Richest 1% Took 38% of New Global Wealth Since 1995. The Bottom Half Got Just 2% / India: extreme inequality in numbers

Jake Johnson/Common Dreams    In the nearly three decades since 1995, members of the global 1% have captured 38% of all new wealth while the poorest half of humanity has benefited from just 2%, a finding that spotlights the stark and worsening gulf between the very rich and everyone else. That’s according to the latest iteration of the World… Read More Richest 1% Took 38% of New Global Wealth Since 1995. The Bottom Half Got Just 2% / India: extreme inequality in numbers

Jill Lepore: Is society coming apart?

Forging stronger bonds in a post-pandemic world… will require acts of moral imagination that are not part of any political ideology or mission statement, but are functions of the human condition: tenderness, compassion, longing, generosity, allegiance and affection. These are the only answers to loneliness, alienation, dislocation and disintegration. But the fullest expression of these functions…… Read More Jill Lepore: Is society coming apart?

Neoliberalism wrecked our chance to fix the climate crisis – and leftwing statements of faith have changed nothing

Why didn’t we nip climate change in the bud? Nathaniel Rich poses that question in an important article for the New York Times Magazine in 2018 (later published as a book). He notes that, for a brief period in the late 1980s, a consensus developed on the necessity for action. Back then, no one considered the science controversial… Read More Neoliberalism wrecked our chance to fix the climate crisis – and leftwing statements of faith have changed nothing

WHITNEY WEBB: Wall Street now monetizes nature

Last month,  the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced it had developed a new asset class and accompanying listing vehicle meant “to preserve and restore the natural assets that ultimately underpin the ability for there to be life on Earth.” Called a natural asset company, or NAC, the vehicle will allow for the formation of specialized corporations “that hold… Read More WHITNEY WEBB: Wall Street now monetizes nature

Climate crisis: economists ‘grossly undervalue young lives’

Many economic assessments of the climate crisis “grossly undervalue the lives of young people and future generations”, Prof Nicholas Stern warned on Tuesday, before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. Economists have failed to take account of the “immense risks and potential loss of life” that could occur as a result of the climate crisis, he said,… Read More Climate crisis: economists ‘grossly undervalue young lives’

Bharat Bhushan: Will economic stress and hunger lead to political change?

Even while the buzz is that the Indian economy is on the road to recovery, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports that many middle class Indian families are selling gold to stay afloat. Mumbai jewellers told AFP that a majority were women selling off their personal jewellery – gold bangles, rings, necklaces and earrings. One of them said,… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Will economic stress and hunger lead to political change?

Bharat Bandh Today Live Updates: Highways, rail tracks blocked; strike successful, says Rakesh Tikait / Bharat Bhushan: Time for farmers' movement to launch a political party

Normal life was hit as farmers blocked highways and squatted on railway tracks at many places on the occasion of the Bharat Bandh called on Monday against the three contentious farm laws. The bandh began at 6 am and ended at 4 pm on Monday. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said, “Our Bharat Bandh was successful. We had… Read More Bharat Bandh Today Live Updates: Highways, rail tracks blocked; strike successful, says Rakesh Tikait / Bharat Bhushan: Time for farmers' movement to launch a political party

Omair Ahmad: What would the proposed large-scale cultivation of oil palm mean to India’s ecology and economy?

The truth is that Indians have switched to palm oil not because of some great choice but merely because it has come cheap. For most people cooking their food in palm oil or some mixture thereof, the content makes little difference. It is just another vegetable oil to them. The very versatility of the oil… Read More Omair Ahmad: What would the proposed large-scale cultivation of oil palm mean to India’s ecology and economy?

George Monbiot: Dead Line – Future corporate profits are officially more important than life on Earth

The human tragedy is that there is no connection between what we know and what we do. Almost everyone is now at least vaguely aware that we face the greatest catastrophe our species has ever confronted. Yet scarcely anyone alters their behaviour in response: above all, their driving, flying and consumption of meat and dairy.… Read More George Monbiot: Dead Line – Future corporate profits are officially more important than life on Earth