Jean Drez's column: 99% of the population's problems can be solved by the 1% "super-rich"

Recently, the Paris-based World Inequality Lab released an important report, called the Global Justice Report. The World Inequality Lab is a research group led by eminent economist Thomas Piketty. The report talks about tackling two serious crises facing the world today – climate change and economic inequality. Climate change is a serious threat to our very existence. The Earth is getting warmer every year. The Earth's temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees compared to before the Industrial Revolution. At the current pace of warming, it could soon reach 3 degrees. In some areas, the temperature may rise by 5 degrees or even more. Then life in India will become very difficult in areas like Bihar and UP. To stop global warming, we have to stop using fossil fuels and replace them with wind and solar energy. It's possible, but it will require a large investment. Rich and poor countries are not able to agree on how to distribute the cost. Another major crisis facing the world is the growing economic inequality. A small class has become extremely wealthy and its wealth is increasing every year. About 3,000 people in the world have more than a billion dollars in assets. It is a huge amount — about Rs 10,000 crore. Elon Musk, the world's richest person, has a net worth of more than a trillion dollars. This is equivalent to Rs.100 lakh crore. Highly concentrated money is a threat to democracy. The ultra-rich influence the media, political parties, election results, and government policies. When they have a grip on government policies, they tweak them to their advantage. They undermine environmental regulations to profit from natural resources. This process is clearly visible in the US. India is also moving in the same direction. The Global Justice Report offers a plan to avoid both these crises – global warming and economic inequality. The mainstay of this scheme is a Global Justice Fund, which will be financed by the Global Wealth Tax. Under this, every person with a wealth of more than $ 20 million will have to pay wealth tax. It will start at 1% per annum and gradually increase to 20% for those with a net worth of more than $500 million. The Global Justice Fund will be used in such a way that all countries in the world can reach the new economic order by 2100. In this arrangement, the per capita income of all countries will be around the per capita income of today's America. The working hours will be reduced to only three or four hours per day. There will be a huge expansion of education and health services. And with the help of energy transition, global warming will end. It is shocking that such a big change can be made by taxing the ultra-rich with less than 1% of the population. Many will say that it is not possible to implement it politically. But if the plan is beneficial to 99% of the world's population, why is it difficult to implement it politically? The reason is, the remaining 1% are very influential. They will not allow the global wealth tax to be applied. This is the state of democracy in today's world. (These are the author's own views)