Super-rich Warned of ‘Pitchforks and Torches’ unless They Tackle Inequality

THE GUARDIAN: Global elite told at London’s Savoy hotel of real risk of ‘civil disruption’ if more is not done to help struggling millions

The conference took place in the ballroom of the Savoy hotel and was attended by about 500 members of the global super-rich and advisers. Photograph: Steve Gorton/Getty/Dorling Kindersley RF
In the ballroom of the five star Savoy hotel on the Strand in central London, the super-rich and their advisers were this week advised that they may soon need to watch out for people with “pitchforks and torches” unless they do more to use their fortunes to help the millions struggling with the cost of living crisis.

At an investment conference organised by Spear’s wealth management magazine, members of the global elite and their financial teams were told by progressive advisers that there was a “real risk of actual insurrection” and “civil disruption” if the yawning inequality gap between rich and poor was allowed to widen as a result of energy and food price hikes hitting squeezed households.

Julia Davies, a founding member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, a group of super-rich people calling for the introduction of a wealth tax, warned that global poverty and the climate emergency were going to get “so much worse” unless the wealthy did more to help poorer citizens. » | Rupert Neate, Wealth correspondent | Friday, June 30, 2023

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