Wouldn't it be amazing if just *once* the news was about all of our lives not getting materially worse whilst also reading about a handful of individuals breaking all previous personal wealth records. Interestingly the richest person who ever lived was Mansa Musa, the 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire, whose wealth surpassed that of today's billionaires. Primarily from gold resources.

He threw his gold wealth around so much when on a pilgrimage, he totally wrecked a number of economies. Due to the subsequent depreciation of gold, it's estimated his pilgrimage led to over a billion dollars of economic losses across the Middle East.....

"The king reportedly left Mali with a caravan of 60,000 men.

He took his entire royal court and officials, soldiers, griots (entertainers), merchants, camel drivers and 12,000 slaves, as well as a long train of goats and sheep for food.

To a person, all the way down to the slaves, they were clad in gold brocade and finest Persian silk. A hundred camels were in tow, each camel carrying hundreds of pounds of pure gold."

Mali is now one of the poorest nations on the planet, heavily reliant on foreign aid, with food insecurity and high numbers below the poverty line including nearly 20% living in 'extreme poverty'.

Men that steal the natural resources of the planet on an obscene scale for personal wealth are not your friends. And they are not doing it for your benefit.