Some are hungry, some are losing their homes - some are doubling their wealth

[Darker45]

That's just the reality in what others call a free world. At the end of the day, it isn't.

Those who have the money will be able to make more in spite of a pandemic. As a matter of fact, they can leverage the pandemic itself to create more wealth. On the other hand, as fully expected, the poor will stay poor without a pandemic and poorer in a pandemic.

This is not all about freedom. This is all about a terrible systemic flaw which always puts the poor at the most disadvantageous position.

[Wexnident]

~

Honestly, even if I am glad that the richest are donating for the cause, I can't help but feel stupid that we're being happy about them dropping some scraps for us to survive. If this doesn't showcase how the relationship between the rich and the poor works, then I don't know what does. Still, not that I'm against them donating, in fact, I'm pretty happy for those that they reach out towards people who are in desperate need right now.

But that means the system is fine and you just need rich people to be charitable for all to be happy. That's the narrative in the US and other places since the 70's, incarnated by Reagan and Thatcher in the 80's, but has it worked out ?

Wouldn't it be better if these rich people paid more taxes, or paid their underlings more at the detriment of their wealth, but with the result that less people would be living in poverty or at the edge of it ?

Equity then? That would require a lot of manpower to even take a look at how rich the rich people are, and calculating taxes about that. And I really doubt the government would do that, when they could just pocket a fraction of that for themselves with no problem since they're the ones managing it anyway. What stays inside, stays there after all.

[smyslov]

Although from a legal standpoint we can't do anything, is it normal that 1/3 of the US population is literally on their knees, while others don't know what to do with their money?

To make matters even more tragicomic, Jeff Bezos leads the list of America’s rich is asking for donations for his 800 000 employees, and in same time his net worth is $189.4 billion This is actually the case for some serious psychologists if you ask me...

As long as people like this are our role models and moral verticals, we shouldn't hope for a better world - but lest someone misunderstand me, I'm not just criticizing the American system, this is happening all over the world.

He deserves the backlash from the public for doing this, he should be the one taking care of his people but he do not want a hands of it so they ask people to help him

“How is your company worth over a TRILLION dollars and you want the public to donate to an employee relief fund?! As if Amazon can’t pay their employees themselves,” one frustrated

No one advice him that doing this will anger people because this is greediness this is the time people needs some help and he has all the money to do it but prefer the american people to do it for people who made him rich.

[amishmanish]

I think there cannot be a bigger folly than directing all of this angst against the wealthy. This is a very political stance and the people that benefit from political stances are only those who call themselves leaders. Its a failure of leadership and politics that the common people are on their knees today despite the fact that the people on this list have worked their asses off to create products and services leading to such wealth.

Its not the businessman's problem that he has to navigate a world of greedy politicians and political parties that need unabated flow of funds to advertise themselves. The problem is not the money that businessmen make. The problem is that part of this money is sucked up by political parties and the businesses are manipulated by lawmakers to do the bidding for their party rather than for their ideology.

Not having proper stratification of wealth or the specter of homelessness and poverty in a country like USA is a political issue, not an economic one.

[FlightyPouch]

I think the sad part here is that even though they donate billions and billions of dollars to the poor, the world will not get better. We can't do anything about this since this is already happening. As time goes, the poor people will be there at the bottom pushing themselves to go up but what they didn't know is that by doing that, they are also pushing those individuals at the top. Well folks, this is the world at its best, we should face it.

Hope they could just start more jobs so those unemployed individuals atleast make a movement in their low position. It might make the gap wider but atleast that could also create an effect under them.

[Yatsan]

That is the sad reality of life that poor people becomes poorer and the rich people become richer because of the social classifications that are dividing the society depending on the capacity and wealth that each and every individual have. At this time of pandemic brought by covid-19, we have seen that not just in America but in all parts of the world, the effect of this crisis have directly beaten up those people that belongs to the lower class of the society for they become jobless because of the implementing health protocols that makes temporary closure of work places and no one is allowed to go outside because of the quarantine. The situation makes it so hard for those people to budget and manage their expenses for they have no source of income and there is no assurance that they still have a job to came back.

Rich people mostly on the technological industry and food and goods essentials are still earning more due to high demands brought by this pandemic. We can say that the world and society itself is not really fair for those who are needy are continuously starving and those with power and continuously gaining after all.

This is not all about freedom. This is all about a terrible systemic flaw which always puts the poor at the most disadvantageous position.

I agree. After all that is happening the terrible systemic flaws of the society is always putting the poor people on the most disadvantageous position while rich people are being continuously greedy enjoying their wealth and some are not having any concern on helping their fellow men for they only think of their own sake.

[coolcoinz]

Jeff Bezos and other millionaires have donated at least 1% of their wealth to the coronavirus.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/06/how-much-americas-richest-are-donating-for-coronavirus-relief.html

The pandemic has taught us that we must preserve the most important thing that is health and our loved ones. We are also concerned about work, many people around the world have lost their jobs.

After the pandemic, I think that all these people, the richest in the world, should help create sustainable jobs to reduce the global poverty rate.

It's easy to share money that exceed the wildest dreams of the majority of the population. We usually want this or that and these things keep growing in value once we achieve a certain level. A sturent wants a new computer, a grown up man will want a computer room, a millionaire will want a room full of employees so that he won't have to use a computer anymore. Once you have it all and more, all the yahts, apartments, houses and cars, you're free to play the good guy and donate. Donating doesn't make Bezos a good guy. It's just his way to feel better about all the money that he's gathering.

[Lucius]

I see that there are a lot of good answers, I don't think it makes too much sense to answer each one individually, so I will try to comment on some of your opinions.

BIT-BENDER, the rich get rich, and the poor get poorer - so it has always been, and people seem to have gotten used to it - but if we consider that the exact figure is that 90% of the world’s wealth is controlled by only 10% of the world’s people, then everyone should ask how is it possible that 90% of people are happy with the remaining 10%?


suchmoon, i believe all these rich people have huge amounts of cash that is hidden somewhere in secret accounts, I don't believe they would be so stupid as to rely only on stocks. Still, I wouldn't agree that $1000 wouldn't help those who are literally hungry, but it's also completely unrealistic to expect the rich to change the world for the better - even all those charities they organize serve more to calm their consciences and turn out positive in society. If these people were a little more aware of what was going on in the world, they could do great things - one child can be fed some $20 (one meal a day) all year round in some third world countries. They all have millions of followers on social media, people look at some role models in them, and honestly I would never like to be in their shoes and with what they have in their brains.


The Pharmacist, There are few small people who really profit from Amazon, all the cream is grabbed by big fish at the expense of those 800 000 employees who are actually exploited to the extreme because they have no other choice. But I agree that it's not just Bezos and his ilk who are to blame for this, the system allows them to do exactly what they do - and I can't call it anything other than modern slavery whether someone liked it or not.


odolvlobo&Darker45, I would say that politicians have a lot to do with these rich people because no one can succeed to such an extent without filling the pockets of the politicians, and in return they pass laws that favor big fish. This whole vertical is actually to the detriment of a little man who is doomed to be at the bottom and live in the illusion of some kind of democracy (elections every 4 or 5 years).


pixie85, it may sound weird, but I've never bought anything over Amazon - luckily I have good alternatives and I'm always looking for a way to pay with BTC if possible. Trust me I know a lot more people who have little and are much happier than some rich people, money can buy almost anything, but some things still don’t.

[suchmoon]

suchmoon, i believe all these rich people have huge amounts of cash that is hidden somewhere in secret accounts, I don't believe they would be so stupid as to rely only on stocks. Still, I wouldn't agree that $1000 wouldn't help those who are literally hungry, but it's also completely unrealistic to expect the rich to change the world for the better - even all those charities they organize serve more to calm their consciences and turn out positive in society. If these people were a little more aware of what was going on in the world, they could do great things - one child can be fed some $20 (one meal a day) all year round in some third world countries. They all have millions of followers on social media, people look at some role models in them, and honestly I would never like to be in their shoes and with what they have in their brains.

I think many rich people had to have sociopathic tendencies to get as far as they got and I don't really expect that we can shame them into sharing their wealth. And some sort of government tax or regulation that would make rich people or big corporations less rich or big might have unintended consequences for their employees and/or smaller businesses. Not saying that a better balance is not possible, just probably not as simple as pleading to billionaires or taxing them more.

The Pharmacist, There are few small people who really profit from Amazon, all the cream is grabbed by big fish at the expense of those 800 000 employees who are actually exploited to the extreme because they have no other choice. But I agree that it's not just Bezos and his ilk who are to blame for this, the system allows them to do exactly what they do - and I can't call it anything other than modern slavery whether someone liked it or not.

Working in an air-conditioned warehouse for $14 an hour would have been my dream job back in the day when I was breaking concrete with a sledgehammer and paid under the table. I think we have shifted our expectations way too far. Those are not middle class 4-bedroom-house-and-a-picket-fence jobs and it's not Amazon's obligation to create middle class jobs (although they do have quite a few of those... if you got a Masters in CS and know what you're doing). Those are jobs for high-school graduates, sufficient for young single people to stand on their own feet and pay for community college.

[aesma]

Amazon uses gig workers and contractors for a big part of its business, deliveries in particular. So there is no fixed salary, no fixed hours, no benefits, no healthcare, no nothing, just some dollars here and there with no regularity. Of course that's only in the countries that actually allow this to happen.

[suchmoon]

Amazon uses gig workers and contractors for a big part of its business, deliveries in particular. So there is no fixed salary, no fixed hours, no benefits, no healthcare, no nothing, just some dollars here and there with no regularity. Of course that's only in the countries that actually allow this to happen.

Well, they can go work for UPS and get to drive a unionized $30-per-hour delivery truck with benefits in about 25 years from now. They could also participate in the social experiment called "election" and make laws requiring high pay and all that other stuff and see if that improves their lives or results in unemployment.

Gig workers are modern day burger flippers. It's quite bizarre how we've come to expect a lot of dollars and benefits from that.

[tbterryboy]

Because the thing is, if you "donate" money to poor people you are just temporarily fixing a trouble that is really not fixing, you are just helping with the consequences of the problem itself whereas you should be fixing the trouble itself. Look at Bill Gates, he could have donated 30 billion dollars to Africa and the whole continent would be better for few years yet end up horrible eventually once again when the money dries up.

Instead of that what did he do? He simply CURED a disease there, which is 10x better than just donating money, tons of people are all alive thanks to him. That is what should be done, all those super rich wealthy people and families should not just donate 1% of their money and claim a high moral throne they do not deserve, they have to instead build an infrastructure to help the world to be a better place instead.

[exstasie]

Amazon uses gig workers and contractors for a big part of its business, deliveries in particular. So there is no fixed salary, no fixed hours, no benefits, no healthcare, no nothing, just some dollars here and there with no regularity. Of course that's only in the countries that actually allow this to happen.

Well, they can go work for UPS and get to drive a unionized $30-per-hour delivery truck with benefits in about 25 years from now.

Gig workers are modern day burger flippers. It's quite bizarre how we've come to expect a lot of dollars and benefits from that.

There are certainly those who want noncommittal, temporary, easy work or just a little something extra on the side (the burger flippers).

However, the size and growth of the gig economy suggests something else is happening. In the past 10 years, the share of gig workers at US businesses has risen by at least 15% (that actually only captures 1099-MISC workers). Half of that growth is from a shift from full-time employment to gig work. Companies do it because they can save so much on payroll taxes and employee benefits, and all projections I've seen show this is only going to continue.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/gig-economy-grows-15percent-over-past-decade-adp-report.html
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1034564/gig-economy-projected-gross-volume/

That tells me it's not so much that an increasing proportion of the labor force wants to be burger flippers, but that there is less and less available full-time employment, so they are forced to take what is offered. It's businesses who are transitioning away from full-time employment. And they can because labor unionization is at one of its weakest points in recent history. When Lyft's PR spokesman says "drivers do not want to be employees, full stop," I don't believe that for a second. Lyft's biggest interest is in getting drivers as close to minimum wage as possible without paying out any payroll taxes or employee benefits. It's not drivers who want that, of course, but shareholders.

When you look at the insane growth of companies like Amazon and Uber, who pay most of their workers as gig workers, you have to think, that growth has to come from somewhere. It's eating into the market share of companies who follow the traditional employment model, which in turn forces more and more companies to cut labor costs themselves just to compete. It's a vicious cycle and the biggest losers are workers, who have little to no bargaining power in the current situation.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the trend, but the whole thing seems tragic to me. On the scale of decades, this seems like a path towards extreme inequality and also a potential health care crisis as workers increasingly go without health insurance.

[Oasisman]

As long as people like this are our role models and moral verticals, we shouldn't hope for a better world - but lest someone misunderstand me, I'm not just criticizing the American system, this is happening all over the world.

While there are "role models" like those people, but there are also those who have made effort in helping the country financially to combat the pandemic who is considered as the REAL role model.
In my country we have Ramon Ang the CEO of Top Frontier Investment Holdings the largest share holder of San Miguel Corp. made almost $200m donation to help the country in eliminating the virus.
  https://business.inquirer.net/295084/smc-donation-for-covid-19-efforts-nears-p1-billion-help-extends-to-iloilo-leyte/amp

It's such a shame when a rich person is asking for donations to aid his own employees, when he himself can handle the expenses. Business still business amidst pandemic.

[Rengga Jati]

Yes right, this recession has actually been going on since several years ago. but it peaked especially because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether this is true or just a global conspiracy. but in fact this has had a very bad impact, especially on the economy, at least in my country.

I recently read an article that the wealth of the 12 richest Americans climbed above $1 trillion for the first time in history and this is precisely because of what has caused almost the whole world to find itself in a very difficult situation. Although no one can deny that this is the result of a free economy and that everyone manages as he knows how, .....

Seeing how their wealth has increased is sometimes sad especially when we also see how the majority of the population has to struggle every day just to get a bite of rice to eat with their families. 'It's true, this recession, this pandemic is making the poor even poorer. Many small businesses have gone bankrupt and are no longer operating. Unemployed workers. And also the increasingly rampant social inequality.
This may sound unfair. but this is the fact and maybe this will always happen, it will never stop.

[Lanatsa]

As long as people like this are our role models and moral verticals, we shouldn't hope for a better world - but lest someone misunderstand me, I'm not just criticizing the American system, this is happening all over the world.

While there are "role models" like those people, but there are also those who have made effort in helping the country financially to combat the pandemic who is considered as the REAL role model.
In my country we have Ramon Ang the CEO of Top Frontier Investment Holdings the largest share holder of San Miguel Corp. made almost $200m donation to help the country in eliminating the virus.
  https://business.inquirer.net/295084/smc-donation-for-covid-19-efforts-nears-p1-billion-help-extends-to-iloilo-leyte/amp

It's such a shame when a rich person is asking for donations to aid his own employees, when he himself can handle the expenses. Business still business amidst pandemic.

This is the sad reality which is really happening globally and its just really a shame for them to ask out some help even though they do know that they can handle it out without the need of help from others.

This really just proves out that they dont have sympathy nor do care into its employees in hard times like this.It really sucks when they didnt even making some action just to provide some help,
not on permanent basis but at least they do show of some consideration.

True role model wont really tend to shout out on what he had done but rather the people who have been helped will surely do the buzz.

[suchmoon]

Maybe I'm reading too much into the trend, but the whole thing seems tragic to me. On the scale of decades, this seems like a path towards extreme inequality and also a potential health care crisis as workers increasingly go without health insurance.

That's the only real problem I see with the "gig economy" and a major reason why the US needs to get its shit together regarding healthcare. Employers should not be in the "benefits" business. It hurts the competitiveness of small businesses far more than Amazon et al.

Perhaps payroll tax needs to be cleaned up too. The half-half arrangement between employer and employee doesn't make sense, it's still coming out of the same bucket.

With a proper healthcare system and no tax difference between "employees" and "contractors" it wouldn't matter if it's a gig or not. Unfortunately right now legislative efforts seem to be going the other direction - trying to make all gig workers into employees. I don't think that's going to work. It's not working in many other part-time situations where the employer simply won't schedule more than 30 hours a week to avoid making the employee full-time, and the employee ends up working two jobs to make ends meet, still without benefits, all perfectly legal. Such nonsense.

[Bl_385]

That's just the reality in what others call a free world. At the end of the day, it isn't.

Those who have the money will be able to make more in spite of a pandemic. As a matter of fact, they can leverage the pandemic itself to create more wealth. On the other hand, as fully expected, the poor will stay poor without a pandemic and poorer in a pandemic.

This is not all about freedom. This is all about a terrible systemic flaw which always puts the poor at the most disadvantageous position.

In order for someone to win, others must lose, and whatever the crisis and economic situation, there are always those who get the most out of that situation, because not everyone can be a loser.
Whether it’s power, ability, quick adjustment, skill, or a set of all that the average person isn’t able to have or isn’t in a position to make that breakthrough.
The system is like that, and an ordinary person lives in a different reality and always those at the top are a few steps ahead.

[Darker45]

This is not all about freedom. This is all about a terrible systemic flaw which always puts the poor at the most disadvantageous position.

I agree. After all that is happening the terrible systemic flaws of the society is always putting the poor people on the most disadvantageous position while rich people are being continuously greedy enjoying their wealth and some are not having any concern on helping their fellow men for they only think of their own sake.

Truth be told, sometimes our inimical behavior toward the rich few is a little bit misplaced. In this system where the rich becomes richer and the poor poorer, both the rich and the poor may be considered victims of circumstance.

How are we to define greedy? If by greedy we mean that the rich's wealth is increasing in the direst of times, that can't be helped. If by greedy we mean that the rich are eating to their stomach's fullness while the rest are going hungry, billions and billions are actually being shelled out from their pockets for charities.

The issue is much much deeper than how it seems.

[gbrendeh]

This is a great lesson that the Pandemic has thought the whole earth that sometime the helper might need help.