by Edward Moses

Created on: January 28, 2011

LIFE WITH WEALTH

“Money shouts; Wealth whispers”.

The above statement was made to me by a good friend, Shakey Hadeed, during a discussion on the benefits and behavior of wealthy people. It describes in a simple, but truly profound way, the fundamental differences among people who have successfully accumulated large sums of money. One only has to compare the obscene image of the very successful artist or sports personality whose multimillion dollar earning is flouted in the form of extravagant jewelry, mansions with gold plated ceilings and extra-ordinary vehicles that go nowhere, to that of Warren Buffett, one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever, who while being content to live in the same home and drive the same old car, chose to donate more than 80% of his estate to charitable causes.

Unfortunately, in the United States, more than any of the other western industrial democracies, there is an outrageous and perhaps, an unconscionable, disparity in the acquisition and distribution of wealth. This has led to the present lopsided distribution where the top 1% of households own almost 50% of privately held wealth, and more than 80% of the population share less than 15%. It would appear that to many, the real description of the “American dream” is the accumulation of wealth without regard to social justice or responsibility. A very good example of this immoral greed was seen in the follow up to the recent collapse of the American International Group. After receiving more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve to save t6hem from certain bankruptcy, they promptly proceeded with plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses to the executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year, without regard to the thousands of people who lost their homes and livelihood.

Andrew Carnegie, the great American industrialist, in his essay, Gospel of Wealth (1889),  recognized the impact of modern civilization and the resulting disparity in conditions resulting from industrialization, and expressed his concerns thus:

“The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship”.

The central core of his thesis was that the wealthy entrepreneur must accept the responsibility of distributing his fortune in a way that it will be put to good use, and not

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