If someone has more money than most, should they be obligated to give their money to others?
I've been noticing conversations arising about how people with a lot of money (billionaires, especially), should be donating a plethora of money to not only this pandemic, but in general. This made me want to come on my website and really look at the perspectives of both sides of this issue.
People Aren't Happy With Billionaires!
One of the first posts I saw was on Twitter. Someone had said they feel that there's no reason billionaires should have the amount of money they do and not want to give most of it away. I've heard this perspective a lot.
On the flip side, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Extra Gravy Show (find out more in my Podcasts You Should Listen To post). One of the hosts, Marlon, was talking about how he commended Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO, $143B+) for donating $100 million to the COVID-19 pandemic. His cohost Norm then went on to say how he can't commend him because he's currently the wealthiest man in the world and is capable of donating so much more. Marlon went on to say how he can't stand when people complain about how much someone is donating, because half of those people don't donate themselves, and $100 million is still ton of money.
Two perspectives
So we have two main perspectives that we're focusing on here.
Perspective one: "Nobody on Earth needs that much money. There's no reason you shouldn't give most of it away to those in need."
"They only donated $100 million?? Wow. They could've done way more than that. They don't need all that money to themselves? What are they possibly going to do with it? Just give it to people in dire need."
Perspective two: "Why should people HAVE to give their own money away? If they started that business and earned that money fair and square from other people making purchases, why are they required to spend their money and donate all the time?"
"$100 million is A LOT of money. Half the people complaining that they need to donate more don't donate at all!"
My Thoughts
I actually believe I fall somewhere in the middle of both perspectives. Hear me out.
By no means do I think that billionaires are amazing people. On The Extra Gravy Show, they've had multiple conversations about how if someone is a billionaire, they're probably not a pretty good person in some shape or form. I partially agree with that, because if you have that much money, I find it hard to believe that you didn't F someone over on the way to becoming a billionaire. Also, why do you have that much money? And why haven't you given it away? What are you going to buy with $140 billion to where you can't give at least half of that away? You'd still be in the list of top five richest people in the world.
On the other hand, I do get what Marlon was saying! We all do or have shopped on Amazon throughout our lives. We're the ones feeding Jeff Bezos' pockets. Who are we to say he should be giving more of the money that he's earned away? I like to think of myself as the billionaire. Let's say I started a gaming company and it became a massive phenomenon that turned me into a billionaire because people loved my business so much that they just kept buying more and more product. I can't say I wouldn't be kind of annoyed if I donated what most people can't to different causes and kept being told I should donate more because I shouldn't have all of that money. What do you mean I shouldn't have all of it? This is MY money that I earned. Not yours????? Who are YOU to tell me that I have to spend my money that I earned from my business a certain way? I'm donating something. That's all that should matter. 😂
Obviously, I'm not a billionaire, so I can't say exactly how I'd handle those situations, because I can barely imagine myself in them. However, I think both sides have some incredibly valuable points.
Now that I've delved into both perspectives, where do you fall? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below. 💲💸💰
xo babes, Variety Princess
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