All the money in the world is growing ever more concentrated in the hands of just a few people, a report released Sunday night makes clear. Just 62 ultra-rich, mostly white men — a list that includes Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the Koch Brothers and the Walmart heirs — have as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity. Five years ago, it took 388 rich guys to achieve that status. The wealth of the richest 62 has increased an astonishing 44 percent since 2010, to $1.76 trillion. Meanwhile, the wealth of the bottom half of the world dropped by 41 percent…. “This is terrible,” Gawain Kripke, Oxfam’s Policy Director, told The Huffington Post. “No one credible will say this is good for the world or good for the economy.”
Imagine sitting down to dinner at a restaurant, only to realize that the person at the next table had ordered so much food that by time the waitress made her way to take your order, all that was left was ice water and the butt end of a baguette. I suspect you’d be none to happy with the situation, right? You’d probably call the manager over and complain…or you’d leave and find another restaurant altogether.
So it is with growing worldwide income inequality- except that in this case, there is no other restaurant, nor anyone willing to listen to your complaints. It’s your owned damned fault, really…you continue voting for Republicans (and even more than a few Democrats) who’ve sold their souls to Wall Street. In their ongoing efforts at self-preservation and job security, Congress has created a legal environment that not only allows and facilitates the porcine accumulation of wealth, it encourages and rewards it. A very fortunate few have managed to purchase government favorable to their interests, and the government they own has tilted the playing field in their direction.
It’s been said that it takes money to make money, something which, as it turns out, is very true. As the very wealthy have used their vast resources to accumulate even more, less and less has been left to those who lack both opportunity and access to capital. Clearly, to paraphrase a famous general, the center cannot hold. As ever more wealth is vacuumed up by a fortunate few, the resulting egregious income inequality slows economic growth and may well fuel an increase in political and economic stability.
Think about it for a moment: 62 people now have as much wealth among them as the other 7.4 BILLION human beings on this planet. How can that possibly be a healthy and sustainable state of affairs? How can that NOT be a recipe for an impending crisis, if not complete disaster? And how is it that this fact isn’t creating outrage, both in this country and worldwide?
Alexis de Tocqueville once described America as a nation of those who believe they’re millionaires-in-waiting, that they’re THIS far from achieving great wealth and fame. It’s very likely why we don’t begrudge the wealthy their status and success…because we want the same for ourselves and believe we’re on the verge of achieving it. It may also be why we don’t demand that our government addresses the growing income inequality gap.
Rising wealth and income inequality is not simply an issue of fairness or social justice or economic growth.
There’s a wide body of research that shows inequality adversely affects the health of those at the bottom, raising the risk of cardiovascular disease, increasing suicide rates and shortening lifespans, Linda Rosenstock, a professor at the UCLA school of public health and the former director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, told The Huffington Post last year.
From my perspective, and I’m no sociologist, it would seem that it’s a simple matter of people answering a couple very simple questions:
- How much is enough?
- What do I do when I accumulate enough?
We all have different needs, desires, and aspirations…and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. The problems begin when greed becomes the dominant narrative, when accumulating and holding onto ever more wealth simply because you can runs the risk of becoming counterproductive, detrimental to one’s humanity, and places the rest of humanity in grave peril.
I’m not going to delve into waxing indignant over the idea that accumulating vast stores of wealth is immoral, though a convincing argument could certainly be made for that. What I’m asking is for the fortunate (very) few to examine their motives and recognize that they have a responsibility- that to whom much is given, much is expected. How much does one REALLY need to live comfortably? How many homes, cars, boats, and other material symbols of financial success does one need? Benevolence isn’t a sign of weakness- quite the opposite.
I don’t know how to determine how much is enough, but I do know that greed is not a positive emotion, whether for an individual or the collective. When a person becomes consumed with accumulating ever greater material wealth, it can and very often does have a deleterious on one’s soul and connection to humanity.
So…how much is enough? I’m not the one who needs to answer that, of course, because I’m not one of the 62 fortunate souls who’ve stockpiled 50% of the world’s wealth. I can suggest that these people could stand to honestly assess their motives and means, and consider long and hard the idea of putting their vast wealth to work making this world a better place (I know; cue he cries of “SOCIALISM!!!” now….). If Warren Buffett and Bill Gates can do it….
Beyond that plea for introspection and self-examination, we here in this country absolutely have it within our power to reverse income inequality. All we have to do is vote for politicians who will reign Wall Street in and pass laws that level the playing field. We need to stop electing puppets whose idea of effective leadership is facilitating the greed and avarice of a fortunate few. We need to demand that our elected representatives actually REPRESENT us instead of being the Senator from Pfizer or Raytheon or Bear Stearns or Goldman Sachs. Until we begin paying attention and refusing to vote for those who decline to protect the interests of their constituents, income inequality will only continue to grow. Until we recognize that we’re participating in our own economic subjugation, nothing will change. That’s not a Liberal or Conservative issue; that’s an American issue, and we- all of us- need to recognize the scope of the problem before it’s too late.
We deserve better…and we have the power to make it happen. This question is: Will we??
