Trillionaire Trouble
Good news everyone! Elon Musk will become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027!
According to Informa Connect Academy‘s 2024 ‘Trillion Dollar Club‘ report, Musk’s wealth has been growing at an average annual rate of 110 percent.
With the wealth of the world being concentrated in the hands of a minority, it’s insane that a single individual would own the equivalent of a third of UK GDP, while millions live in poverty, unable to afford shelter and food!
But where does this money come from? Of course, from the labour of millions that mine the raw materials and assemble the machines.
First, we should demand no more slave conditions, and a wage rise to cut into the profits of all the Musks of the world.
If they refuse? Fine – time to seize the wealth of these billionaires and trillionaires!
Michael Stubbs, Reading
Reaching great heights
“Back home we have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”
These were the words of billionaire Jared Isaacman, after completing the first civilian space walk at the record-setting height of 435 miles (700km) above the Earth.
Indeed, it is unfortunate the rest of us are stuck dealing with the problems “back home”.
Isaacman undertook this space walk as part of the SpaceX Polaris Dawn spaceflight, the first privately-funded space walk – a staggering, remarkable feat.
What is also remarkable is that these tremendous feats are no longer undertaken by public space agencies like NASA, who have faced years of cuts and underfunding.
NASA’s recent Starliner mission has ended in embarrassment, with two astronauts now stranded in space for months.
Now it is private companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX undertaking these bold feats, and turning space travel into a private playground for egomaniac billionaires like Isaacman, Bezos, and Branson.
The wealth these billionaires hold can be used to solve the most dire problems we face here on Earth – like poverty, housing, education and healthcare – instead of funding the vanity projects of these parasites.
With a rationally-planned economy controlled by workers, the whole of humanity would be able to explore further into space, and admire the Earth from afar.
Bogdan Farcas, Whitechapel
Who are the real criminals?
Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists, whatever you think of their tactics, are not wrong about the science. They are brave, passionate people, who believe that pushing the climate crisis to the forefront will bring politicians to their senses.
Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were recently and scandalously given a combined sentence of three-and-a-half years for throwing soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’.
Similarly, a group of 80 JSO protesters, ‘slow marching’ in central London back in November last year, caused just half an hour’s traffic disruption. For that, they’ve been dragged through the courts and given hefty fines, plus a criminal record.
At the same time, there has been exceptional amounts of rain in recent weeks and months. This is undeniably linked to climate change, which itself is undeniably linked to fossil fuels.
These deluges have caused flooding of minor and major roads – creating much more than 30 minutes of disruption.
Residents and small-business owners are expected to deal with the aftermath of these storms: cleaning up and clearing out, and paying the bills, both financially and emotionally.
More widely, the fallout from climate change will hit those least able to afford preventative measures and insurance.
Brilliant scientists and engineers have solutions ready to be implemented. But capitalism only responds to the profit motive.
While environmental activists receive draconian punishments from the state, the real criminals responsible for these catastrophes will continue to get off scot-free.
This shows the inherent injustices of capitalism. That is the nettle that has to be grasped.
Jayne Pascoe, Falmouth
P Diddy: The rotten stench of the ruling elite
The sex-trafficking and assault scandal surrounding billionaire hip-hop mogul P Diddy (real name Sean Combs) has once again shone a light on the rottenness of the ruling class.
The sordid details are enough to make you sick to your stomach. Diddy is alleged to have trafficked and abused hundreds of men and women – as well as 25 children, including one child as young as nine – in his studio and at parties in his LA mansion.
The parties in LA have been attended by a who’s-who of celebrities, including Donald Trump, Reverend Al Sharpton, Jay-Z, and Prince Harry – not the first time a British royal has been caught mingling with child molesters!
Diddy has used his position of power and extensive connections to carry out his abuse, with victims claiming that he used the promise of lucrative record deals to leverage them into sex acts.
Gene Deal, Diddy’s ex-bodyguard, has alleged that there are tapes of politicians at these ‘Freak Offs’, and that ‘this is all bigger than Diddy’.
What is clear is that, while people have been making comments about Diddy’s hideous behaviour for years, he has been allowed to get away with it all this time.
This comes as no surprise. As we saw from the Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein scandals – as well as the ongoing Mohamed Al-Fayed scandal – the elites can get away with the most criminal acts.
The scale of this scandal is impossible to convey in one letter. But it’s safe to say this is not the case of one bad apple, but of a rotten system.
Harry Kent, Kingsway
For music, not missiles!
I’m in my final year of a Popular Music Performance degree at Leeds Arts University.
Over the summer, the university announced the creation of another music production course that will share the exact same overstressed facilities, in an effort to get more students through the door (and presumably, more student loans.)
Despite this influx of new income, holes remain in the music department’s budget.
Just three weeks ago, alumni were contacted, asked to donate their own instruments to current students. Rightfully, this has sparked outrage amongst students past and present.
Our universities, and especially the arts courses, are woefully underfunded in this country – a country that prides itself on its musical and artistic heritage yet seemingly can’t find the money to support it, what with all the billions pledged to imperialist adventures at the other end of the globe.
And Labour looks to raise tuition fees a further 13.5 percent, while enforcing cuts and redundancies. Our institutions are crumbling, and we are being made to pay!
To this we say no, kick imperialism off campus! For music, not missiles!
Fern O’Hare, Leeds
Bearskin for them, crumbs for us
I read recently that the cost of the bearskins worn by the Coldstream Guards, whose job I understand is to walk around or loiter out the front of Buckingham Palace, is £2040 per hat.
Given that there are about 560 personnel in the Guards when fully staffed that is £1,142,400 on hats.
Meanwhile the typical cost of a primary school meal is anywhere between £2.30 and £2.50. Forgoing one hat alone would pay for between 816 and 887 meals to feed hungry children. Striking the whole hat expense would pay for, using the above logic, up to around 500,000 school meals.
This is what could be done just by doing away with this useless, ruling class tradition.
Imagine what we could achieve by workers controlling where all the wealth in society goes – stripping it away from the war machine, and instead feeding the 4.2 million children in poverty in the UK.
For bread, not bearskins! For books, not bombs!
Jo Bunkle, Cambridge
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