No matter how much one dislikes it, they can’t deny the fact that the world is divided between the top 1% and the bottom 99%, and the rich, no matter how small in numbers, run the world. People are hoarding the worlds wealth, while the rest are left to find comfort in the scraps. These past few years have seen a massive rise in billionaires, currently their being 2095 of them. However a question that has been going around for years now is that, should billionaires exist?
A lot of people have different opinions on this. Some believe that billionaires have earned their keep, so they should be able to keep it. According to me, no one gets that rich just by working honestly.Imagine trying to save a billion dollars, and start by saving a $100 each day. If you, and one descendent per generation, saved $100 every day, and each of you lived for 90 years, it would take you and 304 generations of your descendants to save up one billion dollars, more than 27000 years. Take Jeff Bezos as an example. The owner of Amazon, with a net worth of $114 billion, he is undoubtedly one of the richest men on this planet. Yet, many of their own workers have unionised against the company. In a statement during the announcement of the union push, picker Rashad Long claimed workers are overworked, pressured with frivolous disciplinary actions and security lines at the exit cut into breaks and extended work shifts, unpaid. Exploitation of the innocents is a major step towards their billions.
The worst part about this is that there are problems like climate change and world hunger, which can easily be solved if proper money is invested in them. These billionaires can definitely contribute a lot and possibly even solve such issues, without facing a major loss, but they choose not to. They sit comfortably with their riches and watch the world burn. If you make the argument that they are not at all obliged to donate their money, then capitalism has fooled you. No one needs that much money, but they do have it. And people actually need food, housing etc, yet they can’t afford it. Even if they choose to help them, they’ll still be left with a lot of money. So you can see for yourself why billionaires shouldn’t exist.
The COVID 19 pandemic has had the world under lockdown. There are people losing their jobs, people who don’t even know how they’re going to pay rent or buy food for their kids. During this, the top 1% have the audacity to sit in their million dollar mansion and say that “quarantine is like prison”. This is an extremely privileged statement, coming from those who don’t even have any responsibilities, who are not directly affected by this pandemic.
Currently, 2% of the world’s population is homeless. People are dying in the streets, whilst billionaires are buying their 10thmansion. It’s truly saddening to see how many people will rush to defend the top 1%. The common people need to be educated of their exploitative nature. Only then will they be able to say, “No. Billionaires shouldn’t exist.”
International Journal of Research (IJR) 