, and data from the pandemic period seem to show this intensifying during the more severe lockdown in April 2020, when 39% of people in overcrowded households were indicating psychological distress”, compared with 29% of those whose homes were not overcrowded, the analysis concludes.

“This analysis shows that mental ill-health has been a particular issue for those in overcrowded households during the pandemic, especially in the first lockdown. The chronic lack of affordable housing options, combined with years of reductions in support for housing costs, have led us to this point,” said Tinson.

The restrictions on movement and social mixing had also deepened loneliness among those living alone, the report said.

The coronavirus crisis poses the greatest threat to mental health since the second world war, with the impact to be felt for years after the virus has been brought under control, the country’s leading psychiatrist, Dr Adrian James, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, warned.

 A combination of the disease, its social consequences and the economic fallout were having a profound effect on mental health that would continue long after the epidemic is reined in. As many as 10 million people, including 1.5 million children, are thought to need new or additional mental health support as a direct result of the crisis.  About 1.3 million people who have not had mental health problems before are expected to need treatment for moderate to severe anxiety, and 1.8 million treatment for moderate to severe depression, it found.

Cramped housing has helped fuel spread of Covid in England – study | Coronavirus | The Guardian

Covid poses ‘greatest threat to mental health since second world war’ | Society | The Guardian

Socialism does not claim it will end all natural disasters but it does say such a cooperative sciety would minimise and mitigate the effects of natures calamities.

Capitalism tends to classify such events in money terms, socialists look at them from the viewpoint of the human tragedies. Millions of people have had to cope with the impacts of extreme weather events. Researchers say that the influence of climate change on extreme events is strong and likely to continue growing

In 2020 floods in China and India causing damages of more than $40bn.

 Over a period of months, heavy flooding in India saw more than 2,000 deaths with millions of people displaced from their homes. The value of the insured losses is estimated at $10bn.

China suffered even greater financial damage from flooding, running to around $32bn between June and October this year. The loss of life from these events was much smaller than in India.

In the US, record hurricanes and wildfires, caused some $60bn in losses.

Africa was also on the receiving end of extreme events, with massive locust swarms ruining crops and vegetation to the tune of $8.5bn. The UN has linked these swarms to climate change, with unusually heavy rains in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa in recent years contributing to the locust outbreaks.

South Sudan’s floods weren’t among the costliest in dollar terms, they have had a huge impact, killing 138 people and wiping out this year’s crops.

Richer countries have more valuable properties, and on the whole suffer greater financial penalties from extreme events.

 The UK’s largest financial firms have handed their board members a near-80% pay rise since 2009.

Median pay for the three highest earning non-executive directors (NEDs) in each of the FTSE 100’s 17 financial firms surged from £90,700 in 2009 to £162,000 in 2019.

Board members overseeing the UK’s largest banks, insurance and investment firms are earning 79% more than they did a decade earlier, despite being in part-time roles.

The largest increases have been at Lloyds Banking Group, where top NEDs are earning 257% more than in 2009; the London Stock Exchange Group, where there has been a 219% rise; and investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, where fees have jumped 170%.

The median number of meetings now sitting at 26. The busiest among them sat through 48 meetings last year.

 The High Pay Centre said some board members were already earning more than 99% of the UK workforce, despite committing just a fraction of the hours.

“Many financial services firms paying six-figure sums to their NEDs will also have low-paid staff in branches, call centres or administrative roles struggling to make ends meet,” Luke Hildyard, the director of the High Pay Centre thinktank, said.

UK’s biggest financial firms have given boards near-80% pay rise since 2009 | Business | The Guardian

 Information comes from a 2020 Credit Suisse Global Wealth report reveals that:

 The top 1% of households globally own 43% of all personal wealth while the bottom 50% have only 1%. 

 The 1% are all millionaires in net wealth (after debt) and there are 52m of them. 

 Within this 1%, there are 175,000 ultra-wealthy people with over $50m in net wealth.

That’s a minuscule 0.1% owning 25% of the world’s wealth!

 The Credit Suisse global wealth report analyses the household wealth of 5.2 billion people across the globe. Household wealth is made up of the financial assets (stocks, bonds, cash, pension funds) and property (houses etc.) owned.  And the report measures this, net of debt. 

Most shocking is the still huge inequality of household wealth globally as shown by the wealth pyramid 

At the apex of the wealth pyramid, the report estimates that at the start of this year there were 175,690 ultra-high net worth (UHNW) adults in the world with net worth exceeding US$50 million.

At the end of 2019, North America and Europe accounted for 55% of total global wealth, with only 17% of the world adult population. In contrast, the population share was three times larger than the wealth share in Latin America, four times the wealth share in India, and nearly ten times the wealth share in Africa.

Wealth differences within countries are even more pronounced. The top 1% of wealth holders in a country typically own 25%–40% of all wealth, and the top 10% usually account for 55%–75%. At the end of 2019, millionaires around the world – which number exactly 1% of the adult population – accounted for 43.4% of global net worth. In contrast, 54% of adults with wealth below US$10,000 (i.e. pretty much nothing)  together mustered less than 2% of global wealth.

1% own 43% of global wealth, while billions have no wealth at all – Climate & Capitalism (climateandcapitalism.com)

 A Christmas Fancy

There’s those who don’t believe in Santa Claus,

Yet past folk had King Winter visit them

Long, long before the star in Bethlehem.

Then, later, riding through the snows

Came Jul astride eight legged Sleipner, blue cloaked

And gifting the good. After Senlac Hill

Lord Christmas went from castle to hovel,

While Tudor winter revels in log smoked

Halls were in the charge of Captain Christmas.

Even the Lord Protector’s severe ways

Were subverted by the mumming plays

When Old Father Christmas first made his pass.

And Santa? He brooks no borders so he

Can bring to each his need, and all for free.

D. A.

 People of Black African ethnicity in the United Kingdom typically have just one-eighth of the wealth of white British people, the Resolution Foundation said.

People of Black African ethnicity had on average 24,000 pounds ($32,175) of family wealth per adult, rising to 31,000 pounds ($41,569) for people of Bangladeshi ethnicity and nearly 42,000 pounds ($56,320) for those with mixed white and Black Caribbean ethnicity. People of white British ethnicity held 197,000 pounds ($264,166) of family wealth per adult, the Resolution Foundation said.

At least half of Black African, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean ethnicity households held less than 1,000 pounds ($1,340) in savings before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

“Despite significant progress in closing education and employment gaps between different ethnic groups, these wealth gaps are likely to persist,” George Bangham, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said. “Even high earners will struggle to save their way to being high wealth, while white British people are much more likely to inherit significant sums than those of other ethnic groups.”

UK’s ethnic wealth gap: Difference between groups widens | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

 After the financial crisis and the ensuing great recession that started in April 2008, the unemployment rate rose from 5.5% to 7.5% over 12 months. Over the same time period, wage growth – as measured by single-month average weekly earnings in the private sector – also fell sharply. This is what usually happens in a slump.

 But not this time around, in 2020. Something weird is happening to wage growth.

In the US, there was a big rise in the unemployment rate to just under 20% in April, before falling back steadily to 7.1% in November. But wage growth actually rose sharply, and was 5.9% in November. 

The picture is the same in the UK. After an initial drop into negative territory earlier this year, there was a sharp rise for -2.9% wage growth to 3.2% in October.

So, everyone is better off right? Actually not. XpertHR, a consultancy specialising in pay, reported that pay settlements limped towards year end with median settlements at 2%.

 It appears that what has happened both in the UK and the US is that the lower part of the wage distribution – the lowest-paid workers – has just dropped out. 

It’s a batting average effect if you like; the team average rises because batsmen 10 and 11 are not counted any more. We are not exactly sure, but it looks bad news. The issue is whether these jobs – many in pubs, clubs and restaurants – return after the furlough payments stop. But many jobs won’t return, if there are long-run changes in behaviour after the pandemic as expected.

It is unclear after Brexit and the end of the lockdown whether those jobs are coming back.

The puzzle of rising UK wages reveals an unprecedented and tragic truth | Business | The Guardian