The super rich among us
An article recently appeared on the Internet containing a list published by Bloomberg and Wikipedia that listed the ten richest people currently in the United States. The richest was Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with the list saying he has $114 billion at age 55, but other lists say he has $170 billion. Last on the list of ten was Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife with $36 billion that she received in a divorce settlement.
The list also includes people who have long been listed as the richest or among the richest people in the United States or even the world, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Other tech giant founders included were Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergay Brin, and Steve Balmer. Some people had inherited their money, like three Waltons who got their money from the Walmart empire. Michael Bloomberg and Charles Koch were listed as winners of their money, and Julia Koch had inherited their billions.
The list said that the United States is home to 34 people who have a net worth of $10 to $40 billion. There are over 300 people who are said to have between $4 and $10 billion. The United States apparently has at least 600 billionaires. That’s so much money controlled by a relatively small group of people.
Bill Gates was once interviewed when he became the world’s richest person after being the second richest the year before. He was asked why or how that happened. He said he guessed he didn’t give away enough money. The super rich give away a lot of money, but they could give away much more to those who really need it. Who needs so many billions of dollars? It must be, at least partially, a question of power, control and some greed.
A million dollars seems out of reach for most people and yet hundreds of millionaires are created on a regular basis. A million dollars may not seem like enough in some respects, especially for those who have tens or hundreds of millions. These people can have real freedom to spend as they wish and do just about anything they want. Money is not a constraint like it is for so many people in the world today.
Many immigrants have done very well in the US after years of hard work and canvas. Such was the case for a small handful of Japanese and their US citizen children who were incarcerated during World War II in US concentration camps that were set up to house them as punishment for their ethnicity. They were not guilty of any crime and had done nothing wrong. The racism and prejudice of that time caused them to suffer untold hardship and anguish.
However, most of them have endured and triumphed over the hardships they were made to endure. While there may not be billionaires among this group of people, there are millionaires. They have not reached the highest levels of income among the population and have become part of the ten richest people, but some have achieved incredible success given the treatment they received during the war. Overcoming adversity was difficult but important. Can be done.
There are poor among us. Every day the homeless or the less fortunate can be seen begging on the streets for a few dollars or change to buy food or other items. Unfortunately, too often they spend what money they have on tobacco or alcohol. Everyone needs money in some shape and form. Most earn what money they have, but some people must beg for it.
While a small number of people control a large amount of the world’s wealth, there is room for people to carve out comfortable lives. It behooves all of us, whether rich or poor, to reach out to those less fortunate. There are so many people in the world who need help.