Economic Inequality

BS 293 100316 Consumer Culture - 2  

I was shocked to read in an article in a prominent newspaper on March 7, 2016 that quoted a recent Oxfarm report that stated that the 62 richest billionaires of the world own as much wealth of the world as half of the world’s population. The World Population as of July 1, 2015 according to the medium fertility by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs was 7.439 billion persons, that is, 7439 million or 743.9 crores. According to the World Population Clock that indicates World Population every second the Current World Population is 7,407,416,800 at 7:50 AM, Indian Standard Time (according to my watch) on March 10, 2016. Of these 59.7% live in Asia, 9.9% live in Europe, 4.9% live in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), 0.5% in Oceania (Australia and proximate islands).  Population per square kilometer is: Asia – 143, Europe – 33, North America – 19, Oceania – 5.   The 62 richest billionaires enjoy the amount of wealth that is shared by 3674.5 (371.95 crores) persons in the world. These billionaires have easy access to the temples of democracy all over the world through the money bags held by their lobbyists to make a mockery of the rule of governments by the people for the people. They are the new oligarchy reminiscent of the Roman Empire who rules the world through their multinational corporations and their financial empires. They manipulate financial centers and world markets at their will through speculations and massive movement of wealth by withdrawal or infusion of money at their whim. They accumulate and increase their wealth through tax loopholes and offshore tax shelters, money laundering, and disproportionate profit sharing. They are the worshippers of Mammon (God of wealth). They are knowingly or unwittingly criminals taking advantage of socially unjust laws created or maintained by us, the people. Little do they realize that they can accumulate this enormous, scandalous wealth only because of unsocial laws created and protected by us, the people.  Here I want to acknowledge a few humanitarian billionaires such as Bill Gates (the world’s richest man), Warren Buffet, and a few others who have a conscience and hence started philanthropic works all over the world a few years ago. My contention is that we do not need doling out of some wealth by rich donors out of their so-called generosity that rightly belong to us. In effect there needs to be a reasonable limit on wealth that any individual can accumulate imposed by a genuine democratic government.

My anguishing question is: Why are not the leaders of organized religions silent about perhaps the most heinous, crying shame on humanity? Are they so immersed in afterlife that they have given up on the present life – the current human condition -, the only life we know for sure? Finally why are we, the people, tolerating the pure misery imposed mainly by such economic inequality, evil par excellence? Economic inequality needs to be closely scrutinized as money is thought to be the root of all evil. I also want to make it very clear that I am against all violent revolutions as one evil cannot mitigate or remove another evil.

 

Why are we, the people, the way we are? My explanation is that centuries of indescribable crimes against humanity perpetrated by racial and caste slave systems, colonialism, racial hatred, ethnic cleansing and racial elimination, and gross social injustice have desensitized us to prolonged evil social systems that we have become numb to these evils. We are not often willing to die for a cause. But we are willing to die or kill for a motion picture or sports personality or a narrow sectarian or religious issue. Recently (March 6, 2016) a Nigerian youth was murdered by another Nigerian youth over a heated argument on the best footballer – whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo - during the victim’s  birthday party celebration in Maharashtra (India). Since we cannot or do not have the energy and motivation to deal with the real issues of life we often take flight into a world of fantasy.

Terrorism and senseless killings have become facts of life. Economic inequality is a worse fact of life than even terrorism that needs to be systematically tackled by us people. Compensations need to be made through affirmative action that takes into account past crimes on humanity such as racial and caste slavery, invasion and annexation of lands by kings, colonialism,  massive movement of populations  and wealth committed by rich nations who have developed the so-called morality to protect their vested interests. We need to develop a new morality that takes into account the new human condition that neglects his or her social situation.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti