Page 20 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.73, # 2, 2016, pp. 4-20

between nations is always a threat to peace. Historically some nations had
accumulated more wealth than others. Some nations took unfair advantages over
other nations in accumulating their wealth. There are old scores to settle and there
are new scores taking shape. This leads to confrontations, conflict, and wars. If a
nation feels threatened they hike up their military budget, which is shockingly huge
already. Present annual global military expenditure stands at over $1.7 trillion. US
alone accounts for 39% of this total. If the wealth-concentration within and among
nations become acute social, political and economic compulsions for armed conflicts
will become imminent.
The time is ripe for us to recognize the gravity of the situation on wealth-
concentration, and take actions against it. As we learn from the process of arriving at
an international consensus on global warming we can initiate a similar process to
build a global consensus on bringing the speed of wealth concentration to zero in
phase one, and making it negative in phase two. Both global warming and wealth
concentration arise from the same root -- a flawed economic framework based on
human greed.
We can undo both by reinventing ourselves in the economic world as caring
and sharing human beings. We may aim at creating a world of three zeros: zero
poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emission. A world of diamond-
shaped wealth distribution. A world of equality, harmony, peace and happiness. It
can happen only if we citizens get into the action.

20