Why Should We Eat The Rich?
Why is the middle class disappearing? Can there be an ethical billionaire? How much money is too much money for one person? Let me provide you with the definition of an oligarchy: a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution. Sound familiar? Due to the increasing number of billionaires and their hoarding of wealth, millions of people are being forced deeper into poverty.
If billionaires truly wanted the world to be better, it already would be. Most billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, corruption, and monopoly power. Not one of the ultra-rich earned their money through hard work. It came from them standing on the backs of our collective labor, exploiting black & brown men and women alike. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" is outdated and unrealistic, a thinking that the billionaires want you to believe in.
The inauguration of billionaire Donald Trump was a blatant exhibit of a new aristocratic oligarchy that has immense power & influence in our politics and our economy. Sitting front and center at Donald Trump's inauguration were tech billionaires Elon Musk (Current Net Worth: $499.7 billion), Mark Zuckerberg (Current Net Worth: $257.3 billion), Jeff Bezos (Current Net Worth: $241.1 billion), Tim Cook (Current Net Worth: $2.6 billion), Sundar Pichai (Current Net Worth: $1.1 billion), and Shou Zi Chew (Current Net Worth: $200 million).
Collectively, these men own Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), Meta, Amazon, Apple, Google, and TikTok. These 21st-century billionaires have leveraged new technologies like AI that have not only raised the climate of our oceans but also poisoned black communities while filling their pockets. With just a fraction of their amassed wealth each year, we could end world hunger by 2030. However, we need systematic, governmental, and international action to make the change for the better.
So now that I've brought all this to your attention, what can we do? We must change how we view and discuss billionaires by understanding wealth and its societal implications. The system was never made for us, but there is strength in collective action. Your neighbor isn't your enemy but your ally in the fight against economic inequality. Dismantling the system doesn't start with one, but all of us.