Keyword: greed

The Parasite Class

Picture: nydailynews.com Glenn Ashton - Wealth is relative. Anyone with enough to eat and a house to live in is rich. If you are reading this you are probably rich. Around 80% of people live on less than US$10 (R75) per day. The top 20% consume around 75% of the world’s goods. The elite, upper and top half of the middle class constitute no more than 10% of the worlds population, yet control nearly 60% of global wealth.  Despite global promises to achieve greater equality, we are living in a world that is becoming ever...

The Dangerous Fantasies of our Political Elite

Picture: PhotoBookSA Richard Pithouse - Carl Niehaus was the perfect spokesperson for Jacob Zuma. He had an inside understanding of the world of reckless extravagance under the patronage of dubious businessmen. He must have known, perhaps lying awake wondering who to phone to get the rent for his extraordinarily ugly house, precisely what has happened to elite politics in the ANC. The idea of politics carries both a debased and an elevated sense. In its debased sense it is the self-serving and often ruthless competition for power...