The super rich among us
Recently, an article appeared on the Internet containing a list published by Bloomberg and Wikipedia listing the ten richest people in the United States today. 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 she received in a divorce settlement.
The list also includes people who have long been ranked as the richest or among the richest people in the United States or even the world, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Other giant tech company founders included were Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergay Brin, and Steve Balmer. Some people had inherited their money, like three Waltons who received 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 says that the United States is home to 34 people who have a net worth of $ 10 to $ 40 billion. There are more than 300 people who are said to have between 4 and 10 billion dollars. The United States apparently has at least 600 billionaires. That’s a lot of money controlled by a relatively small group of people.
Bill Gates was interviewed once when he became the richest person in the world after being the second richest the year before. He was asked why or how that happened. He said he guessed he hadn’t given away enough money. The super rich give away a lot of money, but they could give a lot more to those who really need it. Who needs so many billions of dollars? It must be, at least partially, a matter of power, control, and some greed.
A million dollars seems out of reach for most people and yet hundreds of millionaires are being created on a regular basis. A million dollars may not seem like enough in some way, especially for those who have tens or hundreds of millions. These people can have real freedom to spend what they want and do practically what they want. Money is not a restriction as it is for many people in the world today.
Many immigrants have done very well in the United States after years of hard work and fatigue. Such was the case with a small handful of Japanese and their American citizen children who were imprisoned during World War II in the American concentration camps that were established to house them as punishment for their ethnic origin. They were not guilty of any crime and had done nothing wrong. The racism and prejudices of that time made them suffer untold hardships and anguish.
Still, 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 top 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 homeless or less fortunate people can be seen begging on the streets for a few dollars or change to buy food or other items. Unfortunately, all too often they spend their money on tobacco or alcohol. Everyone needs money in some way. Most earn what money they have, but some people have to beg for it.
While a small number of people control a great deal of the world’s wealth, there is room for people to build a comfortable life. It is up to all of us, whether rich or poor, to reach out to the less fortunate. There are so many people in the world who need help.
