The recent events surrounding the GameStop (GME) stock, Reddit users, and hedge fund losses with the short squeeze pushed by many individuals on the internet has made Wall Street and its uniqueness the topic in mouth for the masses. However, the stock market and the entire financial bubble around the world and in the US simply wasn’t born yesterday; the influence surrounding that same stock market and hedge funds result as influential as presidential elections, if not greater than most political issues debated in Washington. Disregarding the many differences or various approaches towards the financial sector or politics overall, the recent global pandemic has made a large portion of citizens around the world aware of the distribution of wealth in society and the impact that same element imposes over inequality in all its means.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “more than 70% of the entire world’s population resides in a country where inequality has been increasing since 1990.” Added to the fact that COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for worsening social aspects of society, most international reports include terms such as “faith” or “ luck” when referring to the opportunities of emerging successful when trying to obtain a better quality of life. Why? Apparently, one’s destiny is defined by the color of their skin, nationality, gender, or even ethnic background. For instance, “9 out of 10 multimillionaires are men and one third of those fortunes were inherited from family businesses or the men entitled to that wealth received the privilege of upper education.” Nonetheless, the listed facts before do not pray them away from their righteous fortunes; one way or another, they earned and preserved that wealth.
Now, one alone is not capable of standing up for the entire rich class of this country with cape and sword while there is a considerable number of people who struggle to find themselves with $5 by the end of the day. However, the truth must always prevail over populism and fanaticism mixed with a hate rhetoric from some radical left leaders. Not all wealthy individuals are to be blamed for all the wrongs within the upper class and the system as a whole. It is quite the opposite: a line must be drawn between accusing a select group of people of corrupting the system and respecting those who triumphed with the same rules as everyone else in the same status quo society is ruled under. Now, blaming all influential individuals for poverty and inequality, like democratic senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not only incinerates an already burning nation but grows a sentiment of hatred towards those who simply knew how to play the game better. To be clear, it is not a sin or wrongdoing to be rich; it’s actually the goal and main focus of western culture with a capitalist approach towards success. As a matter of fact, there are countless multimillionaires and billionaires that donate large portions of their income via foundations and who agree taxation is the answer to directed purposes covering urgent social issues like poverty, health, and education.
On the other hand, not all wealthy businessmen or influential individuals of the same type are saints worth praising. The oppressed class of this nation have focused on the flaws of the political and financial system when there is clear evidence that the same system is being used with the sole purpose of benefiting a small portion of the population instead of taking care of those in need. Another undeniable reality is that of the activist movements denouncing any wrongdoings whether it is in D.C, Wall Street or anywhere else are worth respecting and acknowledging their importance to democracy with constant participation of the people. When the line of recognizing those who earned their fortunes in a transparent manner and those who feeded off their wealth with unethical means is drawn, American society can be restored into a culture of appreciation towards those who have abundance of money and still give back.
Having reached this segment, this is where the article turns into an opinion-marked piece of work having in mind that some facts are intertwined with one’s inherent subjective perspective. It is an undeniable fact that the vast majority of Americans don’t have a single clue of this nation’s distribution of wealth. Not only that, but the limited groups of individuals, even families, that have a wide spectrum of influence over the decision taking over in Capitol Hill and Wall Street. Many international groups of research and journalism, along with specialized experts on the matter of discussion have reached a solid conclusion: it is the government’s policies and interferences that make sure the wealthy keep getting richer while the most damnified can’t even cover for their basic needs. As an illustration, first world nations such as the United States and developed European countries insist on cutting or simply reducing tax rates for the wealthiest while the middle class keeps paying endless tariffs. Not to mention the fact that taxing the rich has become a politically-tainted problem. Here’s a newsflash for anyone reading this: it’s not. American society cannot play along with the political agenda of red vs blue, Republican v. Democrat; the very same values in which this very nation was founded are being put to rest when the wellbeing of the people is undermined by the State over its preference to protect those with a greater influence.