Famous retired pro-wrestler, actor and former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura has stepped forward to criticise capitalism, targeting wealth inequality.
Speaking on RT, Ventura declared that "there shouldn't be one person worth a billion dollars", adding that, the older he gets, the more flaws in capitalism he sees, along with more "good things" in socialism.
In his speech, Ventura recalled his previous work with the Minnesota State Highway Department bridge crew, a physically demanding occupation which involved operating a "90-pound jackhammer", when he was "barely making above minimum wage".
"You are telling me than these billionaires who are now doubling their money, doubling their wealth, that they have worked harder physically than someone spending eight to ten hours a day on a jackhammer? They earn their money by pushing pencils," he stated.
The former governor further insisted that "there should not be a billionaire", and also argued that, while everyone talks about a minimum wage, perhaps it is time for a "maximum wage".
"How about twelve million a year, a million a month? If you can’t live on twelve million dollars a year, one million dollars a month, maybe we should bring back capital punishment", said Ventura.
Between 18 March and 31 December 2020, the wealth of billionaires across the world increased by a combined $3.9 trillion, while a US-based think tank Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) revealed that the richest 660 people in the United States pocketed "a combined $1.1 trillion" since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Newsweek.
"Billionaires are reaping unseemly windfalls of wealth during the pandemic," Chuck Collins, director of the IPS' Program on Inequality, said as quoted by the media outlet. "They benefit from having their competitors shut down or controlling technologies and services we are all dependent on in this unprecedented time. We should tax these windfall gains to pay for recovery."