Addicted to more: Capitalism’s fatal hunger

While some hoard billions, millions struggle to survive. Why don’t people stop wanting more — even if it means destroying their own future? Let’s look at greed as a systemic flaw, expose global inequality, and ask: How do we get out of this situation?

Why greed knows no bounds

Capitalism was once the idea of freeing markets, promoting innovation, and creating prosperity. Today, it seems to be primarily a machine that can never get enough. The rich — a tiny minority — are accumulating more and more money. According to Oxfam, the wealth of the 3,000 richest people has increased by $6.5 trillion over the last ten years, enough not only to alleviate global poverty, but to eliminate it many times over. At the same time, studies show that the poorest third of people collectively own less than the wealth accumulated by the richest 1% alone.

This greed even overcomes self-interest. Companies pollute rivers and air, destroy ecosystems – even if their shareholders or their children will later have to struggle with disease or hostile living conditions. One example: oil companies, which, according to a recent study, are contributing significantly to heat waves becoming more deadly — not in the distant future, but right now.

Sawing off the branch we’re sitting on

It’s grotesque: we are collectively sawing off the branch we’re standing on — the earth, the climate, resources. The richest 1% cause a large proportion of emissions, but contribute little to the solution. At the same time, millions suffer from hunger every day, while billionaires amass trillions. In 2024, aid organizations wrote that around 35 children per minute were born into poverty – parallel to the record increase in the wealth of the super-rich.

This is not a slip-up, but a logic: the concentration of power and capital creates a small global elite that formulates rules – taxes, environmental policy, the welfare state – often in a way that benefits itself.

The price of injustice

The consequences are deadly: poverty weakens immune systems, hunger kills more children than wars. Health systems in countries with little capital collapse. Species die out, soils dry up, entire communities lose their livelihoods. And for those who are still “at the top” – they are not safe either. The climate crisis knows no class boundaries; storms, droughts, and pandemics affect us all.

A way out of this madness

A way out is possible if we take collective responsibility. First, the rich must contribute more to the financing of public goods – through wealth taxes, global minimum taxes, or the abolition of tax tricks. Oxfam, for example, proposes a global tax on the super-rich to mobilize funds for health, education, and hunger relief.

Second: transparency and regulation. Companies that cause environmental damage must be held accountable. Emitters should be held criminally and financially responsible.

Third: conscious consumption. Every purchase, every investment counts. Boycotts, second-hand goods, and fair trade products are not only moral — they also curb the profit stream of exploiters.

Bottom line

If we don’t stop being greedy, we will destroy ourselves. Capitalism without limits is self-destruction. But with courage, structure, and compassion, this madness can be broken. Because a world in which billions suffer while a few are immeasurably rich is not inevitable — it’s a mistake. And mistakes can be corrected.

Ressources

Billionaires’ wealth surged $6.5tn over past decade, Oxfam reports: The Guardian
In January, billionaires amassed more wealth than the poorest third of humanity owns: Oxfam International
Carbon emissions from oil giants directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for first time: The Guardian
Global Inequality: Inequality.org
As Billionaire Wealth Soared in 2024, 35 Children Were Born Into Hunger Every Minute: Common Dreams
A Tax on the World’s Ultra-Rich to Fight Hunger and Disease: Harvard University