Change We Must - A Call To Action

Related posts:

The World's Billionaire's - What's Wrong With This Picture?
The World's Billionaires - Part II

From what you have read so far, you might be assuming that I think that all people who are billionaires are horrible, corrupt people. My short response to this is that, no, I do not think that all billionaires are horrible, corrupt people. Now, here comes the long response. Money and, hence, the greed for it can and does corrupt people. Does it change them from good people to bad people? No. However, it does accentuate characteristics that these people have always had. If a person who has selfish, greedy, and uncaring characteristics starts a company and becomes a billionaire, these characteristics will be accentuated. On the other hand, if a person who has generosity, compassion, and altruistic characteristics starts a company and becomes a billionaire, these characteristics will be accentuated. In my previous post, I gave examples of the billionaire companies who have selfish, greedy and uncaring presidents and/or CEO's. Obviously, there are some billionaires such as Bill Gates (formerly with Microsoft), Warren Buffett (an investor), and Carlos Slim Helu (CEO America Movil in Mexico) who do give a lot of money to charities and such. Nevertheless, I strongly feel that those billionaires who are a detriment to society outweigh (not necessarily outnumber) those who are more generous.

It's time for a change in attitude. I feel that U.S. citizens have stood apathetically by the sidelines for too long. It's time to take action and make the country greater than our forefathers, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, ever dreamed. Remember when JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Well, in my eyes, it has to be a give and take relationship. Thus, we must also add, "Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you." The best way to affect change is to start at the top. Thus, this is a political issue as much as it is an individual issue. So, we, as U.S. citizens, have to take a stand by starting with the country's leadership. GWB has already sacrificed over 3000 lives in a war that we did not need to start. He, through congress, is dumping money by the billions into this war. Billions in money that the government does not have. To make matters worse, GWB has consistently ignored the system of checks and balances that the founding fathers put in place. That's about as close to a fascist regime as you can get without actually being called one. It's time to hold our politicians accountable!

-- More to come --

The World's Billionaires - Part II

For those who missed part one, click here.

Many of the world's billionaires built their billions by making products or offering services that are actually a detriment to society. Some examples are:

1) Lending/credit companies: These companies feed on society's vanity. They lend people money regardless of whether or not they have means of paying it back. Then, they have the gall to charge an exorbitant APR or interest amount when people don't pay off these loans in a timely fashion.

2) The food industry: Despite "recent" findings that certain foods are much better for you than others, the food industry makes the healthier foods more expensive and keeps the less healthy food at lower prices. For instance, there's no reason for a box of Raisin Bran to cost $5.99 at Sam's Club versus a box of Special K or Kashi cereal costing $7.99. Furthermore, food manufacturers spend millions advertising food that they know is unhealthy so that people will buy it. Meanwhile, they'll spend a fraction of that promoting healthy foods.

3) The tobacco industry is among the worst offenders. The tobacco industry is targeting younger and younger people even though you have to be at least 18 to purchase cigarettes. Then, they're offering solutions on how to quit and I'm sure they're receiving kick backs from companies like GlaxoSmithKline for offering said solutions.

4) The pharmaceutical industry is part of the problem too. They seem more interested in bandaging a problem than actually finding a solution (i.e. cure). For instance, why not find a cure for male pattern baldness rather than topical bandages for the problem that you have to keep using for the rest of your life. To make matters worse, some of these products aren't even effective, but desperate people buy them anyway hoping for a miracle. Drugs like Viagra are the real kicker. The fact is that erectile dysfunction is generally caused by either health issues that restrict the flow of blood or psychological issues that prevent a man from becoming erect. Yet, pharmaceutical companies have manufactured products that either play with hormones causing an erection within an hour after the product is taken or that dilate blood vessels for a period of approximately 36 hours to induce better blood flow. However, both the physical and psychological issues associated with ED are indicators of bigger problems (i.e. clogged arteries, "I just don't find my wife attractive anymore" or "My wife cheated on me and I don't feel comfortable having sex with her anymore").

5) The oil industry is probably the most corrupt of all. For one thing, big oil bribed Charles Nelson Pogue to keep him from selling his blueprints to car manufacturers. If someone could design an efficient carburetor engine in the 1930's, imagine what someone could do with the efficiency of fuel injector engines. Also, OPEC has capped oil production. They have done this despite the fact that there's more oil than most people currently know about right here in North America. There's a great article starting on page 64 in the April 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics that shines light on this fact. Unfortunately, that article is not available online. Nevertheless, big oil continues to earn record profits according to the 2007 report. Disgusting isn't it?

Those are just a few examples of the horrible things that billionaires do to acquire that much money. While no single person could ever put a stop to this, the government could step in and say "This is wrong and we are not going to condone such disgusting behavior." Then, tax and penalize the heck out of these companies until they change their ways.

The solution to these issues begs the question: What should government do?

The world's billionaires - What's wrong with this picture?

This particular entry is focusing on a huge thorn in the side of the "big picture". I will elaborate on the "big picture" in future posts.

The World's Billionaires

No-one should have a fortune worth $1 billion much less $62 billion. That's what's wrong with capitalism. It encourages greed. One of the Seven Deadly Sins. That's why I strongly feel that capitalism will eventually lead to our demise.

We need to start from the ground up and build a society that is more interested in giving than receiving. We need to give incentives for people to give more rather than horde wealth. Those that are more fortunate need to support those who are less fortunate. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. Help others. The need of the many far outweighs the need of the few or the one. You want a real chance at peace on Earth? Make it so that there isn't such a huge disparity in income levels. There should not be a division of classes. Not if we are truly equal. It isn't religion so much that breeds depravity. It's the huge disparity between the wealthiest of people and the poorest of people.

Be sure to read part 2!