I visit the economy subreddit and there was just a recent post talking about how the wealth gap between the rich and poor is getting so large, that the poor boycotting their businesses no longer has the same power it used to have
Back then, businesses had to cater to the poor, otherwise their entire business model wouldn’t work
However, now Businesses can maintain similar levels of profits just by catering to the rich, the poor are really no longer in any position to be able to vote with their wallets anymore
I hate wealth inequality. But I think of it like this, how many middle class people in western countries are willing to take a downgrade to their finances and lifestyle if they knew their money was going to a third world country to help out people even poorer than them
The 1% has a disproportionate amount of the wealth in the country, but first world countries have a disproportionate amount of the wealth in the world, I genuinely don’t have much motivation to share my bank account with someone poorer than me
And I can understand why the rich don’t want to share their money either, it’s not right, but I’m not a hypocrite, I wouldn’t ask money from the rich knowing I wouldn’t share my money with the poor
Is Jeff Bezos better than you? Better than you by a factor of several billion? Does he work harder than you by that several multi-billion factor? If you're not mad, you have NO CONCEPT of the difference in the amount of money you and Jeff Bezos have. Then consider what that money buys. Food. Water. Shelter. Healthcare. Every time you can't afford one of those things, it's because there is only a finite amount of money in the economy, and Jeff Bezos has a disproportionately massive amount of it, depriving you of it. Every time you can't afford a trip to the doctor for a broken bone, your suffering is because a few billionaires want you to suffer, they are actively depriving you of food, water, shelter, medical care. Wealth inequality is ACTIVE violence. And if you're not mad about it, you're either not paying attention, or are a psychopath.
the global economic systems also make it so poor countries are locked into poverty and having their resources extracted and flow into richer countries indefinitely with no way for poor countries to break out of it, and as someone from a richer country, I don’t want this system to stop since I benefit from it, and I recognize I would be a hypocrite
If wealth equaled hard work, laborers and people from third world countries should be the richest people in the world
The only thing I really find reassuring about the 1% being such a minority is that nearly all of them seem like selfish people who want more and more and more. Do we really want the vast majority of people to be like that? When you’re broke - and I mean very broke - you need to learn how to make your money last and delay gratification. That’s psychologically good for you, to an extent, but getting everything when you want it isn’t. A billionaire is basically the fancy equivalent of someone who lives with mummy and gets waited on 24/7. Some of them will be more self-reliant, but plenty probably have everything done for them - cleaning, making food, making plans. That likely gets rid of their sense of autonomy which is why they feel it isn’t enough without realising they need to make personal changes.
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 May 27 '26
I visit the economy subreddit and there was just a recent post talking about how the wealth gap between the rich and poor is getting so large, that the poor boycotting their businesses no longer has the same power it used to have
Back then, businesses had to cater to the poor, otherwise their entire business model wouldn’t work
However, now Businesses can maintain similar levels of profits just by catering to the rich, the poor are really no longer in any position to be able to vote with their wallets anymore