So I’ve always kind of felt that rich people are immoral, even though our culture denies this vehemently. Recently I came across facts about the wealth distribution in America which inspired me to make my case once again. So here goes.
First of all let me be clear what I mean by rich, because I don’t want to offend people unintentionally. I don’t think money is a bad thing in and of itself. Heck, I wish I had more of it. If there are objects or activities which make you happy, by all means pursue them. I also understand the desire to have enough money so that you don’t have to worry about money. Everyone should be able to seek happiness and security without being made to feel guilty. However, there is an upper limit to this. At a certain point money begins to have diminishing returns on happiness, and so much of it is wasted on completely unneseccary things when it could go to much better uses. To a person with 100 million dollars, $500,000 may not seem like a lot. He may use that money to buy a top of the line car for his collection, which he may never drive. That may bring him some happiness, but consider what that money could mean to people in the lower/middle classes. By my calculations and based on my own costs, that could completely pay for University for nine people. Or it could cover the annual grocery costs for 62 families. At a certain point though, the return from money doesn’t just diminish, it flatlines. This is when people have so much money that even if they resorted to outrageous purchases they could never burn through it. These people have money that they would never miss that could change the lives of many people for the better. That’s my loose definition for being rich, having more money than you can reasonably spend. I suppose some of the more successful doctors or lawyers may fall in this category, but generally I’m talking about CEO’s, Wall Street Bankers, etc. It should also be pointed out that there are people who make a lot of money but give almost an equivalent amount to charities, to them I have no ill will.
Okay, so now that I’ve roughly defined who I’m talking about, let’s see if I can convince you that my opinion is correct. I’m hoping you already agree with me, not only because that makes my job easier but because I feel that this is an issue that should elicit moral outrage in people. Anyway, as someone with an interest in philosophy I enjoy the occasional moral problem. These problems typically put you in a situation where no matter what you do something bad happens, and your choice illustrates what you think is important when it comes to morality. Alternatively some moral problems ask just how much you are willing to sacrafice, or deal with the concept of responsibility. For instance, one moral problem asks if you would save a stranger’s life if it meant being hooked up to him in a hospital for 9 months. Though not a perfect analogy, this problem is usually meant to show what people are asking women to do when they remove the possibility of abortion. In this example I would say that the person has no obligation to save the person in the hospital bed, but it would be the moral thing to do. However, if your actions put that person in the hospital then you do have a moral obligation to save them, because you were responsible. I find answering these questions can teach you a bit about yourself, and the harder they are to answer the more you find out. Typically these questions become easier the more good you can do and the less you have to sacrafice. For instance, if you could save someone’s life simply by shouting a warning to them, would you do it? I sincerely hope you all answered yes. In this example you can save someone’s life without sacraficing anything. While the person in this example is technically not obligated to shout out because he is not responsible for the situation, it would be a very cruel person to watch someone die when they could have prevented it without sacrafice. Take a moment now and imagine the kind of person who would watch someone die like that. That is every rich person. Everyone who sits on a pile of cash they could never use, everyone who wastes money on ridiculous things like solid gold toilets for their private planes. They have the ability to save or vastly improve people’s lives without any real sacrafice. We should view every rich person with the same amount of disgust as we would the person who didn’t shout out the warning. That’s my opinion. What do you think?
skepticurus 