As reported by the Associated Press, and published widely, according to the anti-poverty organization Oxfam the growing gap between the super rich and most everyone else (most especially the poor) keeps widening. Amazingly, eight men in the world own as much wealth as 3.6 billion people. According to what I've read over the years some of those men, like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Michael Bloomberg are extremely generous and give a lot of money to charity and have made provisions to continue to do so in the future....perhaps all of them do, I'm just aware of who I've mentioned.
But yet the executive director of Oxfam was quoted as saying, "It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2.00 a day....Inequality is trapping millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy."
Bill Gates, through his foundation, (both he and Melinda, his wife, have a hands-on approach to charitable giving), gives away millions to charity every year. Yet according to Forbes magazine, he is worth a staggering $75 billion. Most people, including myself, cannot even imagine how much money that is or how much good it could do.
Oxfam has made a suggested list of how inequality can be somewhat reduced. One is for billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes and those taxes could then be used to finance public works and services and increase employment and opportunities for the poor.
There is so much that needs to be done. As Oxfam pointed out, people are losing faith in institutions, (even the Church is affected by this trend), across the board and "CEO credibility is at an all time low."
Maybe there will be some changes, perhaps billionaires will pay more taxes but ultimately it will be up to the super rich themselves to willingly give some of their wealth to worthy causes. We can pray that their eyes and hearts are opened and they give generously now and into the future.
NJA
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
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