In a previous work we analyzed how the economic theories of Marx and Schumpeter were outdated in the 21st century, because no economist or sociologist at the beginning of the 19th or 20th century could foresee that the greatest economic concentration of the 21st century was not generated in the manufacturing companies, but is the result of technology, information, deregulation, globalization and demographics.
The new economy is directly linked to digital companies, which have invaded all productive companies, because in the 21st century software is more important than hardware, think that your car and your television would not work without the right software.
The technological advances of the new century destroyed the idea of class struggle or, because the agricultural-livestock bourgeoisie referred to by Marx and Schumpeter has disappeared, today the large estates are in the hands of multinational companies that, thanks to technology, each
Maybe you need less direct labor in production, and they bet on software development to increase their profits.
Billionaires
Thanks to the pandemic, a group of 378 people in the world have doubled their wealth and another 2,290 have done so by 70%, while the rest of humanity fights against inflation, the price of food and energy. It is estimated that 400 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2022, that is, more than one million per day.
To become aware of this economic concentration, we can limit that, at this time, the 17 richest men in the world have the same wealth as 3,100 million poor people, or 40% of the world population. To be clearer, 10% of the population owns 76% of the world’s wealth. To this crisis of inequality must be added the crisis of hunger induced by war and climate change throughout the world, while the World Food Program warns that 49 million people are at immediate risk of famine in 43 countries.
Let us remember that Ukraine produces enough grain to feed 400 million people annually, but its ports are blocked by Russia, this blockade is creating a very serious problem in food prices, which will last for at least 10 to 12 months. Poor governments Governments have become significantly poorer in the last 20 years as the tech sector has acquired an ever-increasing share of total wealth, this trend has recently accelerated as governments have had to go into (even more) debt to pay for months of inactivity caused by the pandemic.
Currently the emigration of citizens from poor countries is increasing, causing a humanitarian collapse, including civil unrest in autocratic countries.
It is very important that developed countries, where the vast majority of billionaires reside, restructure the tax system to level economic concentration, of course this must be supported by world organizations, which must implement plans and efforts to provide governments with developing countries, increased financial resources to address economic inequality, supporting vulnerable populations, expanding access to services such as education, security and health care.
