the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 26, 2020
While essential workers risked their lives in this pandemic, and at-home working parents faced other enormous problems, the world’s richest capitalists could sit twiddling their thumbs and gain billions of dollars off everyone else’s labor.
A recent report by the world charity Oxfam reported the billions made by corporations and individuals.
Thirty-two of the world’s biggest corporations saw combined profits of at least 100 billion dollars over these months. In the same period, more than a million people around the world died due to coronavirus, at least 400 million jobs disappeared, and more than 400 million small businesses are at risk of collapse all across the globe.
Meanwhile, Apple, Microsoft and Google paid out 117 billion dollars to shareholders. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, already with a fortune of 200 billion dollars, gained an additional 92 billion dollars in the last six months. This increase to one individual’s fortune by itself would more than pay for a million new U.S. teachers, and to make classrooms safer for all children during this pandemic.
So what about the “losers?” Since a lot of transportation was halted by the pandemic, the six largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Total, Shell, BP, Chevron and Petrobras (Brazilian Petroleum Company), LOST 61 billion dollars in the past six months. But they still sent 31 billion dollars to their shareholders!