Looking at different countries like we have been doing this week we see that money is not distributed equally among countries and people. The following article looks at where the richest people live in the world. Check it out and think of this:
1) Why are those regions represented?
2) Why are some regions not represented?
3) Do those with tons of money have a responsibility to look after those who do not?
4) How much money do you really need?
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140225-the-worlds-wealthiest
This is my post for the week.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this article on where some of the richest people in the world lived i noticed a pattern, that pattern was every region represented was an extremely densely populated place. The reason for this i believe is, where there are more people there is more opportunity. This is a perfect example of the saying " the rich keep on getting richer". If you station yourself in a area with a lot of people you give yourself far more chances of profit due to aspects such as cheaper labor, less laws restricting what you can and can not do, and of course a bigger market to advertise and promote your product or service to. Some regions such as Canada are not on the list due to the fact that despite the greatness of our country the commercial opportunity to create revenue and interest in products is no where near that of China or even the USA. For the most part i believe almost every single person on the worlds 100 richest people in the world list have done a lot of charity work as they should. I think it is absolutely crucial that those who are extremely fortunate help those that are not. It is an act of humanity and compassion in a world that is losing the meaning of it more and more each day. I do not believe it is a "responsibility" however it is the right thing to do and for the most part they do it. As for how much money you really need to survive, the answers may vary depending on how confortable of a life you wish to live, the technical answer however is 0. Below is an article about this Irish activist, "the moneyless man" Mark Boyle who since 2010 has decided he wants to live without money. He explains why he chose to do it and how he lives his everyday life like a normal person with money would.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/jun/02/mark-boyle-moneyless-man-food-for-free
Wow that's was a really interesting article about the moneyless man. it goes to show that humans can survive on way less money than we think.
DeleteThis is my post for week 4:
ReplyDeleteI find it disgusting that while there are people dying in poverty, there are others making obsene amounts of money. So much money that these people hardly even know what to do with it. Not to say that all wealthy people are ridden with greed. Some/most do donate to charities, but to what extent? The wealthiest people are still richer and living more lavishly than suffering people in less developed countries could ever imagine. I read an interesting article online by Forbes that asks "How much money do you really need to be happy?" and I found an interesting quote:
"But the irony is that earning additional income will actually not lead to extra happiness, once you have already attained a “comfortable standard” where you have what you need to function and be content."
I agree with this statement. In reality, we only really need enough money to nourish and shelter ourselves, basically the bare necessities that we require in order to survive and live healthy. All of this excess money that we crave is in order to achieve luxeries, while there are people dying because they don't have access to fresh water.
This is the link to the article I quoted:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/07/27/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-be-happy-2/
This is my post for the week.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, while reading this article the first thing I noticed was how all the countries that were mentioned that have a large percentage of the Ultra High Net Worth individuals, were densely populated, and economic hubs that are in the top of the trading industries around the world, among other things. The large population leads to large economic markets in almost every category possible. This leads to thousands upon thousands of more jobs, giving a large amount of the population a chance to make money. Now that these countries hold so much of the worlds wealth, they have the opportunities to improve schooling systems which allows for the country's youth to have an improved education and a better chance to get a well paying job leading to a wealthy life. Other regions that were not mentioned in this article have a few things in common. Their populations aren't as dense, and they don't have nearly as many successful economic industries. Less money equals less opportunity to make money. Personally, I don;t see it as a responsibility for people that hold billions of dollars to take care of everyone around them, but luckily there are many of these individuals that are kindhearted enough to give to charity and/or create their very own. For example, Richard Branson of the United Kingdom has supported/owned upwards of 30 charities world wide, and has made a pledge to donate 3 billion dollars towards global warming. All of which is profit from his travel firms over the next 10 years. Realistically, all the money one person needs is the money needed to sustain themselves, and possibly a family. But, countries such as the ones that are mentioned in the article along with many other large market countries don't have any limitations on the amount of money one person can make. So, the sky is the limit. Something that surprised me while reading this article was that Germany was in the top 5 countries that were mentioned. I immediately wondered how such a small country,, in the middle of Europe, which has been in a economic recession over the past few years. I researched what their major markets were, and they are currently 3rd in the world in exporting goods. Their main export is automobiles, which is currently 18% of their total exports. With major car manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen; that would explain it. Another large part of Germany's exports is machinery (not including cars) which is roughly 15% of it's total exports.
This is a webpage that talks about Richard Branson's charity efforts: https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/richard-branson#charities
This page talks about Germany's exports: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/germany/exports
This is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that there are multiple points throughout the article where the rhetoric suggests that it's the entire country that's rich, as opposed to some of the people in it. In a way, this is true: the US, for example, as a whole, has far more money in its banks than a developing country like Cambodia. But that is not to say that Cambodia has no wealthy inhabitants, or that no American is currently living in poverty. It's easy to conveniently overlook the inequality of wealth distribution when you're reporting about the richest of the rich, but articles like this one are a huge contributing factor to the public's tendency to ignore the poor who are living right next door. No one talks about poverty on our home turf, and so most people forget about it entirely. When we think of poverty, we obviously think of those in developing countries, oceans away and out of our reach. It's easy to justify inaction when we hear of the tragic circumstances occurring so far away: "I can't help them, they're all the way over there!" And that is, to a degree, understandable. After all, even when we do donate money to charities meant to help developing countries, a lot of it finds itself in the pockets of the rich guys and not with the people who need it. In those cases, it can be difficult for those of us in developed countries to lend a hand, even when we have money to spare. However, it's a different matter entirely when we deny aid to the impoverished Canadians that we pass everyday. Suddenly, when you're looking straight at a person who could seriously benefit from even the smallest act of charity, it's a lot harder to justify your inaction. When it comes to the poverty that we see all around us in our own city, I absolutely do believe that the unequal distribution of wealth gives the wealthier people an obligation to help out the less fortunate.
Quick lil article on unequal distribution of wealth and where we might be heading with it:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-04/is-inequality-approaching-a-tipping-point-
This is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I’d like to point out that I found that the countries with the highest percentage of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals had one thing in common; these countries are well-educated. All the countries listed were found on the list of the top 20 most educated countries in the world. This makes a lot of sense because in order to start these huge companies and co operations, the CEO’s had to be smart and knowledgeable of the economy around them as well as inventive in order to find what would sell. It really shows how knowledge is power in this world. Not only this, but these countries have large densities, are located in temperate zones ( “The Geography of Poverty and Wealth”) and have more opportunities for free trade (Ex. Less taxes in the US), which just aids these people in their business endeavors. Honestly, I think that the country you’re from is the determining factor of financial success. We can see that no countries in Africa were represented. I am assuming that is because their education system is, for the most part, not as good as the ones listed.
Also, as I read the article I found it appalling that these people had so much money while there are people starving in the rest of the world. Honestly, I think the greed and success from all this money has blinded these people into thinking that the world is such a beautiful place everywhere. They spend their money on luxuries and huge houses when it could go to a better place while still living comfortably. Personally I think that these people have an obligation to help the other people in the world that are struggling. I am not saying that they have to give away their whole fortune but if every successful person helped out a little bit, it would go a long way. They do have enough money to do so. I know for a fact that Bill Gates is giving away 60 billion dollars (not including the donations he makes that are not through his foundation) to improve the US education system and provide needed help to the problems in developing countries (AIDS, malaria ect.). If all the rich people in the world acted as selflessly, most of these issues could be solved. To be quite honest, if you put it into perspective with other countries, people only really need enough money to put a roof over their head and have enough food and water to survive while still allowing for some small luxuries. The rest of this money could be used to help the less fortunate. If everyone lived modestly, the world would definitely be a better place.
Here are the articles that I used. The first is about the educated countries and the second is about Bill Gates and his foundation:
http://worldtop20.org/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gates-foundation-giving-away-a-fortune/