The company Nvidia (of chips) is worth on the stock market more than a hundred times the annual budget of the Generalitat and is approaching Germany's annual GDP. Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) has a value similar to Spain's GDP. Nvidia's annual profits are almost double Croatia's budget. The leap in scale is formidable. Just a comparison from yesterday: in the meeting between the Government and the education unions, the salary improvement offer was 355 euros per teacher over four years.
And, of course, what lies behind the economic figures of these companies are states that can already play their national anthems with troops presenting arms and meeting at the G-20, while the digital conglomerate (with China's hot on its heels) will be shaping the labor market and will transport the information and disinformation that will shape the thinking of societies and dictate new priorities. Pretending that taxes on workers will bear the entire burden of reducing inequalities in a world that is already so unequal is not realistic. Democratic constitutions, agreed upon to regulate coexistence according to the values that emerged after World War II in an industrial economy and within specific borders, may end up trembling like a leaf in the new wind blowing from the East or the West, or, as Dylan wrote, this wind that breaks our windows is the sign that times are changing.
The advantage is that we know this is already happening and, therefore, public authorities must have the courage to preserve democracy and the individual and collective rights that have been so hard-won. It is urgent.
