{"id":160444,"date":"2020-05-11T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=160444"},"modified":"2020-05-09T10:17:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T09:17:23","slug":"listen-to-your-mother-nobody-should-be-too-rich-or-too-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/listen-to-your-mother-nobody-should-be-too-rich-or-too-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen to Your Mother: Nobody Should Be Too Rich or Too Poor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wisdom of our mothers and mothers\u2019 mothers from the dawn of time is reverberating throughout the cosmos, \u201cWhat part of share the resources of the earth<\/em> don\u2019t you understand?\u00a0 Why aren\u2019t you challenging the sanctity of private property rights at the top and making sure nobody is too rich or too poor?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our mothers carried us in the womb and brought us into this world, introducing us to the magical healing power of tender human touch.\u00a0 They immersed us in unconditional love, empowering us to face the many challenges of life.\u00a0 They taught us to communicate with words and actions, to resolve conflicts without inflicting pain on others.\u00a0 Our mothers taught us to share with our brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Well, maybe not all mothers were able to do all of that, but they did their best.\u00a0 We forgive them and still love them.<\/p>\n

When mothers teach their children to share they start by setting a good example, taking no more for themselves than they would grant others and often taking less so their children can be amply nourished.\u00a0 They impart a strong sense of love and belonging, allowing for the cultivation of empathy and solidarity.<\/p>\n

In the course of relatively recent human history (several thousand years or so) the lesson of sharing has been forgotten countless times for myriad reasons involving traumas, abuse, and disasters both natural and man-made.\u00a0 As a result, young people growing up are exposed to greed-inducing practices like punishment, humiliation, shaming, judging, and winner-take-all competitions, that have become embedded in schools, churches, civic life and workplaces.\u00a0 Even mothers with the best intentions often fall into the trap of over-reliance on carrots and sticks, sending the message that good deeds like sharing are a commodity to be traded rather than intrinsically valuable.<\/p>\n

Our human family has over seven billion people throughout globe.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of relatives!\u00a0 We often lament the multitudes who are oppressed and too poor, lacking good jobs, housing, food, education, health care and basic freedoms.\u00a0 We\u2019re also aware of the small yet powerful percentage of people who own assets worth tens of millions, hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, in addition to their income, but we rarely consider the magnitude of those numbers.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how a mother might explain to her children what \u201ctoo rich\u201d looks like, using basic math and a bit of imagination:<\/p>\n

A former drug dealer (not a profession you should aspire to!) told me he used to handle so much money that when delivering cash to his suppliers they weighed it rather than count it.\u00a0 A $100 dollar bill weighs one gram, so a million dollars worth weighs 10 kilogram; 10 million dollars worth weighs 100 kilograms; 100 million dollars worth weighs 1,000 kilograms or one metric ton, and a billion dollars worth weighs 10,000 kilograms or 10 metric tons. \u00a0Imagine what it would look like if no one could own more wealth than they were able to carry on their backs and the rest were used to eradicate poverty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s use your favorite snack, the chocolate chip cookie, as an example.\u00a0 A chocolate chip cookie of 10 cm diameter and 1 cm thickness can be purchased for a dollar at the bakery.\u00a0 A one meter by 10 cm by 10cm box packed tight would contain 100 cookies, enough for several classes at your school..\u00a0 A cubic meter would have 10,000 cookies.\u00a0 Ten million cookies would fill a structure the size of a house ten meters high, ten meters long and ten meters wide..\u00a0 A billion dollars worth of cookies would fill a huge warehouse floor to ceiling, ten meters high, 100 meters long and 100 meters wide.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of cookies for one individual to own when many children go to bed hungry every day and never get any treats or snacks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cookies disappear once they\u2019re eaten, so let\u2019s look at an asset that could keep on giving:\u00a0 houses for rent.\u00a0 The median home price in the US is currently around $250,000.\u00a0 (Much higher in popular regions).\u00a0 Assuming a net rental income averaging $12,500 per year (after paying taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance and property management expenses), a millionaire could own four homes, live in one and rent out the other three, receiving $37,500 a year without lifting a finger.\u00a0 Might be nice for your grandparents who worked all their lives and want to supplement their old age pension. \u00a0Someone with $10 million could own 40 homes, net close to $500,000 per year, live lavishly on half that and use the other half to buy yet another rental home and keep getting richer without working at all.\u00a0 With $100 million and 400 homes, your net earnings soar to near $5 million per year, and a billionaire with 4,000 homes rakes in just shy of $50 million per year.\u00a0 Who needs that much when billions of people don\u2019t own their own home, can only afford to rent cramped and dilapidated housing, or are homeless and sleeping on the streets?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now go out and use your communication skills with your fellow humans to come to a consensus about where to draw the lines between having a dignified life and being \u201ctoo rich\u201d or \u201ctoo poor,\u201d and follow through accordingly.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In our topsy turvy world, the vast majority of people appear to inexplicably consent to a cabal of oligarchs controlling most of the earth\u2019s resources and refusing to share, finding it acceptable for a few dozen people own as much as half of humanity.<\/p>\n

Wait a minute.\u00a0 When one child grabs all the toys for himself and refuses to let his sisters and brothers have any, we intervene with an emphatic \u201cthat\u2019s not OK!\u201d\u00a0 But when certain individuals are allowed to amass more wealth than they could possibly need or use in thousands of lifetimes, where\u2019s the outrage?<\/p>\n

The super-rich have become so adept at distracting and dividing<\/a> the rest of us to keep us mired in clashes over all kinds of injustices\u2014wars, racial oppression, patriarchy, partisanship, environmental degradation–that we often overlook the lust for power and profit at the root of every one of these evils. Hence, our most fundamental task is to make sure nobody is too rich or too poor<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n