Imagine: Bill Gates or the Walton Family could foot the Katrina bill alone

[TahitiNut]

Just a moment of perspective about what "WEALTH" really means. Considering the widespread devastation and the millions of families impacted, isn't it AMAZING that one person (or one family) has enough wealth that they could foot the entire bill with wealth to spare?

I think it's difficult to get one's head around just how incredibly wealthy some people have become in this abysmally tilted economic system. The numbers just don't hit home. Only by regarding the enormous size of this catastrophe can we even get close to comprehending how enormous wealth is concentrated in the pockets of such a very, very few. How can we regard any system as even being in the neighborhood of just under such circumstances? That system isn't a "fact of nature" - it's a human creation (or abomination).

[G_j]

1. in the last few years the word "billions" has been thrown around

quite a bit(re: Iraq). Although we may be more used to hearing these huge numbers, it doesn't make them any easier to comprehend.

[SlipperySlope]

2. It's their money, why not write them a letter and ask them?

[TahitiNut]

4. Yes, there's always that endoscopic point of view.

:shrug:

[judy]

3. Bill Gates, Walton, sure...

But what upsets me most of all, is that the American People is wealthier as a group than Gates or Walton.
And what are our "elected" officials doing with our money?
Saving people in New Orleans and Biloxi?

Noooooo...They are killing people in Iraq!
One day of Iraq war could save hundreds of lives and rebuild levees and properties using state of the art equipment...
The entire cost of the Iraq war could buy a house for every single poor person in the area.

Makes me want to refuse to pay taxes and donate the $$ to the Red Cross instead!!

[driver8]

5. So could the oil companies -- with their "record profits". Oh, but

wait...they don't give, they just take, and take, and take.

[TahitiNut]

6. kique

:kick:

[stevedeshazer]

7. NO wealthy member of the Bush Crime Family will step up to do what's right

It would only take a handful of them.

Jesus H. Christ. :nuke:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

8. Bill Gates yearly gives astronomical donations to charities,

so I imagine that he will be generous too in this tragic event. Let's not lump him in with the bushes.

[TahitiNut]

9. I'm not saying anything judgmental about the people I mentioned.

I didn't start this thread to engage in a game of labeling demons and saints. It's about a SYSTEM of economics that we (humans) have invented and maintain. There's NOTHING holy about that system. There's nothing "natural" about that system. It's not God-given and, other than the mix of avaricious and altruistic behavior, nothing about it that's ruled by natural law.

The funny thing is that whenever I've seen this topic discussed, people either want to argue that "they didn't do anything wrong" or imply that I'm arguing about "taking their money away from them" (I'm not). It's not about taking anything away except the notion that wealth has some 'higher' entitlement to become wealthier.

All I was trying to portray is the magnitude of the wealth that single individuals or single families have been able to amass that's clearly not a proportional measure of the value they've personally created. How does one compare the value created by a Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Archbishop Tutu, or Mohandas Gandhi to that created by some of these people? The incredibly massive difference should be appalling to anyone, I'd think.

:shrug: I wouldn't think this would be controversial among 'liberals.'

[tinfoilinfor2005]

10. I take your point.

I just pointed out that there are some wealthy people who have a generosity of spirit, and others who do not. The bush family has always liked to stretch out on other people's skins, as my mother used to put it.
I don't need to defend Bill Gates, but it is my understanding that he, unlike the bushes, has a sense of responsibility to the community and is generous with his time and fortune.

I don't see that we have any argument. :)