By Emma Landsburgh
At the end of 2019, Clive Lewis stated that billionaires should not exist. This debate has intensified over the last few years, especially after the last election. However, recently this debate has been brought to attention again after Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, made a disgusting $13 billion in the space of 24 hours. It is an incredibly divisive topic. When considering the wealth inequality in the UK alone, the idea of a billionaire almost seems dystopian. The main question is how is it possible for one person to be able to amass that amount of wealth?
During the past few years the UK has faced endless cuts, whilst the wealth gap has consciously grown. Currently there are 14 million people living in poverty and there are 151 billionaires in the UK. The large disparity in today's society makes one increasingly aware of the social hierarchy embedded within Britain’s culture. Britain has bred a new class system out of the old one, with the old principles remaining: the haves and the have nots. The UK’s five richest families control as much wealth as the poorest 13 million. Our society is one that caters to those who already hold that much wealth. A quarter of national wealth is controlled by the country's top 1%. The UK has been decimated by the austerity programme.
Amassing the amount of wealth that equates to £1 billion is almost impossible for many. Many times billionaires gain money from inheritance, government and monopoly, and land, oil or finance. Being able to hold this much wealth appears absurd. It takes 12 days to count to 1 million but 32 years to count to a billion. £29,000 would have to be spent daily for a century to be able to spend a billion. Often this money has been gained through various ways. Oxfam found that 1/3 of global billionaires' wealth is inherited, another third comes from connections to government and monopoly and the rest from land, oil or finance. Property is the largest source of wealth, alongside finance. From fixer uppers to private equity firms buying companies and selling their assets are often a source of gaining insane amounts of wealth. However, the main way of gaining wealth is through exploitation of workers through limited wages, and seedy actions. This is often seen by our famous self-made billionaires.
Amazon is a key example of this due to forcing people to work minimum wage jobs whilst adding pressures in dangerous working environments. Jeff Bezos has become the antagonist in the argument surrounding millionaires, hoarding billions. The Amazon CEO’s net worth is $192.1 billion whilst profiting from the pandemic. In one day he made $13 billion. It is impossible to spend Bezos’ net worth even through excess. To add to the issue, many billionaires hoard their money, and ignore global social problems. The Waltons, who own Walmart, are known for continuously breaching illegal labour violations. Richard Branson, whose net worth is $4.6 Billion, even sued the NHS. Mark Zuckerberg is suing Native Hawaiians for their land that won't let him build a mansion.
Often this argument is reduced back down to tax, the economy and social spending. Many believe that the top 1% should pay more in tax. Especially as it has been noticed that those who are poorer in our community are paying more in indirect tax, twice as much due to their disposable income going towards it. The UKs capital city, London, has been said to be at the centre of the largest tax avoidance network in the world. This is why many people are against Labour as they hope to tax more depending on your income. Although, oftentimes billionaires avoid tax and depend upon offshore accounts.
Often this debate is met with disdain as many think it is an attack on aspirations and creating jobs. However, half of the British population says no one should be a millionaire. Three quarters want to tax the top 1% more, although 8/10 believe that it would not be paid. Grant Cardone believes that when considering the existence of billionaires people are looking at the wrong thing as he thinks trillionaires are the problem. Bill Gates, a billionaire himself, believes it should be a neutral topic, rather than one that he thinks is driven by ‘self-interest’. Although, it is an incredibly difficult topic seeing people handling obscene amounts of money, a lot of which they will never use whilst people are struggling to feed even themselves or their children.
When dealing with topics that consider poverty, often a tonne of derision comes in as poverty is seen as a self caused issue. The movement away from compassion has deeply impacted the handling of poverty. Poverty porn is strife throughout our television; The Jeremy Kyle Show, Benefits Street, Rich House Poor House. People who access benefits often face condescension. There is an emphasised divide and enforced inequality between the public and the super rich. With the lack of compassion built into our society, it is no wonder why billionaires have been placed where they are.
John McDonnell, Labour MP, believes billionaires are obscene and wants a fairer society. In a BBC debate billionaire John Caudwell debated with McDonell about whether billionaires were an integral part of our society and if they were necessary. McDonnell reiterates part of Labour’s manifesto of introducing a fairer tax system, increased tax based upon income. Whilst, Caudwell states that this would be a sure cause to drive away billionaires. Caudwell even states that if Labour had won an election he would not have started his business.
The main question is why should billionaires exist? Why does one need to be a billionaire? When you have that money what would you do with it? Especially with the state of the world currently; World hunger, paralysing poverty, global warming, amongst a never ending list. Billionaires are able to live in a blissful, privileged world as they ignore reality. They could even consider paying their workers above minimum wage. Halting global warming would cost $300 billion. The top 10 richest families could each pay that and have $386 million split between them. The New York Times has estimated it would cost $30 billion a year to stop the global food crisis. 800 million, according to the UN, lack access to water. With $30 billion, 3 million wells can be built. It would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the United States. Seeing people like Jeff Bezos making $13 billion a day, whilst people struggle to feed and house themselves emphasises the greed that runs deep in these people.
The normal person will never see millions, billions or hundreds of thousands in their bank account. The existence of billionaires allows the existence of exploitation to occur and maintains poverty throughout the world. When giving money to charity, billionaires are often placed on a pedestal and treated like martyrs. However, the cash they give is barely noticeable to them. It's a drop in the ocean.
The existence of billionaires is deeply damaging to our society. People are used as pawns at the whim of these billionaires. It is no surprise that “Eat the Rich” has become a wide spread phrase lately. It is disheartening seeing people amassing large amounts of wealth, and completely ignoring any social good that could be done, especially since our society revolves around money and capitalism. So again, should billionaires exist? It is a definite no.