Guy de Fontgalland, international investment banker and President of the Eurasia Management House in Tbilisi, Georgia, raises the issue of collateral damage to some 80% of the world’s population if the globalization trend continues to enable “free foxes to roam amongst free chickens” – i.e. where some 5% of the world owns 95% of the wealth.
Fontgalland states that while globalization has supported manufacturing and trade across nations; transferred production technologies to less developed countries; and helped more nations to establish enterprises in other countries it took a “wrong turn” along the way. He claims globalization helped “totalitarian regimes in the developing world to amass billions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth, spread their power-base across businesses, and armed forces, and snuff out the essential economic freedom globalization intended to bring to millions across the world.” In other words, globalization has led to a log-sided wealth accumulation process among the elites of the developed world and that of developing countries (such as Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Bahrain, Oman, and India). The result of this lopsided wealth accumulation, Fontgalland claims, is the cause of widespread protest against corruption, economically abusive regimes, and resources distribution inequalities.
The new economic model, says Fontgalland, Jeffrey D. Sachs (author of “End of Poverty – Economic Possibilities of Our Time”) and many others – including members of FairShare International – should be “fair sharing of wealth and a collusion of intelligent interests.”
The groundswell of “resentment and revenge” against perpetrators (individuals and countries) of lopsided wealth creation is currently being witnessed across the globe. Bringing people to court for the embezzlement of a nation’s wealth doesn’t address future solutions. The World Bank report, “World Development Report: Conflict, Security and Development” (2011) notes that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries declined sharply since 1999, but with the vast increases in the total population across the globe, the number still living in extreme poverty was close to 1.5 billion. “Wealth must be redefined in terms of human aspirations for all,” suggests Fontgalland.
FairShare International (FSI) – of which I am a life member – is a diverse, global community of individuals, families, and businesses who are taking an active stand against the unjust distribution and misuse of the world’s resources – money, energy, water, and minerals (and people too). FSI aims to: (1) decrease the gap between rich and poor; (2) better use the earth’s resources; (3) strive for more ethical connections with others; and (4) conserve the natural environment.
FSI members do this every day by following the 5.10.5.10 formula:
5 = redistribute your personal wealth by giving away at least 5% of your gross annual income for direct assistance to financially disadvantaged communities and individuals anywhere on earth.
10 = reducing your consumption of water, energy, and minerals by at least 10% and sustaining it forever.
5 = building community through contributing at least 5% of your leisure time annually to direct, face-to-face assistance to people who could use your help.
10 = taking significant action at least 10 times a year to advance democracy.
www.finchannel.com (August 22, 2011)
www.fairshareinternational.org
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