The Paleo-Oligarchs

To add perspective to inequality as we experience it in the modern world, it might be useful to consider what our paleolithic ancestors would have contended with, had they experienced that same inequality. 

We’ll use the same inequality ratios, based on percentage of group wealth held by individuals in the United States at present, to inform our calculations. 

We will think of ‘wealth’, in paleolithic terms, as materials required for living. This basically begins and ends with food and water – but we will add a few other commodities, just to boost the parallel to modern times. We’ll assume that in addition to food, each member of a paleolithic human community would possess two skins at any given time – one for wearing, for environmental protection, and one for warmth while sleeping; one spear or other weapon, for hunting or personal defense against predators; and one stone tool kit, for fashioning weapons and making clothing, preparing food, etc. 

For diet, we’ll generously apportion annual individual and tribal requirements based on assumed need for high caloric replacement, balanced against body mass lower than our own, as follows: 

Individual (per year): 

150 pounds of meat  

300 pounds of plants 

350 gallons of water 

Assuming a tribe of 100 (for simplicity; the actual tribal population would probably have been somewhat higher)... 

Tribe (per year): 

15,000 pounds of meat 

30,000 pounds of plants 

35,000 gallons of water 

Again, shooting for simplicity, make generous guesses on the longevity of non-ingested commodities. Figure an individual’s consumption of these as follows: 

Individual (per year): 

6 skins 

3 spears/weapons 

1 stone tool kit (figure they last a year; they’re made of stone) 

Tribe (per year): 

600 skins 

300 spears/weapons 

100 stone tool kits 

In paleolithic community, of course, this wealth is equally distributed. Everybody gets their day’s calories and water; everybody has their own set of survival tools. Some might have different tools than others; some might use skins for different purposes. But the distribution is the same. 

What would all this look like if our present-day oligarchy-driven wealth ratios were imposed on that paleo tribe? 

Richest to  poorest	MEAT  (in pounds)	VEGGIES  (in pounds)	WATER  (in gallons)	SKINS  (each)	WEAPONS  (each)	TOOL  KITS  (each)
1	6,450	12,900	15,050	258	129	43
4	4,350	8,700	10,150	174	87	29
5	1,650	3,300	3,850	66	33	11
10	1,500	3,000	3,500	60	30	10
20	1,050	2,100	2,450	42	21	7
60	45	90	105	1.8	0.9	0.3

Viewed through the paleo lens, the top oligarch’s level of wealth here would be, of course, obscene. No human being could possibly make use of such excess, and the portion of tribal wealth taken from the lowest tier would likely cost them their lives; the second-lowest tier would be badly weakened; and the remaining 20 healthy members of the tribe could not sustain it. 

This is all silly, of course; the accumulation of wealth was impossible back then, and it would never have occurred to any member of the tribe to try to get away with such theft. 

Let’s reset the numbers, assuming baseline subsistence wealth at the lowest tier, then extrapolating by wealth distribution ratios to see where the other numbers go: 

Richest to  poorest	MEAT  (in pounds)	VEGGIES  (in pounds)	WATER  (in gallons)	SKINS  (each)	WEAPONS  (each)	TOOL  KITS  (each)
1	915,900	1,831,800	2,137,100	36,636	18,318	6,106
4	416,295	832,590	971,355	16,652	8,326	2,775
5	59,895	120,780	139,755	2,415	1,198	400
10	49,500	99,000	115,500	1,980	990	330
20	24,465	48,930	57,085	140	70	23
60	150	300	350	6	3	1

We are well and truly off the deep end at this point, of course; the introduction of a social safety net to ensure that the poorest members of the tribe obtain the minimal requirements for survival is as inconceivable as a tribe of 100 coming up with such staggering means of production. 

But our basic point has been made: the numbers are obscene. It is the staggering percentages of distribution that are the horrifying part.