I watched this video recently and it really made think. It also made me a bit disgusted.
This video is a very visual presentation of wealth distribution in America. There is no need to think that this is an isolated case. I would say many so called first world countries are in this situation, if not all of them.
I guess me and my husband would be classified as middle class. We earn enough to be have a comfortable life. We don't really want for anything. The only things me and my husband want for are in reality wants, not needs. We don't lack food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care. We could be worse off. But when I look at these examples and realize that our income is actually somewhere in the non existent part of the true distribution, it makes me wonder what is wrong with this world.
When I got my first job in the country I currently live in, I was earning about $55,000 a year. Which is not a lot in this country with its inflated economy. In my home country that is a dream income, an income that would put you in the top 25% of earners for that country. In the country I live in now, this would probably put in the lower 50% of earners. When I started this particular job, I was told that I was in the top 5% of earners for the world. That a huge percentage of people live on less that $1 a day. This little fact shocked me. Mostly because an income that doesn't seem like a lot because of where I lived actually was.
Then when I watch this video and realize that I'm way down the far end of the curve and realize that a tiny few people make the rest of us look like paupers, it really fires me up. It fires me up because the first thing I think is why do you need that much money? The next is how much good can be done in this world if that money was in the hands of charities or in the hands of those who want to make a difference instead of hidden away? I see all the good in the world that could be done with that money and it achieves nothing.
This is why I have respect for billionaires like Bill Gates who have pledged to give away their fortunes. Bill Gates has put millions of dollars into education and given children who might not have had an education a future. Its hard to find fault with someone who wants to give others a chance.
I have heard that if wealth was distributed more evenly, poverty would be no more. And certainly when you look at how wealth is massively skewed in one direction its hard not to think that. But I would like you to consider something for a bit. And no I am not defending having a tiny number of people with a massive percentage of wealth here. I am however going to make a point about those who think merely redistributing wealth won't be very successful with that vision.
Let's do a thought experiment here. Let us pretend that by some magical event, everyone in the world suddenly has $10 and that $10 represents the total sum of every person's wealth. Everyone is now on equal standing. Now there will be some people who learn to cheat others out of that money, there will be some people who learn to use that money to grow wealth. There will be some that manage to keep their wealth steady. Pretty soon there will be people who have frittered away that $10 or lost it by being cheated out of it in some way. There will be those who are frugal and managed to hold onto that wealth but not really grow it. There will be those that take that wealth and make wise investment of it and their wealth grows, perhaps taking from those who are so ready to give it up. Soon we will be back to square one. There will be haves and have nots.
In the school systems I grew up in I was never taught about how to handle money. I was never taught about finance contracts or how to save for something. I was never taught about the pitfalls of money or what a wise investment might be. Sure I was taught about science and English and maths consisted of a lot of stuff I have forgotten or have no actual use for in my current life. English stopped being useful once I could successful read and write (so around 10 years of age). The sciences taught me curiosity but I really don't need to know the equations for the motion of a ball in flight to live my life.
Most people now days are not able to manage their finances appropriately. That is live without debt (in my view). So if you have a bunch of people making unwise decisions about finance how can you have them teach their children these lessons. My parents had to have everything and they had to have it now. So all I saw was them struggle to pay their debts each pay check. I don't really blame the masses. Mostly because debt suits those who seek to money from it, not those that they bleed for it.
But then again those who are ignorant of finance or credit card debt or hire purchase contracts, they are the bread and butter of finance companies. When I worked in retail and processed finance contracts for a living, the great trap contract was the early exit contract. Pay nothing till some time next year it would say. The trap was if you paid out the contract by the exact terms of it, you paid about three years of interest on something that was worth nothing by the time you started paying for it. These contracts were great if you were disciplined because if you paid out the contract before the first payment was due then you got no interest. Not very good for the finance company. But if you forgot and let that contract go one day over you got a nice big whack of interest added to your outstanding amount. A win for the finance company.
I know this because I worked in the industry. So I was able to learn how to make credit and finance work for me. But not everyone is lucky enough to have this experience. I propose that schools should teach a compulsory course starting about about year 7 (10 years old) which teaches life skills. How to manage finances. How to be a parent. How to look after yourself in the real world. Then perhaps we can have people who make good choices with money. And that distribution might start flattening out a bit because there is less suckers to have their $10 taken from them.
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