Some Perspective on Being Rich

Just read a piece by Liz Weston from  MSN Money.   She presents a very interesting view of what constitutes being financially 'rich'.

Here are a couple of points Liz thinks we all should consider.... 

We may fret about the price of gas, but at least 85% of the world's population doesn't own a car. (Source: WardsAuto)

 

We may hate to pay the utility bill each month, but nearly one-quarter of the world lives without electricity and one-third doesn't have access to basic sanitation, such as a toilet. More than 1 billion people don't have adequate access to clean water. (Scientific American, 2006 United Nations Human Development Report)

 

Even people below the poverty line in the U.S. -- which now includes one in seven Americans -- are better off than the vast majority of humanity. Someone earning just $11,000 a year, which is just below the poverty level, actually has more income than 87% of the people on the planet. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day, or $730 a year. (GlobalRichList.com, the World Bank)

 

You needed an adjusted gross income of $343,927 to make it into the top 1% of U.S. taxpayers in 2009, the latest year for which Internal Revenue Service statistics are available. On the other hand, the U.S. median household income of $51,914 would put you in the top 1% worldwide. (IRS, GlobalRichList.com)

No matter how bad it seems, there are probably a great many more people in lesser developed parts of the world that have a lot less. 

I admire people who achieve great things that serve the interests of humanity. Those people are worthy of their success and the wealth that goes with it.  What I abhor is the greed that generally goes with extreme wealth. No person should be denied basic human dignity. No person should be subject to suffering and exploitation to fill  the already full coffers of the obscenely rich even more. 

I'd like to see a  world where every person is affforded basic human dignity as a cultural right. I would like to live in a world where achievement is rewarded, but not obscenely so. I'd like to be part of a world where nature and all life is nurtured and treated with respect.  If wealth is ultimately measured in resources, there is only so much to go around.  Some people will always have more than others. For some, greed has become an end in itself.    That brand of plutocratic sociopathy is obscene.  No person should be left behind. Every person should have at least at least enough to live with a modicum of dignity.  That is the  only way out of the mess we're in; the only way we will ever achieve a sustainable existence with the natural world. .