ETHICALBILLIONAIRE

By Elena Sofia Uzielli '25

Billion. We hear that word a lot. On television, in class, on the radio while driving to school. The term has become engrained in our minds to the point where we tend to overlook its meaning

However, one billion truly is an almost unfathomable amount. Talking in seconds, 1 million seconds is around 12 days while 1 billion seconds in close to 31 5 years! To put that in proportion to something more tied to the issue of unethical billionaires, if you had a million euros and spent $1000 a day, you would run out of money in three years In contrast, if you had a billion euros and spent the same amount each day, it would take you 2,740 years to spend your wealth.

Now, to the real topic of this article. For those interested in pop culture or the world’s latest scandal, hearing about celebrities and CEOs spending, donating, losing, earning millions or perhaps even billions isn’t too shocking anymore. This is because we have adapted and grown accustomed to the society we live in, often forgetting to be critical about things deemed ‘normal’ which are actually anything but How often do we stop and think about the outrageous sums of money mentioned on a daily basis rather than moving on as passive listeners? Very rarely

For further context, if one earned $7,000 an hour every day from the year 0 to the year 2022 you’d end up with $124 billion by the end of 2022 and would still have made less money than Jeff Bezos (58yrs) whose estimated net worth is $138.2 billion

Already the term ‘billion’ used in a monetary context should raise some red flags, but due to the fact that we live on a planet where inequality is the standard, we hardly even question why and how a single individual can possibly have that amount of money

As United States House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once said, “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.” This statement stirred controversy and sparked debates, but to what extent is it true? Can one person ethically make billions of dollars/euros/etc without harming the environment, other people, and the world in general as a consequence?

The short answer is no.

Even seemingly philanthropic billionaires choose to maintain their wealth rather than assuage the crushing poverty of millions, demonstrating that the generous donations and charitable contributions they make are motivated by relatively superficial reasons and primarily by their appearance in the eyes of the general public

For example, Mark Zuckerburg (CEO of Facebook) uses part of his wealth to minimally mitigate and combat the housing crisis in Silicon Valley, one that he created himself by moving the Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley from Palo Alto to Menlo Park, causing housing prices to rise by over 500,000 US dollars.

Which leads us to the next point; is there a fair and ethical way to acquire and maintain such exorbitant sums of money? Our world has reached an obscene inequality crisis dominated by plutocracy, in which wealth and resultantly power is concentrated in the hands of very few individuals, at the cost of crippling misery and limited access to basic human needs such as water, food, shelter or clean air for many

The accumulation of extreme wealth is based on exploitative and inhumane labour practices, reduced taxes, and loopholes in an economic system biased towards the rich who are beneficiaries of such injustices.

Thinking about it logically, if one possesses more money they will have to pay taxes directly proportional to their income, right? Wrong The vast majority of working people earn their livelihood from hourly wages or a regular salary. In either case, income is usually automatically deducted and put towards taxes On the other hand, billionaires and very high-income people can choose whether and when to pay taxes on the growth of their wealth. Essentially, they can state that they earn a much lower amount of money than their actual income in order to pay close to no taxes

For instance, in the United States of America currently the federal income tax rate enforces a tax rate of 37% for individuals making $523,600 yearly or more and for married couples making at least $628,300 To avoid such high tax rates, highearning business owners often pay themselves lower salaries. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, collected just $80,000 per year while really he makes that amount in little over half a minute Steve Jobs (founder of Apple), Meg Whitman (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (co founders of Google) and Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) all accepted a salary of 1$ per year probably for the same reason

This not only shows how dishonest these incredibly wealthy people are, but also how our economic system and current societal situation permit such scandals to happen Anyone with their level of wealth or even remotely close has more than enough money to provide a full and happy lifestyle for themselves, friends, and family; making the rest of their accumulated money simply a measure of greed

The higher capitalist class generates money often by denying workers a living wage, engaging in exploitative labour practices and other behaviours that violate human rights.

When the average Amazon employee's salary is $28,000 and the company’s CEO makes more than that in 10 Seconds you know that our world has reached a standstill in the journey to a fair future for honest workers.

And when 1% of the population has nearly double the amount of wealth that the remaining 99% has put together, you know for certain that there can’t be such a thing as an ethical billionaire.