Here is a simple statement of principle that doesnât get repeated enough: if you possess billions of dollars, in a world where many people struggle because they do not have much money, you are an immoral person. The same is true if you possess hundreds of millions of dollars, or even millions of dollars. Being extremely wealthy is impossible to justify in a world containing deprivation.
Even though there is a lot of public discussion about inequality, there seems to be far less talk about just how patently shameful it is to be rich. After all, there are plenty of people on this earth who dieâor who watch their loved ones dieâbecause they cannot afford to pay for medical care. There are elderly people who become homeless because they cannot afford rent. There are children living on streets and in cars, there are mothers who canât afford diapers for their babies. All of this is beyond dispute. And all of it could be ameliorated if people who had lots of money simply gave those other people their money. Itâs therefore deeply shameful to be rich. Itâs not a morally defensible thing to be.Â
To take a U.S. example: white families in America have 16 times as much wealth on average as black families. This is indisputably because of slavery, which was very recent (there are people alive today who met people who were once slaves). Larry Ellison of Oracle could put his $55 billion in a fund that could be used to just give houses to black families, not quite as direct âreparationsâ but simply as a means of addressing the fact that the average white family has a house while the average black family does not. But instead of doing this, Larry Ellison bought the island of Lanai. (Itâs kind of extraordinary that a single human being can just own the sixth-largest Hawaiian island, but thatâs what concentrated wealth leads to.) Because every dollar you have is a dollar youâre not giving to somebody else, the decision to retain wealth is a decision to deprive others.
Stop tryna guilt trip people for being rich weirdos
Nah, take all their money and put them in jail
