You may have heard this quote “rich get richer & poor
get poorer” many times. This quote was also used as a dialogue in a blockbuster
Indian super hit movie Sivaji (2007) that starred superstar Rajinikanth &
was directed by a great Tamil director Shankar. The movie shed light on wealth
inequality amongst rich & poor. It also informed about the deposition of
black money in some banks located in Europe by some wealthy people & nation
can benefit if their black money is used properly for proper development of the
country (by building good roads, increasing the number of hospitals & educational
institutions) poor won’t suffer.
German News channel DW aired a show named “Made in Germany”
dated 8th October 8:30 am & 3:00 pm (Indian Standard Time). One
of the show’s topics was wealth inequality amongst the world. Host Monika Jones
shed light on a research done by “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2012”,
as per their research 86% of the world’s capital is with only 10% of the super
wealthy people. The show shared that there's a very huge economic disparity
between the mega rich & the rest of the world. In many developing nations it’s
impossible to accumulate modest wealth just through work or service, thus it’s
a big threat to the stability to our society as rich get richer & poor get
poorer. The show also featured economist Thomas Piketty’s interview & his
views about his famous book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century".
This is indeed a very big economic disparity. This
accumulation of wealth by the super wealthy people has very badly affected the
middle class & poor population. This economic disparity led Americans to
start an Occupy Movement. The Occupy Movement protests against social &
economic inequality. One of the slogans of the Occupy Movement is “We are the
99%”. This movement drew attention between the
growing inequality between the rich & poor. The phrase refers
directly to the concentration of capital & wealth among the top earning 1%
(tiny minority) & due to which the 99% (major majority) are struggling
& suffering.
The situation of majority of the world population living in
developed & developing country is the same. For majority of the world
population it’s impossible to have proper living standard, thus they’ve to
compromise on many living aspects like they unwillingly live in a small house
or live at places that aren’t properly developed, they reluctantly educate their
children to substandard schools, compromise at eating (by not purchasing
nutritious food), etc. The majority of service class people that don’t earn
very high income find it very difficult to live with one income thus struggle
throughout their life. In many countries it’s extremely difficult for majority
of middle class people to purchase property (house) with their service income
& raise their children. This is because the wealthy people purchase more
than one house & give the rest of their houses on rent to make money. In my
opinion some inequality could be reduced if the super wealthy people are made
to pay high amount than the actual amount of the property. This would resist
them to purchase more than one property, thus the availability of house would
increase & property price would fall down.
Reflection: -
Humans should understand that sharing & caring for
others can give more joy than accumulating. The wealth that mega rich possess
is impossible to be consumed by them & their generation however they
hesitate to share it as for many people accumulating wealth gives them some
sense of security & power.
References: -
1. Apps, Peter. Wall Street action part of global "Arab
Spring"? October 11, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-global-politics-protest-idUSLNE79A03Z20111011 (accessed October 23, 2014).
2. BOAK, CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and JOSH. Wealth gap: A guide
to what it is, why it matters. http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140127/DABJ40P00.html
(accessed October 23, 2014).
3. Giles Keating, Michael O’Sullivan, Anthony Shorrocks, James
B. Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, Antonios Koutsoukis. Page 13. Zurich, Switzerland:
CREDIT SUISSE AG. "Credit Suisse." http://economics.uwo.ca. October
2012. http://economics.uwo.ca/news/davies_creditsuisse_oct12.pdf
(accessed October 23, 2014).
4. Piketty, Thomas, (October 7, 2014) interview by Christian
Pricelius. "Piketty: Europe needs 'common tax policy' to beat
inequality." Made in Germany. Paris: Online link http://www.dw.de/piketty-europe-needs-common-tax-policy-to-beat-inequality/a-17980440,
(accessed October 23, 2014).
5. Shankar, S. Sivaji. Directed by S. Shankar. Produced by M.
Saravanan M. S. Guhan. Performed by Rajinikanth. AVM Productions, 2007.
6. Wealth Inequality. (2014, October 8). Made in Germany. DW.
Voltastr, Berlin, Germany. Online Link http://www.dw.de/program/made-in-germany/s-3066-9798
(accessed on 10th October 2014).