According to an Oxfam report published on 19th January this year, billionaire wealth jumped by $2.5 trillion (almost equivalent to the total wealth held by the bottom half of humanity) to $18.3 trillion in 2025 – its highest level in history. The amount of wealth owned by the poorest half of the world is less than the amount owned by just the 12 richest billionaires!
The number of billionaires topped 3,000 last year for the first time, while in June this year, Elon Musk became the world’s first ever trillionaire. These figures are just mind-blowing.
And yet, many people the world over are suffering from devastating crises, namely poverty, hunger, and deadly diseases. This sort of dual reality is simply outrageous and it begs the question: why don’t these individuals allocate a portion of their enormous wealth towards resolving some these crises?
Heck, the Oxfam report revealed that the $2.5 trillion rise in billionaires’ wealth in 2025 itself would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over! So evidently, resources isn’t an issue, rather it’s the deliberate choice not to help others who are actively suffering despite being able to.
The problem is, we humans are seemingly wired to be primarily self-serving rather than altruistic. And apparently the wealthier we are, the more potent our self-serving tendencies.
A necessary trait for survival
I have a few theories as to why we’re like this. One has its roots in the early stages of humanity, when our species’ exposure to threats was probably the greatest and most direct it has ever been.
Faced with these threats, our early ancestors, for the sake of survival, had to develop a self-serving mindset to ensure they were primarily focused on taking care of their own needs.
You can see how this ancient evolutionary trait may have been passed on through the generations to modern day humans, thus being one of the prime reasons for people, especially the super wealthy, to constantly seek more wealth and be highly reluctant in parting with anything more than a little of their wealth.
We’ve been poisoned by the system
Another theory, one I think is more likely the actual reason for the mega rich’s selfishness, is our strongly pro-capitalist system. Almost all of us have encountered advertisements or messages promoting various brands and upper-class lifestyles every other day for the past few decades. Society tells us that being rich and possessing material wealth are the measures of success.
All this messaging subconsciously makes us constantly want to accumulate wealth (despite not needing it) and behave selfishly.
In relation to the above theory, is how unbridled capitalism has morphed societies whereby fierce competitiveness and strong self-centeredness have become a necessary mindset to inculcate. In most if not all capitalist societies, people are caught in the rat race, whereby they work long hours daily for less-than-deserved wages.
In most cases, these people are forced to live like this just to earn barely enough to provide for their families, what with the ever-increasing cost of living while their wages remain relatively stagnant.
Add to that the almost incessant exposure to adverts strongly encouraging consumerism and materialism, and the ‘lesson’ that wealth equals success, and its small wonder that we inhabit societies heavily preoccupied with earning more, accumulating wealth, and being selfish coupled with the strong reluctancy to part with even a bit of one’s wealth, especially if you’re among the wealthy.
To be sure, there are multiple powerful factors with the gargantuan ability to change the world for the better. But you can’t deny that the wealthy class, especially the mega wealthy, is right up there with the most potent factors with this ability.
When the wealthy help society, they indirectly help themselves
By right, the wealthy should indeed contribute much more towards improving the world, particularly in terms of resolving crises, and uplifting poor communities. It’s a simple rationale: if you’re part of a society, you have a moral obligation to contribute to it. And your contribution should be proportional to your status and the scale of resources you possess.
For argument’s sake, even setting aside the morality aspect of it, the wealthy should contribute more especially towards their own societies simply because it’s the logical thing to do. Regardless of whether you’re mega wealthy or a poor individual, you benefit if the whole of society is uplifted. The aphorism ‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ does hold water.
Even if you’re rich, you still depend on your fellow citizens from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to keep society’s wheels turning. You’d still require regular essential services namely rubbish collection, drain cleaning, grass cutting, along with maintenance of roads, public parks, streetlights, telecommunications, electric supply systems, etc.
And it’s those from poorer or lower-middle class backgrounds who typically work in these types of jobs. Hence, it follows that the uplifting of these particular groups and ensuring that they have dignified living conditions will in turn spur them to better carry out such essential services. What more if they’re actively suffering from an ongoing crisis?
In several ways, we’re all indirectly connected and influence each other’s lives, regardless of wealth and status. It therefore follows that those with greater wealth and influence contribute more towards forging a better society for all.
However, as we’ve established, most from the wealthy class will naturally refuse to part with even a little of their wealth. There are several ways to overcome this particular challenge, which I will delve into in part two of this article.
Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments! To read more of my articles, you can click here.
Raveen (raveen.veerasenan@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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