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In Why the world cannot afford the rich, professors Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate E. Pickett argue that today’s extreme income inequality is a powerful social stressor that is increasingly rendering societies dysfunctional.
The gap between rich and poor has reached extraordinary new levels in just the last few years: “Between 2020 and 2022, the world’s most affluent 1% of people captured nearly twice as much of the new global wealth created as did the other 99% of individuals put together, and in 2019 they emitted as much carbon dioxide as the poorest two-thirds of humanity. In the decade to 2022, the world’s billionaires more than doubled their wealth, to almost US$12 trillion.” (For more figures, check out inequality.org)
Social epidemiologists like Wilkinson and Pickett study how countries with high and low levels of inequality compare on a wide range of performance indicators. The correlations they find are striking:
“Bigger gaps between rich and poor are accompanied by higher rates of homicide and imprisonment. They also correspond to more infant mortality, obesity, drug abuse and COVID-19 deaths, as well as higher rates of teenage pregnancy and lower levels of child well-being, social mobility and public trust. The homicide rate in the United States – the most unequal Western democracy – is more than 11 times that in Norway. Imprisonment rates are ten times as high, and infant mortality and obesity rates twice as high.”
While we talk a lot about the private jet emissions of the rich, the biggest environmental impacts of inequality are actually ‘psychosocial’:
“The well-publicized lifestyles of the rich promote standards and ways of living that others seek to emulate, triggering cascades of expenditure for holiday homes, swimming pools, travel, clothes and expensive cars. Studies show that people who live in more-unequal societies spend more on status goods. … Inequality also makes it harder to implement environmental policies. Changes are resisted if people feel that the burden is not being shared fairly.”
Fierce competition for social status not only turbocharges consumerism, it also reduces social cohesion, worsens mental health and increases crime:
“By accentuating differences in status and social class – for example, through the type of car someone drives, their clothing or where they live – inequality increases feelings of superiority and of inferiority. … Even affluent people would enjoy a better quality of life if they lived in a country with a more equal distribution of wealth, similar to a Scandinavian nation. They might see improvements in their mental health and have a reduced chance of becoming victims of violence; their children might do better at school and be less likely to take dangerous drugs.”
Unsurprisingly, solutions that would address inequality depend on government policy. Wilkinson and Pickett suggest progressive tax reforms that place a much heavier burden on the rich, as well as the abolition of international tax havens. (“The OECD estimates that low- or middle-income countries lose three times as much to tax havens as they receive in foreign aid.”) Some bolder ideas include bans on advertising and progressive pricing of energy consumption.
There is a growing sense of financial precarity gnawing at the roots of our society. Many populist narratives would have us believe that we are competing for resources with ‘welfare cheats’ or immigrants or [insert another scapegoat]. In reality, this precarity springs from the increasingly disproportionate share of the pie being hoarded by the ultra-rich, leaving the rest of us – the vast majority – to contend with the crumbs.
– Kai
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Apps & Sites
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Notes & clipboard manager
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Jot & Paste merges fast note-taking with a range of handy clipboard features. A handful of shortcuts allow you to quickly save, copy, reformat and paste text or organise saved notes with tags and categories.
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Make working within spreadsheets easier by writing natural language instead of complicated formulas. With an AI assistant, Formula Bot helps organise and interact with data. It’s also smart enough to automate processes, like automatically applying a category type to a pool of data.
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Switching between apps in macOS is easy with Command + Tab. But if you use apps with multiple open windows, it gets confusing quickly. Witch not only allows you to switch to specific app windows with a simple shortcut, but even to specific tabs inside Safari.
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Another browser alternative
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I love that so many of you keep sending me alternative browser recommendations! Here’s one I hadn’t heard of before: Kagi (the ad-free, paid search engine) is building its own fast, native Mac/iOS browser based on Webkit (Safari) that comes with an ad-blocker and supports Chrome extensions. Currently in ‘public beta’.
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Favourite Books: Alain Caltieri
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by Tiziano Terzani
I admire most of Terzani’s body of work; each book stands out with its originality and impeccable writing. This one holds a special place in my heart. It intricately narrates Terzani’s quest for a cure for cancer, intertwining with his profound acceptance of life’s inevitable conclusion and still relevant political observations.
by Michael Ende
A timeless adventure celebrating the value of time, friendship, and imagination. Ende’s enchanting tale illuminates the importance of slowing down in a world often racing against the clock – a timely reminder for us all.
by Caroline Criado Pérez
Pérez exposes the hidden gender data gap, revealing how biased information perpetuates inequality. A compelling exploration, urging us to question and rectify systemic biases for a more inclusive and equitable future.
by Jean Giono
This poetic narrative unfolds a tale of environmental restoration and one man’s extraordinary impact. A timeless story that inspires a sense of responsibility towards nature, encouraging us to contribute positively to our environment.
by John Kenneth Galbraith
Galbraith critiques post-war economic structures, shedding light on the pitfalls of unchecked affluence. A thought-provoking classic challenging societal norms, prompting us to reflect on the true measures of prosperity and well-being.
(Did you know? Friends of DD can respond to and engage with guest contributors like Alain Caltieri in one click.)
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Books & Accessories
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Modern-day addictions
As Ted Gioia argued in his essay that I shared in DD281, new technologies are rewiring our brain to quickly jump from one dopamine hit to the next. In her newest book, psychiatrist and author Dr. Anna Lembke also argues that “we’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli – drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.”
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A manifesto for repairing divided communities
There is not-so-obvious but substantial inequity and injustice in the way we get around cities. Everyone deserves safe, reliable, and affordable transportation options, but transport planning decisions are often more influenced by politics and corporate interests than by the actual need of people. In this practical, short read, transportation expert Veronica O. Davis “examines what ‘equity’ means for a transportation project, which is central to changing how we approach and solve problems to create something safer, better, and more useful for all people”.
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Overheard on Mastodon
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If you are patient enough, you can build your very own Boeing airplane out of parts that fall from the sky.
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Food for Thought
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That the rich live an extremely carbon-intensive lifestyle is old news. What this article highlights are the many ripple effects of societies with extreme income disparity, showing how inequality is a major driver of escalating environmental, social, and humanitarian crises. “Even affluent people would enjoy a better quality of life if they lived in a country with a more equal distribution of wealth, similar to a Scandinavian nation. They might see improvements in their mental health and have a reduced chance of becoming victims of violence; their children might do better at school and be less likely to take dangerous drugs.”
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I learned so much about steel production from this highly insightful and slightly demoralising piece on the seemingly impossible task of making emission-free steel while demand is increasing. I knew steel production was a tough climate challenge to solve, but this piece really opened my eyes. “The continuous growth of the steel output – the increasing steel intensity of human society – makes sustainable steel production impossible. No technology can change that because it’s not a technological problem. Like forestry can only be sustainable if the wood demand does not exceed the wood supply, steel is sustainable or not depending on the balance between (scrap) supply and (steel) demand.”
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The environmental impact of the AI hype is still not very well documented, which means there is hardly any regulation in place to encourage a more sustainable practice. The estimates are quite mind-boggling: “Google’s data centers used 20 percent more water in 2022 than in 2021, while Microsoft’s water use rose by 34 percent. ... Ren estimates that a person who engages in a session of questions and answers with GPT-3 (roughly 10 to 50 responses) drives the consumption of a half-liter of fresh water. ... The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that data centers’ electricity consumption in 2026 will be double that of 2022 – 1,000 terawatts, roughly equivalent to Japan’s current total consumption.”
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Aesthetically Pleasing
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Brooklyn-based artist Andy Blank works with different media, but I particularly like his relatively affordable collection of art prints.
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Wow. Yuliya Krishchik is an incredibly talented embroidery artist focusing on space themes.
(via)
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Astronef Super pushes weight limits as far as possible while preserving a unique design, especially enjoyable in large sizes.
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Notable Numbers
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In 2023, Saudi Arabian state-owned petroleum and gas company Aramco reported a 25% drop in profit to a still eye-watering $121.3 billion, the company’s second-highest on record.
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A research paper found that, from 2016 to 2021, the carbon footprint of mining a single Bitcoin multiplied a staggering 126 times. In that window, Bitcoin mining caused an estimated $12 billion in global climate damages. Researchers also found “no evidence that Bitcoin mining is becoming more sustainable over time”.
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We are launching more stuff into space than ever before. In 2023, humans launched a record-breaking 2,664 objects into space, with American companies and government agencies being responsible for 81% of them.
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Classifieds
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The Week in a GIF
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Reply with your favourite GIF and it might get featured here in a future issue.
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