Billionaires And The Future Of Democracy – With Carl Rhodes
With wealth-inequality now worse than it was in ancient Rome, and the uber-rich exchanging wealth for power and applying that power to circumvent democracy and amass even more wealth, what can we do to break out of the loop and create a more equitable future? I met with the wonderful Carl Rhodes, Professor of Business & Society at the University of Technology Sydney, to try to answer that question.Over the past ten years, the richest 1 percent have gained at least $33.9 trillion in wealth in real terms, enough to end annual poverty 22 times over. Since the US elections in November 2024, billionaires have accumulated wealth at a rate three times faster than the previous five years. In the twelve months to March 2026, the billionaire class accrued $4 trillion in new wealth, a full one-fifth of their total accumulated wealth. The consequence of neoliberalism is accelerated social and ecological destruction. We have all the technologies we need to halt global warming and feed the planet through peak population. We have all the money we need to end poverty and provide universal access to healthcare. If we make better collective choices. But ‘we’ are not making them, not when the uber-rich are parleying extreme wealth for extreme influence. Policy skews to the rich; the rich get richer; the toll worsens. Carl dissects the myths around 'good' billionaires, explains the system that got us into this mess and – more importantly – how we might get out of it.====== As always, check out the companion article with additional takeaways and the full transcript on the FutureBites page. More on my work as a Futurist Speaker, and why I do what I do, at www.brucemccabe.comIf you enjoyed these insights, please subscribe so you don’t miss out on what’s next, and help spread the word by sharing this episode with your friends and colleagues.
