Billionaires ’ Existential Threats to Humanity?

By Anis ChowdhurySYDNEY, Dec 17 2019 (IPS) The social utility of billionaires’ existence has come under increased scrutiny, especially during the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 US Presidential election. Leading newspapers, such as The New York Times, published opinion pieces arguing to abolish billionaires and reflecting on why billionaires engage in illegal insider trading. The arguments for abolishing billionaires range from moral grounds to dubious, or outright illegal/criminal sources of their wealth. The billionaires own more than what is needed even for a most lavish life style, and far more than what might reasonably be claimed deserving. Billionaires are seen as manifestations of policy failures as they gain through, inheritance, abusing state-granted patent monopoly power, insider trading, lobbying, tax evasions and corrupting democratic and progressive policy making processes. But could billionaires also pose existential threats to humanity? Some prominent scientists and futurologists think so, based on the impacts of billionaires’ carbon-intensive lifestyles and potential control of technological advances, such as genetic engineering (GE) and artificial intelligence (AI). Money to burn According to an Oxfam report, the richest 10% of people produce half of earth’s climate-harming fossil-fuel emissions, while the poorest half contribute a mere 10%. The average carbon footprint of someone in the world’s richest 1% could be 175 times that of someon...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Climate Change Crime & Justice Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Featured Global Headlines Health Inequity TerraViva United Nations Trade & Investment Source Type: news