"And what about..." here, the author is drawing the reader's attention to the following points and compares these points to the point made in the sentence or sentences before this sentence. "those controversies over taxes paid" - the scandals over payment of taxes. Scandals about people dodging (=not paying) taxes "or [controversies over] privacy" - scandals about the state invading people's privacy _______________________________________________________________________ "or vast profits in an age when inequality is as much a factor behind the present dim view of many in the political and business establishments as any perceived failures of globalisation" -- there are two points here: Point one: there are/have been scandals about companies making extremely large amounts of money as profit and they are making all this money in a time when people are concerned about the unequal distribution of money among the populace. point two: inequality (which is exacerbated by big companies getting large profits) is one reason that people regard politicians and businessmen lowly and the fact that people believe globalisation is not working, is another reason that politicians and business are regarded lowly. These two reasons are regarded as having a similar degree of effect. In other words, politicians and businessmen are mistrusted both because of their roles in globalisation (which people believe does not work) and because they make so much money. End of explanation. =========================== For a more complete meaning, the sentences before the sentence you wrote here must be taken into account.

And what about those controversies / over taxes paid, or privacy, or vast profits / in an age when / inequality is as much a factor / behind the present dim view / of many in the political and business establishments / as any perceived failures of globalization? This sentence doesn't mean a lot by itself; the "And" at the beginning of the sentence tells me that it's a continuation of a previous thought. However, if you take it apart as I have above, it might help you understand it a little better. "what about those controversies" -- what should we think about those controversies? "over taxes paid, or privacy, or vast profits" tells you what the controversies are. "in an age when" defines a time, here understood to be the present time we're living in, which the sentence goes on to explain. "as much" needs the following "as", so you have to find it. When you put both parts together you can understand that "inequality is as much a factor as any perceived failures of globalization" This means that the writer believes that both "inequality" and "perceived failures of globalization" are factors … but of what? "Behind the present dim view" -- without context, I'm understanding this to mean "gloomy outlook" or "pessimism". Whose "dim view"? "of many in the political and business establishments" -- so politicians and businesspeople. I hope that helps you understand the article you're reading. Good luck with your studies!

Hello! It's basically saying that people have bad points of view (what people think) because of inequality (being taxes, privacy and income/money) and being bad at globalisation (increasing how the world is connected through trade and production of goods). I'm not sure how good this answer is in comparison to what you were expecting, but I hope it helped ^^;