Theres no doubt that life can be pretty terrific. There are so many moments of happiness and not to count those moments and recognize them is a mistake.
But there is a real undercurrent of unhappiness in our country. Why shouldnt there be? In our country, 400 individuals own more wealth than 150 million people. They do this at the direct expense of everyone else. The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. And not only are the poor getting poorer, but the middle class is getting poorer too.
Employers are hiring more, paying less, and cutting hours to keep from insuring employees. So now there are uninsured workers, working two low-paying jobs to cover the cost of goods that have prices that keep increasing. The person who is struggling is blamed for the bad economy. But clearly, the mega-rich carry that blame squarely on their shoulders.
In college, we read a short story by Tolstoy called How Much Land Does a Man Need. The answer to that question enough to be buried in. So we should ask ourselves, how much money does a man need? Certainly enough to be buried. But what else? To have a home, to be able to feed his family, to not be burdened 24 hours a day with the worry of medical expenses and the cost of heating or cooling his home. Does he need money for fun? Sure, if it takes money to have fun, then money is required. He needs to be able to clothe himself and his family and provide an education for himself and his children. How much money is that? Is it the $88.5 billion that Warren Buffett has? Or the $96.4 billion that Bill Gates possesses? Maybe that is not enough, and so possibly enough money is the $131.4 billion that Jeff Bezos wallows in.
When we live in a country where moms and dads are struggling to buy school supplies and have three meals on the table without having to go to a food pantry or use a SNAP card, how can amassing that much wealth not be seen as an obscenity? When people are dying because they cannot afford insulin, or cancer treatment, or any other medical treatment, how is the highway to hell not paved with dollars?
According to a 2017 Federal Reserve report, 40% of adults would not have the cash to cover an unexpected expense of $400. The same report found than one in five adults cannot pay all of their monthly bills, while more than a quarter skip necessary medical care because they cant afford it.
Do the rich deserve their wealth? I suppose so. But does everyone else deserve the consequences that they pay for the extreme wealth of others? When a minute number of people, 400, control the wealth of a country, someone is going to pay the price.
Right now the price that is being paid is mass incarceration of black people and other people of color. Because privately owned prisons are huge moneymakers. The number of homeless people is increasing at an alarming rate, while luxury developments continue to go up. The number of people with mental illness who cannot afford treatment or medication is increasing, because funding is pulled to cover tax cuts for the rich. The number of people dying from untreated cancer and other serious illnesses is increasing, while pharmaceutical companies make record profits.
The number of children who are left alone while parents scramble to make ends meet are paying a price and we are starting to see that in the attitude and behaviors of lots of our young people. We have a whole nation of people who are beaten down. Who are tired and worn out, either from trying to make a living or who are mucking through the stress that is poverty. When so few have so very much, while so many are literally starving in the street, we should be able to see that our country is off-balance without looking too hard. Things are not right. Our constitution states that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But we are falling short. A man cannot take his great wealth with him.
If we left all the other billionaires in the United States alone and only bothered Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos by taxing their billions and leaving them with a mere $1.5 billion each, we could give every single person in the United States $935,000.
Again, how much money does a person need?
At what point does it not become about money but about power? A reminder that Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Kindness matters!
