Prosperity

PROSPERITY

I notice on my newsfeed that the annual ranking of the world’s richest, wealthiest individuals had been published. The list records the top one hundred billionaires in the world. What’s amazing is that although the list contains the top 100 billionaires, there are actually 2,208 billionaires in the world.

Say, what?!

Scanning over the names, I wonder how one did make this list. Firstly, what is a billionaire? That’s nine zeroes after the one, in terms of money, which is obviously why I didn’t make the cut. So, what’s the definition of rich or wealth? Rich is defined as “having a great deal of money or assets.” Synonyms of this word include “plentiful,” “abundant,” and “bountiful.” Wealth is defined as “an abundance of valuable possessions or money.” Synonyms for this word include “affluence,” “prosperity,” and “fortune.”

Both definitions imply an excess of property or assets that can be converted to money. So, what’s the definition of money? It’s defined as “a medium of exchange.” Synonyms include “liquid assets” and “resources.” Medium of exchange is defined as “an intermediary instrument used to facilitate the sale, purchase, or trade of goods or services between parties.” For an instrument to function as a medium of exchange, it must represent a standard of value accepted by all parties involved in the exchange process. Ultimately, the medium of exchange represents the priorities of the parties exchanging it. Based on all of this, this annual ranking is the list of individuals that have, own, or control the greatest amount of uniformly agreed upon mediums of exchange in the world.

Collectively the 2,208 billionaires are worth nine trillion dollars – that’s twelve zeroes after the nine. Wow…that’s a big number. Several of the billionaires on the top 100 list actually acknowledged the growing economic inequality between the wealthy and the poor. One of the billionaire couples stated, “No, it’s not fair that we have so much wealth when billions of others have so little.” How interesting that this individual is ranked as the second wealthiest person in the world.

Another of the billionaires stated, “The real problem, in my view, is the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people. This has been a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on top.” It’s also interesting that he is ranked as the third wealthiest person on Earth.

Based on these comments, comments made from the second and third richest people in the world, people that have, own, or control the greatest amount of uniformly agreed upon medium of exchange, the wealthiest individuals do recognize the disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

If it’s recognized, why does it still exist?

Nearly half of the world’s population, more than three billion people, live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live on less than $1.25 per day. If the same statistics are presented differently, they would look like this: 3,000,000,000 people live on less than $2.50 a day and 1,300,000,000 people live on less than $1.25 per day. At the same time, 2,208 people have $9,000,000,000,000. Additionally, there are approximately thirty-six million millionaires. Stated differently, there are 36,000,000 people that are worth $1,000,000. My calculator could not produce that total value of their worth. The millionaires in the world are approximately one percent of the world’s population and they control forty-six percent of the world’s wealth.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. To end extreme poverty in the world, it has been estimated that it would take three trillion five hundred billion dollars.

I remain confused.

The wealthy of the world recognize there is a disconnect between the “haves” and the “have nots,” but there are plenty of mediums of exchange to go around to effectively eliminate the issue between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

Why do we continue to have extreme poverty?

Einstein said, “Every problem has the seeds of its solution within it.” The solution of this problem is simple – reduce the amassing and increase the distributing. It is a true statement that we people need much less than we think we need. Some will counter it’s not that simple, but it absolutely is.

When does enough become enough? Haven’t humans evolved past a survival of the fittest or in this case wealthiest mentality? An everyone for themselves mentality? A scarcity mentality? How much equals enough? It is not truly owned anyway, it is just “rented” for a season. It’s not that we don’t have enough, it quite obvious we have too much.

Every human being that comes into this world deserves food, water, clothing, shelter, and self-sustaining work, and every human being that comes into the world should be assured decency and respect.

What will it take to eliminate worldwide poverty? A change of heart, a change of priorities, and some “spare change.”

If we can land on the moon, we can surely provide the basic necessities for all humankind. If we can build a self driving car, we can surely provide the basic necessities for all humankind. If we can discard thirty percent of the food supply and still have more than enough, we can surely provide the basic necessities for all humankind. If we can respond to natural disasters with life sustaining aid in less than twenty-four hours, we can surely provide the basic necessities for all humankind.

It all comes to a matter of choice. Do we choose to invest our vast resources on creating additional mediums of exchange when it is virtually impossible to spend the mediums of exchange already stockpiled? Do we choose to invest our mental acumen on creating artificial intelligence when at the same time we are ignoring actual human intelligence which withers and dies on the vine daily? Do we choose to create technology to promote an ever increasing standard of living for some while ignoring the plight of the many?

Why not invest our minds, our talents, and our resources into lifting the living standards of half of the people on Earth?

We each must look long and hard at ourselves in the mirror and ask…

ARE WE ALLOWING OUR PROSPERITY TO EXCEED OUR HUMANITY?