The Sunday Times Rich List is published today and, guess what, the rich have just got richer. The collective wealth of the thousand richest individuals increased in 2009 by £77.265 billion to £335.5 billion.
This is the biggest leap in the 22 years the Rich List has been compiled and proves what the Anticapitalists have been saying throughout the election – the super-rich have profited from the crisis they themselves caused, while the rest of us have lost pay, pension entitlements, jobs and homes.
My thoughts go out to the people of Redcar, whose plant is being mothballed and town destroyed because the steel plant has closed down, throwing thousands on the slagheap, while former owner and big Labour Party donor Lakshmi Mittal doubled his personal fortune to £22.45 billion to top the Rich List. In fact, it is a sickening thought that the thousand richest people in Britain have, during the 13 years of Labour rule, seen their wealth increase by 340%.
We say: tax the rich; let’s create a steeply progressive wealth tax to take back the billions our hard work has created! Let’s take this enormous pot of gold and use it to meet the needs of those – in the UK and abroad – whose blood, sweat and tears (i.e. exploited labour) made this wealth.
£335 billion would go a long way towards eliminating poverty, fighting climate change and providing free healthcare and education for all. In all honesty, what’s the point of leaving this socially created fund in the hands of a tiny number of parasites?
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