Out of kilter

It is thought that Mansa MusaThe ruler of the kingdom of Mali from 1312 to 1337. He is known for his huge wealth. , emperor of MaliA landlocked country in west Africa, with a very young population of 22 million. , was the richest man in history. In 1324, on a pilgrimage to MeccaIslam's holiest city and the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. Only Muslims are allowed into the city, and millions make pilgrimages there. , he brought so much gold with him that the value of the precious metal collapsed across the whole of North Africa, devastating ordinary people's savings.

Those days are long gone: today, the average person in Mali earns less than $1,000 (£816) a year. The modern Mansa Musas own car manufacturers and media companies, not kingdoms - but their critics say their carelessness and extravagance are still harming ordinary people.

Among them is the charity OxfamAn international charity, originally British, that works to alleviate global poverty.. This week, the global elite is gathering at DavosDavos is the informal name of the annual, four-day conference held by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. According to WEF's website, the aim is to "engage the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas". in Switzerland for an annual conference, and Oxfam is hoping to persuade them to crack down on billionaires.

The gap between the world's rich and poor has been getting wider since 2010: in fact, the world's poorest people have less money now than they did in 2009.¹ Oxfam estimates that 63% of all new wealth produced between 2020 and 2021 went to the top 1% of the world population.

That means for every $1 (82p) earned by an ordinary person, each billionaire gained $1.7m (£1.4m).

The problem, according to Oxfam, is not simply that billionaires are rich; it is that they are using their wealth to undermine democracy and destroy the planet.

Around 40% of all political donations in the USA come from the richest 0.01% of the population. The average US billionaire spends $500,000 (£408,000) every year on political contributions.² That, some say, gives them an outsized influence on politics.

Many billionaires have used their wealth to set up media outlets: Rupert MurdochAn Australian businessman who has amassed a vast media empire since the 1970s. He has been accused of using the media outlets he controls to further his own business interests., for example, owns Fox News, the biggest news station in the USA, as well as the Sun newspaper, which has the widest circulation of any paper in the UK. Critics accuse him of using his media companies to boost his own right-wing views.

And social media is also dominated by billionaires. For years, regulators have warned that Facebook and WhatsApp are affecting elections around the world. Since buying Twitter, Elon Musk has used it to encourage his followers to vote for the Republican PartyAlso known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, it is one of the USA's two major political parties. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln. It sits on the right of the political spectrum.. Some critics of Musk suggest one reason he bought Twitter in the first place was to gain a new platform for spreading his ideas.

And billionaires are also driving the climate crisis, according to Oxfam. Their figures state that one billionaire emits as much carbon as one million average people, and they are twice as likely as the average investor to put their money into polluting industries.

That is why Oxfam is calling for governments to introduce special taxes on billionaires, so that it can be redistributed to poorer people, end world hunger and fight climate breakdown.

Others think Oxfam has got it wrong. Everyone, they claim, benefits from the wealth of these billionaires when they put their money to good use, either by funding new technology or by giving it to charity.

Rather than doing away with billionaires, they say, we should encourage them to be more generous with their money.

Yes: Billionaires contribute more than anyone else to pollution and carbon emissionsWhen a gas is let off from something, like a car, it is an emission. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.. It is a moral outrage and a political failure. If we take away their wealth, we will solve the problem.

No: Wealth disparities have their drawbacks, but they drive technological innovation. If we let billionaires be, they will use their money to come up with a fix that will solve the climate crisis for us.

Or... Billionaires are destroying the planet, but the answer is not as simple as taking away their money: they have far too much political power for this to work. We need a different approach.