For quite some time now I've been getting increasingly concerned/annoyed/angered by the growing gap between rich and poor in our modern era. We've long since shot past the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the world's wealth is controlled by 20% of the people. Last I'd heard, we'd exceeded the point where 99% of the world's wealth is controlled by 1% of the people! That's simply astounding. When you think of all the millions or billions who live below the poverty line, literally starving to death, it's appalling, and quite frankly down-right immoral, that some 60 million people in the world are sitting on top of more money than they could ever spend in their life times. Even if they tried. Hard.
Of course, before we get too judgmental, it's important to take that dreaded look in the mirror... if you live in Canada and have a well paying job, odds are you yourself (and by "you" I mean "me") are in that top 1% of the world's wealthiest people. If your salary is even around the average in our country, you are likely well into the top 5%. Makes you think twice about your responsibility to share? It does me...
What's disturbing about this isn't so much the distribution. If we were at 99/1 but almost everyone in the world had their basic needs looked after, I wouldn't bat an eye. But we're not, and throughout history, when the rich get too rich and the poor get too poor, society falls apart. We're all born equal, and we all die equal, and the inequities in between can only become so imbalanced before the masses on the wrong side rise up.
During the 2008-2009 world wide government bail-outs of trillions upon trillions of dollars, and now the subsequent (and long predicted) round of possible Sovereign Defaults, I kept wondering: why doesn't the world's governments just seize the wealth of any individual exceeding $1 billion dollars? There's only a few hundred of them, the combined haul would likely equal what it cost to avoid economic armaggedon, and not a one of them would suffer in the slightest for it. Truth be told, everyone of them acquired that wealth from the system which broke down and needed to be fixed anyway. It'd be a quick and just solution. Robin-hood style.
Well, thanks to 2 of the three richest men in the world, Bill (and Melinda) Gates and Warren Buffett, something similar to that is happening all on it's own. These 2 men, well known for their own philanthropy, have been urging other billionaires to increase the amount they give away... and succeeding. They started a movement, thegivingpledge.com, that calls on the world's billionaires to make a pledge to give away 50% or more of their wealth, and many are doing just that. Recognizing the imbalance of wealth distribution in the world, their own luck in having acquired more than their share (through the Ovarian Lottery, as Buffett calls it), and that they couldn't possibly use all that they have anyway, these men and women are starting down a path of historic, unprecedented donations, the size of which will go well into the trillions within our lifetimes. It's a beautiful thing, and gives me, for one, cause for hope that people really are learning from the past and continually working towards a better future. Stumbling in that direction sometimes, but stumbling along none the less.
Anywho, that was my usual, long-winded pre-amble to the truly enjoyable nuggets I really wanted to share. Reading through the pledge that Warren Buffett himself made, to give away a whopping 99% of his wealth, along with an interview he did with CNN when he first made the decision, I came away full, like I had just eaten at a Buffett of Inspiration. If the size of his estate wasn't proof enough that he's a fairly bright guy, these two links below cinch it. From his thoughts on inheritance, and the negative impact it has on children which all parents should read, to gems like this:
a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner - Warren Buffett
they are definitely worth the read. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Buffett's Giving Pledge: http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/newsmakers/Warren_Buffett_Pledge_Letter.fortune/index.htm
His interview with CNN: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/07/10/8380864/index.htm
