Bill Gates is probably one of the most famous individuals in the world. I remember while growing up my father always talked about Bill like he was some kind of genius. I grew up believing the notion that the ultimate goal was material wealth; that the only way to be successful and charitable was to make a lot of money. Yet, as I grew older, I began to notice the injustices that existed all over the world and wondered, why hasn’t Bill Gates fixed this? What about all the other billionaires? If their money is constantly being donated, and there’s so much of it, why are there still so many problems? And just like every other millennial and zoomer in today’s world, I discovered the bane of my existence and the largest threat to society: capitalism.
I knew what capitalism was, but it wasn’t until 2015 when I first learned about the concept of “economic inequality” and how capitalism was the reason for it from the infamous Bernie Sanders. And if there’s anything you know about Bernie Sanders, it’s that he’s always screaming about “the top one percent”. If you don’t know anything about “the top one percent”, it’s basically a group consisting of one percent of Americans who own more wealth than 90 percent of the rest of America. Today the wealthiest individuals make around 57 times more than the average American per year.
Although I could spend forever talking about how unfair this is, I want to focus primarily on Bill Gates. Not only has he been the richest person in the world for more years than I’ve been alive, but there’s this idea that with this wealth, he’s been doing everything he can to fix the world’s problems. This idea was explored in a recent Netflix documentary titled “Inside Bill’s Brain.”
After three grueling hours of watching Bill awe at his own reflection in the mirror, I realized whoever made the documentary clearly had the biggest crush on Bill. No questions included any kind of skepticism or even the slightest pushback.
I on the other hand am extremely skeptical of billionaires. And it’s probably because my generation gives up so much in order for these individuals to accumulate the amount of wealth they possess. Instead of millions of Americans having access to affordable healthcare, free education, or a living wage, Bill is allowed more money than the average person can conceptualize.
In 2019, Bill added $16 billion to his net worth, and invested 60% of the 16 billion into the stock market; he is estimated to have only spent $10 billion in taxes throughout his life. Note that he has a net worth of around $110 billion.
I know it isn’t my place to tell people how to spend their money, but when you have enough to fix the entire Flint water crisis you shouldn’t be laughing at the idea of a 70% marginal tax rate or threatening to vote for Trump if a progressive is the democratic nominee.
It’s important to note that Bill does have his own charity foundation with his wife Melinda. But majority of the money comes from the donations of other billionaires. And in 2018, Gates only donated around 3 percent of his wealth to charity and paid 1.5 percent of it in taxes while the average American spent 5.5 percent on taxes. Do you see a problem here? Because I do.
Why are we paying more when we make less? And why are we fooled by the big numbers these billionaires donate? Bill could literally spend a million dollars a day and it would take around 300 years before his money is gone.
Courtesy: Twitter
Allowing individuals like Bill own the amount of money they do only perpetuates the problems that exist within society. And the worst part is we praise them for it. I think it’s time to acknowledge this and begin looking up to individuals who are truly doing everything in their power to make a positive change within society.
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