85 Individuals vs. 3.5 Billion People
by Miki Saxon
There’s been a social media firestorm since Tom Perkins had his say in defense of the so-called 1%.
I asked a retired serial entrepreneur who was funded by KPCB decades ago when the names on the door were actually working partners what he thought.
Tom was reasonably liberal when he was running KP. Many VC’s who had made tons of dough became very conservative as they aged, supporting right wing Republican and Libertarian causes. They seemed to regard it as an insult that the government was trying to take even a tiny smidgeon of their billions in taxes.
I get why Perkins comments incited so much noise, both sincere and politically correct, but the real story a few days earlier didn’t get the play it deserved.
Here’s the headline that should have gotten more attention.
World’s richest 85 people have as much as bottom half the population
This means the world’s poorest 3,550,000,000 (3.55 billion) people must live on what the richest 85 possess.
The statistics are from non-profit Oxfam and are neither political nor partisan—they just are.
Nor are they an indictment of the US, since they are global.
In line with the mantra of “think globally, act locally” what can you do to help change this?
KG Charles-Harris says,
“It’s really action in the little ways that makes a difference. Not everyone has to do big things, but small things are possible every day with little cost.”
Here are some ideas,
- Choose your role models more carefully; Richard Branson, Bill Gates and, more recently Mark Zukerberg are all in the 85%, but they model their lives very differently from Larry Ellison or the Koch Brothers.
- Commit to giving one week’s worth of what you normally spend on coffee to a cause you care about.
- Do the same with the time you save.
I’ll end by borrowing a line from a 1971 Alka-Seltzer® ad, “Try it, you’ll like it.”
Flickr image credit: playerx
