According to statistics from the American economic magazine Forbes, 2024 is a record year for the number of USD billionaires with 2,781 billionaires worldwide, 141 more than last year. Among them, there are many powerful billionaires, capable of influencing the world order, imposing their social model on humanity.
First of all, we can mention billionaire Elon Musk. When the conflict in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, Elon Musk provided internet service to Ukraine through Starlink satellites launched by his SpaceX company, allowing the people and military of this country to access the internet with less impact from Russian attacks and interference. However, just a few months later, Elon Musk suddenly announced on Twitter (X network) that he could no longer continue to fund this system indefinitely.
According to Courrier International, the decision came just days after Ukraine rejected Elon Musk’s proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. Olivier Lascar, Editor-in-Chief of the digital division of Sciences et Avenir magazine, expressed concern that an individual, a business owner, could now influence a war.
Next is Bill Gates. In 2000, billionaire Bill Gates and his wife founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) with the aim of improving healthcare, education, and reducing poverty around the world. In 2018, BMGF's support amounted to 46.8 billion USD, higher than the GDP of Ivory Coast or Jordan at the same time. BMGF is also a major donor to United Nations agencies in charge of health issues, especially the World Health Organization (WHO). According to 2020-2021 data on the WHO's official website, BMGF is the second largest donor in the world, after Germany, with an amount of up to 751 million USD.
Analyzing the influence of BMGF, Ms. Stephanie Tchiombiano, lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Pantheon Sorbonne University in Paris, said that the foundation of Bill and Melinda Gates can influence world health policies through many channels such as: presence in global health management systems, being a member of the informal group H8 (Health 8) that brings together world health leaders. "Many people are also concerned that WHO decisions must wait for BMGF approval before being passed," Ms. Stephanie Tchiombiano said.
According to the Q2-2023 financial report of Meta Group, founded by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the number of monthly active users across the entire Meta ecosystem is around 3.88 billion people, a huge number. Holding the data of 1/3 of the world's population, the Facebook boss obviously has the ability to exert great influence.
According to Christine Kerdellant, author of the book Ces milliardaires plus forts que les États (Billionaires are more powerful than the state), Mark Zuckerberg can influence elections. Not only can he change voters' votes, Mark Zuckerberg's social media platforms can also change users' aesthetic views.
Christine Kerdellant said there are two ways governments can limit the power of billionaires. The first is to do as China did by preventing the development of American businesses in China, instead encouraging domestic businesses, to create a balance between Chinese and American billionaires.
However, when businesses are capable of threatening the government’s power in certain areas, the government will have other measures to intervene. The second way is to do as Europe did. They tried to buy 900 companies, with the aim of intervening from the beginning of competition and benefiting from what these companies create. In addition, there are tax measures such as imposing a 15% global minimum tax on multinational companies…
There is no denying the talent and contributions of these billionaires to society: boosting the economy, improving lives and creating progress for humanity. But, certainly, people and governments never want to be dependent and dominated by billionaires.
According to data from the Champs Élysées Aesthetic Institute in Paris (France), the number of young people aged 15-25 requesting cosmetic surgery has increased 10 times. They want surgery because they are used to seeing their images with filters (image editing technology) available on Facebook or Instagram, following a virtual world created by social networking platforms. And Meta, instead of taking measures to prevent or warn, makes it more and more addictive, as long as it can keep users on as long as possible for advertising purposes.
MINH CHAU
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/quyen-luc-cua-cac-ty-phu-post745941.html
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