One billion is a huge number. Look at this billion pixel rectangle to get an idea of how infinitely vast it is: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
This is occupying my mind a lot at the moment:
The [2024] annual Forbes list of the world's billionaires found a record 2,781 billionaires with a total net wealth of $14.2 trillion.
Surely one single billion dollars can provide for every tiniest want for a person. How can people even be allowed to own more than that when so many people in our world are struggling with the day to day grind of poverty?
Writing Slowly I felt queasy looking at this. Well past time for serious reform.
in the long run there’s been a movement toward more equality. Where does this movement come from? It comes from social mobilisation and a strong, enormous political demand for equality of rights in access to what people perceive to be fundamental goods, including education, health, the right to vote, and more generally to participate as fully as possible in various forms of social, cultural, economic, civic and political life. - Thomas Piketty