The past few editions of the newsletter have had kind of a dismal tone. Sorry about that. This week I wanted to lift the mood a little and you’re not going to believe this but… I think we’ve got an optimistic story about the wealthy here? Seriously.

Turns out there is a group called Patriotic Millionaires – a group of uber-wealthy people who are trying to introduce wealth taxes. I KNOW 😭. They have branches in the US and UK, and they are actively lobbying governments and their peers for wealth taxes to close inequality gaps.

This week, one of the founders Julia Davies spoke at a wealth management conference in London (imagine Forbes or Australian Financial Review type event). She told some of the richest people in the UK (and their advisers) to their faces that there is a real risk of civil revolt – “pitchforks and torches” – if they don’t start coughing up cash to fix things.

“Unfortunately, it is the wealthiest in society who are right now advocating to slow down the pace of tackling these huge issues. Maybe they think that they are going to be OK. I don’t honestly believe they are, and I definitely don’t think their kids and their grandkids are going to be OK.” Tell ‘em, Julia!

After doing some more reading about them, there is one thing about Patriotic Millionaires’ message that is really key to understand. They are not pushing for more rich people philanthropy. For the existential problems that we’re facing – climate and structural inequality – donations and charity work are ineffective. The 1% mostly use philanthropy them as a) tax write-offs, and b) to help themselves sleep at night. One of the US members recently told Wired: “It’s not the answer when you need a system-level change." It’s so unbelievably refreshing to see a group of multimillionaires and billionaires understand and amplify that message.

Instead, the goal is specific: they want to be taxed. Setting up philanthropic initiatives means Rich Person still has control over who gets their money and how it’s spent. Taxation removes them from the decision-making process, it removes their own biases and ideas about how to ‘fix’ things. The very good news is we already know how to solve huge crises. We know how to stop the planet cooking, it’s not a mystery!!! Wealth taxes can go straight towards funding these solutions, without having to get approval that it’s a plan Gina Rineheart or Jeff Bezos or Mike Cannon-Brookes’ likes.

Unfortunately the group doesn’t have a branch in Australia. Maybe Cannon-Brookes – Australia’s so-called activist billionaire – could start it up? Probably unlikely, as he’s never spoken in support of a wealth tax and his company Atlassian pays almost no tax in Australia…

Anyway, I promised you this would be an uplifting read, and it is! Because we’re seeing the shoots of understanding emerge among Australia’s rich, powerful and privileged. Some of the ‘teal’ Independents in Parliament, and their wealthy voters, are openly supporting the idea of incurring more taxes to achieve a fairer society. The Greens have a wealth tax policy that would pay for just about every social program the country could ever need. It’s a myth that Greens supporters are all poor students – their federal electorates have more wealth than you might expect. This Independent-Green force is now effectively the opposition; this is the moment to drag politics back to the social-democratic values Australia has had all along.

Maybe I’m naive but it feels like we’re moving in the right direction. There is something in the air, sentiment is changing. The more we talk about this stuff – with each other, loudly, in public – the more influence we might have on friendly millionaires, who will in turn, I hope, start bending the ears of their political mates. I’m choosing to believe it.

– Crystal
Founder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed
Follow me on Instagram or TikTok

Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:

I genuinely don’t think most people understand the commercial heft of Shein, and how investors are trying to make it the next Amazon (I didn’t until this week!) If you think that any influencer is as culpable as the venture capitalists who provided Shein with $2 billion just this May… I don’t know what to tell you. CLICK HERE TO READ.

Smart stuff on the Internet 💭

All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:

Read the room, tax the rich on The Monthly
If you voted for or were curious about any of the teal Independents, I am begging you to read this piece by my favourite political columnist, Rachel Withers. She interviewed every Teal candidate about their stance on wealth inequality and it is… revealing.

Your stupid little ChatGPT interactions are destroying the planet. Stop. on LitHub
The numbers behind this one made my head spin a lil. “Are you fucking telling me that each adorable little ChatGPT interaction uses a half-liter of fresh water? Your experiments aren’t that interesting. And they certainly aren’t worth the water you’re pissing away to cool a server farm while half the planet struggles to adjust to deeper, longer cycles of drought.”

Transgender Representation On-Screen Is Only a Starting Point for Liberation on Teen Vogue
“But visibility for trans people, especially those Black and brown and femme, is a paradox. While seeing trans and nonbinary folks in media and culture allows us to see parts of ourselves… our glorious presence has also made us targets. We’re the most visible we’ve ever been as a community, and also the most vulnerable.”

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