Billionaires: A stain on humanity
Opinion Piece by Roa Daher, Staff Writer
September 28th, 2020
The 37 members of the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) witnessed unemployment skyrocket from the relatively stable 5.5% of the previous years to 11.4% in the second quarter of 2020. World Bank estimates show that more than 60 million people may fall into extreme poverty this year. The pandemic has caused the deepest recession since World War Two, with the global economy is expected to shrink 5.2% this year; yet, as millions are plunged into poverty and plagued by job losses that affect access to healthcare amidst a pandemic, seven of the world’s richest 50 people saw immense financial gains of more than 50% of their net worth.
The most logical question to ask now is: how? How is it possible for billionaires to expand their wealth by billions of dollars at a time of global financial crisis? Not only that, but also how can one accumulate sums of money that are so large, that they cannot be comprehended without visual aids.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time. If we go back to 2008, when the global financial crisis occurred arguably due to the bursting of the housing bubble, the same pattern can be observed as the rich grew richer by profiting off of the financial losses of millions, or even billions, of people. In 2008 and in 2020, and likely in the coming decades, the reasons for their gains are the same: large corporations and banks receive billions in aid from the government during times of crisis, and the rich still have the liquidity needed for investments that create profit at a time when lower and middle classes did not. Stock market investments, that the general population cannot afford at a time of layoffs and immeasurable financial losses, help the rich increase their net worth. This same principle can explain the sustained existence of billionaires, but rarely explains how billionaires are created. Simply said, billionaires are born out of exploitation of labour, and sometimes natural resources too.
In other words, Jeff Bezos would not be worth $177.9B if he paid Amazon employees living wages. Instead, Amazon workers endure injury rates that are twice as high as the industry’s average, sometimes with injuries that affect future employment prospects, among other unnecessary and life-threatening occupational dangers, while being paid minimum wage. The profits that Bezos has accrued over the last few years are, in fact, stolen wages of thousands of Amazon employees; as for the recent decision to increase the minimum wage to $15 for Amazon workers in the US and £9.50 in the United Kingdom, there are many ulterior motives accomplished by this move. Unequivocally, raising the minimum wage is a good thing that will undoubtedly benefit the employees at Amazon. However, the calculated move came right in time for the holiday season - a time when Amazon would need to hire more employees and increasing the minimum wage would give Amazon more job applicants to choose from, thus allowing the company to be selective. Furthermore, among several other reasons, it would relieve the company from some pressure regarding the improvement of the working conditions in Amazon warehouses.
Jeff Bezos’ net worth, while constantly fluctuating because of the nature of his assets, inched above $200B at a certain point (and will likely do that again), which fuelled a discussion about how much $200B really is and how it could be spent.
For instance, if he spent $1M daily, he would need 547 years to use up all the money he has right now, nevermind any fortune he will make in the future. There are plenty of other examples that help put his vast wealth into perspective. This leads us to another ethical issue: billionaires a stain on humanity not only because of how they attain their financial status, but also because of how they retain it. While 1% of the population owns 44% of the world’s wealth, hundreds of millions struggle with medical debt, food insecurity, homelessness, and college debt.
Therefore, it is indubitably unethical for billionaires to hoard wealth that they cannot possibly spend within their lifetime when it can be used for the improvement of other people’s lives and general well-being. A common argument made against this is the claim that billionaires have “worked hard” for their money, which is very reductive in that it disregards generational wealth and the conditions, circumstances, and opportunities that create billionaires. At the end of the day, Bezos did not work almost 200 billion times harder than anyone else to “earn” his money. Even if that were true, it disregards the innate debt that one has to humanity; if one could eliminate global malnutrition and medical debt without as much as a dent in their net worth, then why not? The least you can do is give people their stolen wages back, in one way or another. It is a shame to have such a pronounced wealth gap in the twenty-first century, and it is an even greater shame when people defend this profound inequality. One can only have more if another has less, and it is our duty as humans to strive for a more egalitarian society in which basic human necessities like housing, education, and food are provided for all.