10 TRENDS THAT WILL HELP DEFINE 2022
Some of the world’s richest men
1 THE BIG DIVIDE
The world is becoming more polarised and extreme. These are the areas where the gap is widening and becoming more heated:
◗ RICH & POOR
Broadly speaking, during the hard lockdown managers kept their jobs and employees didn’t. In order to work remotely, you need technology and data, which further disadvantages poorer people. Ninety-eight percent of all US stocks are now owned by the wealthiest 1% of Americans, which is a record. Governments worldwide are under-taxing the world’s largest corporations (among them the big tech companies: what used to be called FAANG, but should probably now be called MAAAN – made up of Meta [formerly Facebook], Amazon, Apple, Alphabet [formerly Google] and Netflix) and underfunding the poor. The world’s richest 1% now have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people. According to Forbes magazine, in 2020 the world’s billionaires became $1.9 trillion richer. Inflation is increasing worldwide too. Need we go on?
◗ CHANGE AGENTS & RETURNALISTS
Some people see the disruption of Covid-19, increased climate issues, social unrest, the BLM movement and trans activism as an opportunity to reset the world and how we live in it; others just want things to get back to the way they were.
◗ THE GENERATION GAP (boomers vs millennials vs Gen Z)
It’s easy to see the divide; just mention Meghan Markle and you’ll notice that in general people aged 35 and under see her as a victim ‘speaking her truth’, and those aged 36 and up see her as manipulative and controlling
