‘Unsettling New Milestone’: Top 12 US Billionaires Now Control $2 Trillion in Wealth

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Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Jensen Huang of Nvidia speaks about the future of artificial intelligence and its effect on energy consumption and production at the Bipartisan Policy Center on September 27, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“The oligarchic dozen is richer than ever, and they are endowed with extreme material power that can be used to pursue narrow political interests at the expense of democratic majorities,” according to the author of a new analysis.

Just 12 U.S. billionaires now have a collective net worth of over $2 trillion—a figure that amounts to a little less than a third of total federal spending in 2023—according to an analysis out Tuesday from Inequality.org, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

The $2 trillion number is also twice the amount of wealth that the top 12 US billionaires held in 2020, according to researchers at IPS, a progressive organization.

The full list of 12 billionaires includes Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Steve Ballmer, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jim Walton, Rob Walton, and Jensen Huang.

“This is an unsettling new milestone for wealth concentration in the United States. The oligarchic dozen is richer than ever, and they are endowed with extreme material power that can be used to pursue narrow political interests at the expense of democratic majorities,” wrote the author of the analysis, Omar Ocampo, a researcher at IPS.

New to the “oligarchic dozen” is Jensen Huang, the co-founder and CEO of the tech company Nvidia. Nvidia, which became the most valuable publicly traded company this year, has seen its profits jump thanks to the world’s ravenous appetite for the artificial intelligence chips that the firm produces. According to the analysis, Huang’s personal wealth “has skyrocketed from $4.7 billion in 2020 to $122.4 billion—a mind-boggling 2,504 percent increase—over the last four years.”

Each of the billionaires on the list “owns or is a controlling shareholder of a business that is investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence,” according to Ocampo, which raises concerns about their respective carbon footprints.

Fueling AI is energy intensive, and AI data centers in the U.S. are largely powered by fossil fuels, meaning their proliferation poses a threat to the environment and a transition to a green economy.

Ocampo also discusses the political reach of the billionaires on the list. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who respectively own X and The Washington Post, “have both purchased large media platforms, which has granted them the ability to set the terms of public debate with the hopes of influencing public opinion in their favor.”

Musk specifically has established himself as a major power broker within the GOP. The billionaire spent hundreds of millions helping to re-elect Donald Trump and is now poised to play a major role in the president-elect’s administration, helping oversee a new advisory committee tasked with slashing government spending.

As of early December, Trump had tapped an “unprecedented” total of seven reported billionaires for key positions in his administration, according to a separate piece of analysis by Inequality.org.

“We see the effects of this growing concentration of wealth and economic inequality everywhere—plutocratic influence on our politics, wealth transfers from the bottom to the top, and the acceleration of climate breakdown,” Ocampo wrote on Tuesday.

Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Trump Offers Key Pentagon Job to Billionaire Whose Firm Trained Khashoggi’s Murderers

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Stephen Feinberg is pictured at the U.S. Capitol on December 11, 2008. (Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Stephen Feinberg is co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a company that provided training to members of the hit squad that murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly offered the number-two Pentagon job to a secretive billionaire investor with close ties to the military-industrial complex, potentially introducing additional conflicts of interest to an incoming administration that is set to be rife with corporate executives and lobbyists.

Stephen Feinberg is co-founder and co-CEO of the private equity behemoth Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a firm that provided paramilitary training to members of the elite team that murdered Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Trump drew global outrage for publicly defending the Saudi regime in the wake of the assassination, even after U.S. intelligence agencies established that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized Khashoggi’s murder.

The New York Times reported in 2021 that four Saudis who took part in the 2018 Khashoggi assassination “received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department.” Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based company financed by Cerberus, provided the training.

“The instruction occurred as the secret unit responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was beginning an extensive campaign of kidnapping, detention, and torture of Saudi citizens ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, to crush dissent inside the kingdom,” the Times noted.

“Having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

It’s not yet clear whether Feinberg intends to accept Trump’s offer to serve as deputy defense secretary, but news of the choice prompted speculation that Feinberg could be elevated to the top Pentagon spot as Fox News host Pete Hegseth—the president-elect’s nominee for the role—faces skepticism from senators amid new details of the sexual assault allegations against him. (Update: The Times reported Wednesday morning that Trump’s support for Hegseth is “wobbling” and he is “openly discussing other people for the job, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.”)

Citing an unnamed person familiar with his thinking, Politicoreported that Feinberg is expected to accept the job offer for deputy defense secretary. Feinberg would also have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Washington Post, which first reported Trump’s offer on Tuesday, noted that the private equity billionaire is a major donor to the president-elect and has “investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts.” The Post observed that Cerberus “has invested in hypersonic missiles” and “previously owned the private military contractor DynCorp.”

Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told the Post that “having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

“Is he going to be listening to a whole range of constituencies or primarily business constituencies?” Duss asked of Feinberg.

If he accepts the president-elect’s offer, Feinberg would join a number of conflict-of-interest-ridden nominees for high-level positions in the incoming Trump administration.

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, characterized Trump’s Cabinet picks so far as “chaotic evil” and warned that their conflicts of interest could bring horrible consequences for the American public.

“Corruption is not only bad in and of itself,” Hauser told the Institute for Public Accuracy on Tuesday. “It’s also a bad thing that makes other terrible things more likely to happen. If you corrupt the enforcement of environmental protection laws, people will be poisoned by the water they drink and air they breathe. If you corrupt the Department of Labor, workplace safety will collapse over time and wage protections will disappear.”

“That’s what happened under the last Trump administration. This is going to be worse,” Hauser warned. “Food safety issues, automobile safety with driverless cars, rail safety—these are all risks that the Trump team will be taking with the lives of ordinary people.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

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Keir Starmer rules out commons vote on proportional representation

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sir-keir-rules-out-dismisses-commons-vote-on-proportional-representation

Screen grab of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, London, December 4, 2024

PRIME Minister … Keir Starmer ruled out electoral reform in the Commons today, brushing aside Labour’s own agreed policy on the issue.

He was challenged by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to give effect to a vote by MPs earlier this week to switch elections to a form of proportional representation.

The Commons voted by 138 to 136, with many abstentions, to approve a Bill introduced by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney to change to PR.

Labour MPs were divided in the vote, with 59 backing Ms Olney’s Bill and 50 opposing.

However, support for electoral reform is official party policy agreed by conference.

None of this cut any ice with Sir Keir when pressed. He told Sir Ed that electoral reform “is not our policy,” which is not true.

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sir-keir-rules-out-dismisses-commons-vote-on-proportional-representation

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Netanyahu corruption trial to resume in Tel Aviv next week

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) speaks with Government Secretary Tzachi Braverman during the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on July 23, 2017. [ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP/ Getty Images]

Judges in Israel have agreed unanimously to resume the trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges in Tel Aviv on 10 December, local media have reported.

Netanyahu had asked for his appearance before the Israeli court to be postponed for two weeks, claiming that he was busy with the International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. He will appear before the court next week, as it considers the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which were first brought against him in January 2020. His trial began in May 2020.

In a related context, Israeli media also reported that the Israeli court decided to release Netanyahu’s advisor who was accused of leaking security documents and to put him under house arrest.

The allegation that the advisor stole secret documents from the Israeli army, transferred them to Netanyahu’s office, and then leaked them to foreign media outlets has sparked widespread controversy in Israel. The apparent intention in stealing the documents, manipulating their content and leaking them was to influence Israeli public opinion to reject any prisoner exchange deal, and to create an atmosphere hostile to the protest movement against Netanyahu’s government by claiming that such protests strengthen the power and position of Hamas.

READ: Palestinians in Hebron suffer ‘routine’ physical, sexual violence at hands of Israeli soldiers, B’Tselem finds

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Israel’s ‘repeated evacuation orders’ affect 80% of Gaza, leaving civilians at risk: UN

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241203-israels-repeated-evacuation-orders-affect-80-of-gaza-leaving-civilians-at-risk-un

Palestinian residents, carrying their belongings, are on their way to migrate for safer areas following the Israeli army’s orders evacuation of the Bani Suheila town in Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 07, 2024 [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]

The UN, on Tuesday, reported that Israel’s recurring evacuation orders affecting approximately 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip have exposed civilians to risk, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Israel’s repeated evacuation orders, which are now in effect for about 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip, leaves civilians exposed to the danger of hostilities and deprived of access to essential services,” spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said at a news conference.

Saying that northern Gaza has been under a tightening siege for nearly two months, Dujarric said around 65,000 to 500,000 people are unable to access regular food, water, electricity or reliable health care.

Dujarric stated that “the entire population of Gaza needs humanitarian assistance,” and stressed the plight of more than 58,000 people with disabilities who are facing additional challenges in accessing food.

In the southern areas of Gaza, he said that “some people are skipping meals and searching through trash to find food.”

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Dujarric warned that humanitarian access continues to be obstructed.

“In November, out of 578 planned aid movements across Gaza that require coordination with Israeli authorities, only 41 per cent were facilitated. More than a third were denied outright, and the rest were either impeded or cancelled due to security and logistical challenges,” he said.

Dujarric reported that aid missions to northern Gaza have been especially disrupted, with efforts to reach besieged areas such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun encountering severe obstacles.

READ: UK’s Gaza genocide denial shows ‘contempt for Palestinian lives’: British-Jewish activist

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241203-israels-repeated-evacuation-orders-affect-80-of-gaza-leaving-civilians-at-risk-un

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Continue ReadingIsrael’s ‘repeated evacuation orders’ affect 80% of Gaza, leaving civilians at risk: UN