Two stark facts about our world, from yesterday’s news:<\/p>\n
(1) that a single man can be paid $1.84 billion dollars<\/a>, as the Wall Street Journal announced yesterday — that’s 1,840 million dollars — over the last ten years of careening capitalism,<\/p>\n (2) and that this doesn’t strike enough people as an obscenity to be labeled as such on the front page of newspapers around the world. (Compare the 109<\/a> news articles about it with the thousands devoted to other topics.)<\/p>\n Couldn’t a single<\/em> million have been enough reward? But almost two thousand of them, all to one guy? Did he contribute 4000 times<\/a> in value to the world what the average American farmer contributed (and well over a million times the average non-U.S. farmer)?<\/p>\n This tops all the figures I’ve previously seen for CEO pay (which have gotten up to $100 million or so a year<\/a>, and therefore $1 billion over a decade). Here’s the reigning top ten<\/a>. And these are just the CEOs, not the self-made gazillionnaires but the corporate execs.<\/p>\n Exam question: Does this mean that (a) we are all in the same boat, but we (or capitalism) just don’t know it? Or that (b) some of us are in various sized boats (a few on yachts the size of the Titanic), while others are just treading water for as long as we can?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two stark facts about our world, from yesterday’s news: (1) that a single man can be paid $1.84 billion dollars, as the Wall Street Journal announced yesterday — that’s 1,840 million dollars — over the last ten years of careening capitalism, (2) and that this doesn’t strike enough people as an obscenity to be labeled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[691215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics_postpolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-ld","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8930,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2016\/08\/25\/mckibben-the-frontlines-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":0},"title":"McKibben & the frontlines of war","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently found myself in a part of Mississauga, Ontario (a bedroom community of Toronto),\u00a0in which more than 90% of the visible landscape (excepting the sky) appeared to consist of concrete, in the form of pavement, asphalt, buildings, and such. The remaining 5-10% -- rows of evenly spaced short trees,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"park-picture","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2016\/07\/park-picture-275x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13369,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/10\/14\/the-population-blimp\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":1},"title":"The population bli(m)p","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was younger, I would occasionally hear from fellow environmentalists that the \u201creal problem\u201d was human overpopulation. (The standard answer, from the well informed, was: nope, it\u2019s inequality, extractive capitalism, institutional inertia, patriarchal values, colonialism, et al. \u201cOverpopulation\u201d was a symptom, not the disease.) The population-mongers have mostly faded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-14-at-8.25.05-AM.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7645,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/06\/12\/on-naming-the-anthropocene\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":2},"title":"On naming the Anthropocene","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The following are the comments I prepared for the roundtable \"The Arts and Humanities Respond to the Anthropocene.\" They follow in the line of critical thinking on the Anthropocene initiated by\u00a0gatherings like the Anthropocene Project (see here, here, and here, and some of the posts\u00a0at A(S)CENE) and journals like Environmental\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"HABITUS-9-medium-1024x682","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2014\/06\/HABITUS-9-medium-1024x682-275x183.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10458,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/03\/30\/pandemic-politics-on-disaster-capitalism-socialism-and-environmentalism-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":3},"title":"Pandemic politics: on disaster capitalism, socialism, and environmentalism","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This was originally posted over a week ago, but then taken down by request as it was being considered for publication elsewhere (but not published there). A shorter version of it appeared yesterday at VT Digger. The school I work for, the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-1.55.35-PM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10684,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/05\/19\/the-machine-has-stopped-what-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":4},"title":"The machine has stopped: what now?","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"reopening\" of the world's economies, locally and nationally, piece by piece, after the sudden and massive stoppage of the entire economic system, is raising important questions about whether the system can be put back into motion selectively and into a more viable direction than it had been moving beforehand.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Manifestos & auguries"","block_context":{"text":"Manifestos & auguries","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/manifestos-and-auguries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/article-2084425-0f65483900000578-825_964x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/article-2084425-0f65483900000578-825_964x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/article-2084425-0f65483900000578-825_964x636.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/article-2084425-0f65483900000578-825_964x636.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7548,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/11\/01\/global-disorder-the-left-a-new-democracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":5},"title":"Global disorder, the left, & a new democracy","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"November 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is something I wrote a while back that I have not had a chance to do anything with. I'm sharing it here simply because it will otherwise languish. It is\u00a0a reflection on the political left and its failings in a\u00a0changing global situation, a situation marked by inequality on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"uncertainty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2015\/11\/uncertainty-275x176.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}