I was recently castigated for suggesting that the level of inequality in society was immoral. I was told that the rich deserved the money they had made. They worked hard and took risks.
I disagreed.
Some people do earn their money fairly. Some do work hard. Some do take risks. But too many gain their wealth through nepotism, privilege and having great wealth to start with – not through a meritocracy. The dice are heavily loaded. The wealthy want things to stay the same. They want the system to favour them – and it does.
But why does anyone assume that all this wealth is fairly earned?
I think a good portion of it is gained through ruthless exploitation, corruption, nepotism, privilege and immoral methodology. A lot of the wealth in Britain’s aristocracy was based on slavery, exploiting and extracting wealth from the empire, running factories on starvation wages without regard to health and safety, child labour and swindling people. It was only the advent of trade unions and social legislation coupled with full voting rights that changed things. People wrested some of this power from the ruling class, overcame injustice and created a more moral society and fairer world. No rights have ever been given up lightly by the elite. It has had to be taken from them with blood and protest.
The same ruthless practices still exist today. The Third World is being exploited with sweat shops, low wages, long hours and poor health and safety. Automation is maximising profits for a few while putting multitudes out of work. The environment is being trashed for profit without thought for the future. Workers are still being paid low wages in the gig economy while profits increase for the few. Prices charged for concerts and goods are excessive and exploitative.
How moral is all this?
I would say not moral at all.
A good portion of the rich and powerful are ruthlessly exploiting the world, evading paying taxes and using repulsive means for gaining their wealth.
What is the answer for this huge inequality? I would suggest that we need legislation to stop people being exploited around the world and ensure a fair wage and good work conditions for their workforce and I would suggest that a progressive tax system (plugging all the tax evasion systems) would result in a fairer, happier society.
At present this system is run by the rich for the rich. They control the media and through that the minds of the population. Despite the fact that the system only works for the elite they persuade a good portion of the population that there is no alternative. The mantra is that what is good for the economy is good for the people.
It isn’t.
What is good for the economy is good for the wealthy. They share as little of that wealth as they can get away with. They think they deserve it.
I think the level of this increasing inequality is obscene.
I say that there is an alternative – it is called social democracy.
His lordship has worked for a multimillionaire for the past ten years. I can tell you from his experience there that rich people do NOT think like the rest of us. How that evolves into their business life differs from person to person, of course, but there is a certain sense with some of them that people are only to be used to shore up their legacy. Yesterday Arn was coming out of the toity as his boss was walking down the hall and into the toity. It was as if Bud didn’t even see him. Arn turned to say something and Bud shut the door in his face as if he weren’t even there. He has no respect for his employees. They’re just pawns to get him what he wants… (Not every rich person behaves that way, though…)
Well I encountered a few of them and they also lived in a different mindset. The Rock Star millionaires seemed concerned with their wealth and command of ‘wage’ as a sign of their status compared to other stars. It wasn’t so much about the money as where that placed them.
I have also come across the very rich who think they deserve all they have because they are better than everybody else.
I would say that all the “wealthy” have fairly earned their money. Either they earned it on their own or their progenitors earned it for them – privilege, but earned one by ancestors who wanted the best for the descendants. You know, part of what makes a nation great. Nor do I find “exploitation” in the 20th and 21st centuries a valid argument since all such interactions are both voluntary and a net benefit to the “exploited,” just not as much of one as you desire.
Remember, what we “privileged” residents of the Civilized World seem to overlook is that what is horrid to us is not only not so to other peoples but is actually an order of magnitude of improvement over what they’d have without it.
As for your “fair trade” idea – I’d freaking love it. It’d bring more jobs back to America since it’d end a lot of “unfair” labor competition from the Third World and places like China. It would however both start an international trade war and devastate the vulnerable economies of many nations whose only significant source of foreign currency are those “sweat shops.”
Jonolan – so much to react to.
Firstly – no, the interactions are not voluntary. People are being exploited in the gig economy because there is no alternative. They are forced off welfare into low-paid jobs with terrible working conditions. You might think that is alright. I don’t. I think it is at best exploitation and at worst modern-day slavery.
Secondly – no I do not think it is alright for people to inherit money that has come from slavery, murder, torture and abuse. Neither do I think that it is alright to force people to work in sweat shops or in unhealthy and dangerous conditions in order for some few people to make enormous profits. And I do not think it is alright for the wealthy and powerful to rig the system so that they and their offspring enjoy huge privilege and disparity of income at the expense of the majority. It stinks. It is immoral. I would like to see a meritocracy where those with the ability and work ethic are rewarded for their efforts and not the ones who happen to have inherited a few million from their parents.
Thirdly – no I do not think that we privileged people in the West feel things differently. Giving people the ability to work exceedingly long hours in appalling conditions for a pittance because otherwise they might not have any work does not make it morally right. They deserve to be treated fairly just like everybody else. They have feelings just like us.
Fourthly – the ‘unfair’ competition has been created by the wealthy so that they can exploit poor people in order to gain more loot for themselves. They take their factories off to the Third World to exploit the people there out of their own greed and selfishness.
Fifthly – having a bunch of super-rich, greedy, selfish, ruthless, conniving, exploiting, over-privileged people setting the tune does not make a nation great. All it does is make most people in a nation second-class citizens to be used and abused.
I think you condone a highly abusive and immoral system and you might gather that I think that stinks.