What Rich People Should Have Done Instead of Going to Davos

Over a thousand private jets have landed at the Swiss mountain ski resort of Davos, where the planet’s elected presidents and unelected financial rulers have gathered for the World Economic Forum. There, they discuss the fate of the world.

Among those attending are billionaire investors and CEOs of global companies—which is one of the reasons why Donald Trump, the first US president to attend the gathering in 20 years, also made the trip.

Beneath the glitz, the gathering features star-studded panels on how businesses and governments can solve the world’s problems. This year’s program calls for new efforts toward “developing a shared narrative to improve the state of the world.”

To those gathered this coming week in Davos, here’s another idea: Come home. And bring your wealth with you.

At a time when the eight billionaires hold as much wealth as the bottom half of the world—and when three US billionaires have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of US households combined—it’s time for drastic action.

I grew up in the wealthiest 1%. Thanks to a recent book I wrote, Born on Third Base, I’ve spent the last two years talking with some of the wealthiest people on the planet about the workings of advantage. Trump aside, I know many Davos participants are troubled by the failure of contemporary capitalism to share prosperity and the ecological challenges before us.

So here’s request from those without the power that you have: Come home, roll-up your sleeves, and help us fix the future.

Return from your global wanderings. Find ways to root yourself in a real place—not an enclave, but a diverse metropolitan area or rural county. Put your stake in this place, pledging to use all the tools at your disposal to make this home as healthy and equitable as possible. Ensure that this is a place where all children have the same healthy start, well-being, and opportunities as your own children.

Bring your wealth home. Bring it out from the offshore tax havens and the opaque trusts and shell corporations. Among households with $40 million or more, it is estimated that 8% of the world’s wealth is hidden. That deprives public coffers of billions of dollars that might be used to educate kids, treat the sick, and alleviate poverty.

Shift this capital away from the global financial casino of financial speculation and the crypto-currency drama. Divest your wealth from the fossil fuel sector that has knowingly brought us to brink of ecological catastrophe and invest in bold conservation measures and the new energy economy.

Read the full article in Quartz. 

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and a co-editor of Inequality.org and the author of Born on Third Base.