Before the year ended, our company had a virtual Christmas Party, and as per tradition at the workplace, a Quiz Night was held.
One of the questions was “To date, who is the richest person in the world?”. It went into a discussion about a toss-up answer between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, both of whom took the top position in alternating positions over the past few weeks. In hindsight, it made me think about the influence that billionaires have over our lives, and if we stopped to think about whether we should reward a person for amassing a massive amount of wealth in the first place.
What the List Looks Like
The Billionaire List is updated almost real-time by Forbes Magazine through their website. Bezos and Musk take turns in the top 1 spot, but the rest of the global list has the same usual personalities on the list.
As far as Filipino billionaires go, former senator and real estate mogul Manny Villar topped the list, followed by shipping and gaming magnate Enrique Razon, and the ever-diverse portfolio of Lucio Tan.
Based on the global trends, billionaires who top the global list are more likely investing in the technology sector, and the billionaires from the Philippines come from strong corporate backgrounds. As the world is changing, how people accumulate wealth move away from owning land, to innovative means of earning and meeting consumer needs.
Balancing the Scale
Over the past few years, the trend has changed from praising billionaires for the hard work needed in order to amass their wealth, to arguing whether they should exist in the first place. This is far more apparent in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen some of these billionaires gain even more wealth while the rest of the world is facing some of the worst recessions and economic setbacks across most sectors. Reports show a 40% growth of wealth among these billionaires, and the collective net worth of the top 12 billionaires reached around US$ 1 Trillion, which is comparable to an average US worker with an annual income of US$50,000 work for 20 million years.
There’s an argument going for those in favor of billionaires, mostly with the face of Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, who donated US$150 Million for the ongoing COVID-19 response. However, this is barely 1/10th of a percent (.10%) of Bill Gates’s net worth, whose latest estimates reach a staggering US$120 Billion.
On the other hand, the Arnault Family was in hot water last 2017 in the midst of a labor dispute with workers of the luxury brand Louis Vuitton, owned by the French magnate, among other well-known companies. Elon Musk is using his vast influence to communicate his thoughts about COVID-19 early into the pandemic, which has caused misinformation and possible harm to those who listened to his commentary.
Suffice to say, too much power that goes unchecked puts the billionaire argument into something that can be dangerous for people, the environment and the way that political climates are being made and shaped all over the world.
Why it Matters Now
Money in itself is not inherently bad. I was reading through Rutger Bregman’s Utopia for Realists and there is a clear praise of capitalism in making the world a better place. It’s the same mechanism that made these billionaires who they are today. That said, our perception matters and knowing that billionaires still fall under the scrutiny of the public — and more importantly, their stockholders — matters.
More than the question of who the richest person in the entire world is, perhaps we should come up with better questions to ask when it comes to wealth and income, especially when in this day and age, there are still far too many people who do not have enough.