CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

CHAPTER 7
IT’S THE
70 TO 90 PERCENT
THAT MATTERS
THROUGHOUT THIS Part II on inequality, I have been drawing attention to
the concentration of global income—70 to 90 percent—in the hands of
the top 20 percent of the world’s population. As we open the twenty-first century,
no feature so threatens capitalism as this one. Billions of people in poor
countries have little or no stake in the system we think is right for the world.
Millions of people in rich countries are breaking or skirting laws of their own
or other nations, unconcerned about who and what may be harmed in the
process. Market fundamentalists want the rich to get richer and the poor to
figure out the system, as they struggle to reach and pass incomes of $1 and $2
a day. This formula whereby the rich shoot far ahead and the poor ploddingly
learn the tricks has the potential to be disastrous. Capitalism, both in the way
it is practiced and in the outcomes it produces, faces its biggest challenge.
IT CAN’T LAST
We got through the twentieth century with immense and growing income
imbalances. Can’t we get through the twenty-first century in the same way?
No, for four good reasons.
1. The global chasm between rich and poor quintiles of 31 to 1 as
shown in the purchasing power parity chart of Figure 5.2 far exceeds
262