Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World

by Rutger Bregman

Even food-stamp recipients in the U.S. live like royalty compared to the poorest people in the world. Still, we mostly reserve our outrage for the injustices that happen inside our own national borders. We’re indignant that men get paid more than women for doing the same work, and that white Americans earn more than black Americans. But even the 150% racial income gap of the 1930s pales in comparison to the injustices inflicted by our borders. A Mexican citizen living and working in the U.S. earns more than twice as much as a compatriot still living in Mexico. An American earns nearly three times as much for the same work as a Bolivian, even when they are of the same skill level, age, and sex. With a comparable Nigerian, the difference is a factor of 8.5–and that’s adjusted for purchasing power in the two countries.33