TWO VIEWS: The billion dollar question

Billionaires’ wealth has reached insurmountable proportions, giving life to a public sentiment which questions how ethical it is to allow one person to acquire an excessive amount of wealth. Should the law continue supporting te formation of billionaires?

YES

COMMENTARY BY NATALIA PALLAS, BUSINESS MANAGER

Most people have at least once imagined, maybe even dreamed of, becoming a billionaire. Such wealth is incomprehensible to many, yet does that mean the ability to accumulate that amount of wealth should be eliminated? The desire to advance financially permeates society and removing that dream could lead to a decrease in innovation and the desire to work hard.

Radicating the possibility and status of becoming a billionaire overlooks inate human desire for wealth. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), many studies have found how small financial incentives motivate the brain, meaning money has the power to significantly change behavior — and for the better. Removing the incentive to become a billionaire would only discourage those who want to achieve more financial success, which in turn can make for a less productive society.

CNBC states that for workers making more than $150,000 per year, 68% of them were very fulfilled with their occupation. A significant decrease was shown with workers who made less than $50,000, as only 40% of them felt the same way. This supports the argument that money is a critical factor in motivating hard work. If billionaires did not exist, there would be less of an incentive to try to overcome one’s income level and strive for a better life.

“Becoming a billionaire is very difficult and does seem unfair, but it would be even more unfair to take away that chance for other people,” junior Hannah White said.

It is no question that a billion dollars is an immense sum of money, yet so is 500 million or even 50 million. These milestones of wealth are arbitrary and there is no compelling need for the government to eliminate them. To confiscate such feats of wealth would just promote people taking their business to other nations or even turning to illegal methods of acquiring wealth. The fact that most will never accumulate such large quantities of money, does not mean the government should curtail the pursuit of that.

The debate about whether billionaires should exist stems mostly from the criticism of capitalist society. Yet, it is only in a capitalist society that one can overcome their past finances and climb towards a better tomorrow. Capitalism’s free-market propels the production of goods and services as well as allows for economic freedom for one to choose their financial path. Any limitations not only border on a violation of the United States constitution but form roadblocks in a functional economic system.

Billionaires that have not inherited their wealth are typically those who have gained wealth through innovation in services and products that benefit society today. Take for instance, Facebook. According to Statista, the social media platform currently has around 2.7 billion current users and has helped people connect all over the world. This creation has spurred the invention of social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. A law or regulation prohibiting billionaires could be a deterrent to this type of technology and the thousands of jobs created by this industry. According to Forbes, “the top 12 billionaire job creators — all together worth more than $308 billion — have generated at least 2.3 million jobs globally.” Current daily life activities would seem unimaginable and likely more difficult without a smartphone or Google.

There is no denying that there are large economic disparities in the United States. Pews Research Center compiled data showing how from 1989 to 2016 the wealth gap has broadened between America’s wealthiest and most poverty stricken families.

“Better quality education would decrease the economic strain placed on low-income communities while increasing their chances of succeeding,” senior Samantha Gazda said.

However, the solution to this unfortunate consequence should not be to eliminate billionaires as a whole. Instead, a more reasonable solution would be to reach a middle ground, in which there would be a higher tax on billionaires. Moreover, there should be a larger focus in lower-income communities and closing the gap by raising incomes.

NO

COMMENTARY BY MARÍA JOSÉ CESTERO, STAFF WRITER

When thinking of a billion dollars, it is hard to grasp how large that amount really is. One million seconds will give you 11 days, while one billion seconds will equal 32 years. The average human-being spends about $5 million in their entire lifetime, so why should a billionaire be able to accumulate roughly 3,900 times more and most importantly, in such an immoral manner?

When the U.S. went into lockdown in March 2020, many people were concerned about generating an income while working from home. Businesses were forced to undergo layoffs and even closed due to the lack of foot traffic driving people to their business. According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRP), U.S. citizens faced over 20.6 million job losses since mid- March, which resulted in an unemployment rate of 14.7% — a number not seen since the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, these numbers do not apply to the nation’s billionaires, who collectively increased their net worth by $565 billion throughout quarantine, as seen in a report by the Institute for Policy Studies. For example, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, hired over 175,000 workers during the pandemic. However, a plethora of current and former Amazon employees have stated how their work conditions are absurd and cruel.

“I would rather go back to a state correctional facility and work for 18 cents an hour than do that job,” former Amazon employee Jim Lacewell said in an interview with The Guardian. “I’m sure Mr. Bezos couldn’t do a full shift at that place as an undercover boss.”

Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge the ‘charity work’ some billionaires take on. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s (BMGF) works to aid developing countries lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Yet taking a deeper look at the foundation’s actions shows how it could be taking part in what is now known as neocolonialism — using economic or societal pressures to impose influence over other countries. BMGF is notorious for collaborating with corporations like Cargill, the biggest trader in the production of soybeans, whose policies allow the monopolization of agriculture in countries where farming is the main economic superpower.

According to a report done by Global Justice Now, Cargill is a heavy investor in Latin America where genetically modified soy crops have uprooted rural populations and caused severe environmental damage. Now, with its collaborations with BMGF, Cargill will make its way into Africa, where fast-food chains will open, forcing farmers to be dominated by large buyers. This is just one of numerous examples of how billionaires indulge in charity in order to seem philanthropic, when behind the scenes, they are causing more harm than good.

Moreover, the world’s billionaires are hardly self-made. Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg in his 2017 Harvard commencement speech, have stated that most of their wealth came to them through mere luck and the help of advancements set in place before them and as seen by Wealth-X, upmost of 30.9% of billionaries inherited millions of dollars in wealth. They are hardly logical motivational figures for wealth acquisition.

The richest family in the world, the Waltons of Walmart, makes nearly $4 million an hour, while the average sanitation worker makes $13.41, as stated by PayScale. Ruthless exploitation of labor was required to reach these astronomical amounts of wealth and as seen by a report by A Better Balance, employees called out the corporation for punishing workers that called-in sick.

“Since they are multi-billion dollar wealthy people, they don’t need to know society’s struggles,” senior Emellie Ferrer said. “To them, they live a good life and although they could help the economy in so many other ways they choose not to.”

Billionaires keep exorbitant amounts of money they do not need and rarely donate more than 1% of their wealth to charitable causes. Society must stop holding them to different standards just because they are wealthy. It is time to hold the rich accountable for their actions before society suffers irreversible consequences.