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Why We Must Replace the Global Economic System Built by the 1%
This is not rocket science and the global majority, the 99%, have the answers and are already putting them into practice.
Nov 22, 2025
This year’s G20 Leaders Summit is taking place in Johannesburg, a short distance from Constitution Hill, a former prison complex that once held Nelson Mandela and other South African democracy fighters. As the world’s most powerful leaders meet behind closed doors, this former apartheid prison turned museum will publicly write another page in the history of global economic emancipation.
Movements, workers, activists, thinkers, creatives, artists, and communities from across South Africa, Africa, Asia, and Latin America are gathering for a three-day People’s Summit for Economic Justice — a counter to the G20 — to build the power of the 99 percent. The Constitution Hill’s Old Fort, Women’s Jail, and former men’s prison cells are hosting radical conversations, art, music, and action for the Global Majority to tell their own story, share struggles and solutions, and show that another world isn’t just possible — it’s already being built by communities writing their own future.
The G20 member countries account for over 85 percent of the global GDP. Over this forum’s two and half decades of existence, the G20 has failed to use its combined economic weight to steer global financial, trade, development, and fiscal policies to address global economic and environmental challenges. Instead, it has served the interest of the 1 percent: elites, corporations, and billionaires.
As a result, a handful of billionaires and super rich people globally have amassed far more wealth than they need, abusing the power they possess. They are wrecking democracies across the world as they make rules in their favor at the expense of the 99 percent and the planet.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed an “Extraordinary Committee” of independent experts that published the first-ever G20 global inequality report earlier this month. The report shows that the richest 1 percent has captured 41 percent of all new wealth since 2000, while the bottom half of humanity received just 1 percent. The report notes that one in four people globally now face food insecurity even as the wealth of billionaires reaches levels equivalent to up to 16 percent of global GDP. Those words will not mean much to those on the frontlines of inequality without action, without redistribution.
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other bodies have also acknowledged that extreme inequalities are thwarting the pace and sustainability of economic growth, eroding social cohesion and trust, and undermining democratic institutions and political stability that is fueling conflict and social unrest. However, they are still part of the problem, not the solution.
Enraged young people from Morocco to Madagascar, Kathmandu to Lima continue to lead street protests worldwide demanding accountability and challenging economic systems because they are not working for them. They are frustrated by poor service delivery, abuse of power concentrated in the hands of a few, unfulfilled promises, economic systems that continue to squeeze the little they earn, unemployment, unjust debt and climate breakdown.
They are drawing a red line against the failed systems and saying loud and clear, “Enough is enough.”
This is a time bomb and a bigger explosion threatens the planet and everyone on it, regardless how fat their bank account is. But we have solutions. This is not rocket science and the global majority, the 99%, have the answers and are already putting them into practice.
Wealth taxes are a progressive solution to address extreme inequalities — far better than the consumption taxes that many governments in the Global South are imposing on their people to service unjust debt and compensate for unpaid taxes by the super-rich. Taxing the super-rich can generate significant recurring revenue and restore public trust. Tax revenues from the super-rich are enough to fund essential services, such as education, healthcare, and social safety nets, which are key drivers of long-term inequality reduction.
Participants in the People’s Summit are also demanding that rich polluters pay for just transitions to clean energy. They are calling for redistributing health care to guarantee reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. And they are demanding protection of civic space and cultural rights by defending the freedom to speak, organize, and create.
The 2025 G20 Leaders Summit taking place not far from the We the 99 Peoples Summit has an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past by listening to the global majority that are gathered at Constitution Hill. Global leaders, including the G20, must stop turning for solutions to the same elites who created and continue to fuel the inequality crisis. Instead, they need to listen to the voices of the 99% – the people who have endured inequality and survived against all odds.
The 99% hold the answers. And the answer is clear: replace the system built by the 1% with a system designed for and by the 99%.
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Warning Against Taxpayer Bailout for Big Tech, Critics Fume Over OpenAI Execs' Talk of Government Loans
"Big Tech is building a mountain of speculative infrastructure," warned one critic. "Now it wants the US government to prop up the bubble before it bursts."
Nov 06, 2025
Tech giant OpenAI generated significant backlash this week after one of its top executives floated potential loan guarantees from the US government to help fund its massive infrastructure buildout.
In a Wednesday interview with The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar suggested that the federal government could get involved in infrastructure development for artificial intelligence by offering a "guarantee," which she said could "drop the cost of the financing" and increase the amount of debt her firm could take on.
When asked if she was specifically talking about a "federal backstop for chip investment," she replied, "Exactly."
Hours after the interview, Friar walked back her remarks and insisted that "OpenAI is not seeking a government backstop for our infrastructure commitments," while adding that she was "making the point that American strength in technology will come from building real industrial capacity, which requires the private sector and government playing their part."
Despite Friar's walk-back, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during a podcast interview with economist Tyler Cowen that released on Thursday that he believed the government ultimately could be a backstop to the artificial intelligence industry.
"When something gets sufficiently huge... the federal government is kind of the insurer of last resort, as we've seen in various financial crises," he said. "Given the magnitude of what I expect AI's economic impact to look like, I do think the government ends up as the insurer of last resort."
Friar and Altman's remarks about government backstops for OpenAI loans drew the immediate ire of Robert Weissman, co-president of consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, who expressed concerns that the tech industry may have already opened up talks about loan guarantees with President Donald Trump's administration.
"Given the Trump regime’s eagerness to shower taxpayer subsidies and benefits on favored corporations, it is entirely possible that OpenAI and the White House are concocting a scheme to siphon taxpayer money into OpenAI’s coffers, perhaps with some tribute paid to Trump and his family." Weissman said. "Perhaps not so coincidentally, OpenAI President Greg Brockman was among the attendees at a dinner for donors to Trump’s White House ballroom, though neither he nor OpenAI have been reported to be actual donors."
JB Branch, Public Citizen’s Big Tech accountability advocate, said even suggesting government backstops for OpenAI showed that the company and its executives were "completely out of touch with reality," and he argued it was no coincidence that Friar floated the possibility of federal loan guarantees at a time when many analysts have been questioning whether the AI industry is an unsustainable financial bubble.
"The truth is simple: the AI bubble is swelling, and OpenAI knows it," he said. "Big Tech is building a mountain of speculative infrastructure without real-world demands or proven productivity-enhancing use cases to justify it. Now it wants the US government to prop up the bubble before it bursts. This is an escape plan for an industry that has overpromised and underdelivered."
An MIT Media Lab report found in September that while AI use has doubled in workplaces since 2023, 95% of organizations that have invested in the technology have seen "no measurable return on their investment."
Concerns about an AI bubble intensified earlier this week when investor Michael Burry, who famously made a fortune by short-selling the US housing market ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, revealed that his firm was making bets against Nvidia and Palantir, two of the biggest players in the AI industry.
This has led to some AI industry players to complain that markets and governments are undervaluing their products.
During her Wednesday WSJ interview, for instance, Friar complained that "I don’t think there’s enough exuberance about AI, when I think about the actual practical implications and what it can do for individual."
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, meanwhile, told the Financial Times that China was going to beat the US in the race to develop high-powered artificial intelligence because the Chinese government offers more energy subsidies to AI and doesn't put as much regulation on AI development.
Huang also complained that "we need more optimism" about the AI industry in the US.
Investment researcher Ross Hendricks, however, dismissed Huang's warning about China winning the AI battle, and he accused the Nvidia CEO of seeking special government favors.
"This is nothing more than Jensen Huang foaming the runway for a federal AI bailout in coordination with OpenAI's latest plea in the WSJ," he commented in a post on X. "These grifters simply can't be happy making billions from one of the greatest investment manias of all time. They'll do everything possible to loot taxpayers to prevent it from popping."
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When Palestine Was on the Ballot: The Meaning of Zohran Mamdani's Victory
Palestine is the moral litmus test of our time, and against all odds, the people of New York City voted for conscience.
Nov 05, 2025
The New York City mayoral race has been called, and the dust is settling: A young, Democratic Socialist, immigrant Muslim will be the next mayor of the largest city in America. But a big part of why this victory is pivotal to many Americans isn’t just because he was on the ballot.
It’s because Palestine was on the ballot.
Zohran Mamdani’s election as the 111th mayor of New York City—its first Muslim, first South Asian, and youngest mayor in over a century—marks a seismic shift in American political consciousness. But this victory isn't merely about representation; it's about realignment.
New York is home to some of the nation’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbies, and candidates of all parties seeking public office have long outright ignored the topic of Palestinian rights for political expediency.
Voters delivered a message that amid our nation's moral bankruptcy, corruption, and affordability crisis, the American electorate is rejecting power hungry politicians who deliver platitudes while orchestrating widespread suffering both domestically and globally.
The fact that Mamdani championed ceasefires, divestment, and dignity for Palestinians makes his win extraordinary: It's unheard of in modern history to meet a Muslim candidate who openly supports BDS without having to sacrifice their political ambitions.
This is substantially due to the shifting of public opinion on Israel and a diverse electorate increasingly critical across party lines amid its US-backed genocide in Gaza.
According to research by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Israel reportedly increased its global public relations budget in late 2024 by $150 million to rehabilitate its image by "fomenting fear of ‘Radical Islam’ and ‘Jihadism.'"
Islamophobic attacks were evident throughout the NYC mayoral campaign.
But when detractors ramped up their race baiting, Mamdani replied by producing campaign ads in Arabic and doubling down on his identity. His refreshing, bold rejection of these smear attempts resonated with voters.
Mamdani won not despite his moral clarity, but rather because of it. And a city that once punished and policed the remotest dissent of Israel has decisively chosen as its leader a man who defies the political doctrine that conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
Voters delivered a message that amid our nation's moral bankruptcy, corruption, and affordability crisis, the American electorate is rejecting power hungry politicians who deliver platitudes while orchestrating widespread suffering both domestically and globally.
This affirms empathy as a legitimate and transformative political force upending the political framework upholding oligarchy and plutocracy in America.
It tells people of conscience who've felt erased or silenced that integrity is not an obstacle—it’s our most valuable asset.
What began as a local race for mayor has ended as a global referendum on our collective conscience. Palestine is the moral litmus test of our time, and against all odds, the people of New York City voted for conscience.
This triumph belongs not only to the broad-based coalition of working-class New Yorkers and progressives who powered Mamdani's campaign, but also to Palestinians exposing the decades-long brutality of Israel's injustices amid its genocide of their people.
While we celebrate this historic milestone, we cannot ignore their sacrifices, courage, faith, and steadfastness that are redefining Americans' values and priorities.
We cannot forget that Israel continues to violate the terms of the so-called ceasefire and has resumed its bombings, killings, detentions, torture, and land theft of Palestinians.
And we cannot stop calling on all of our elected officials to exercise their power and privilege to end US complicity in Israel's crimes.
Arriving to the halls of power is an enormous first step of a long journey ahead.
Those who voted for conscience—and many across the country—will be watching closely and working hard to make sure that every journey centers human rights for Palestinians too, for those who seek to serve.
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