Chuck Collins writes from the point of view of a "one percenter" and starts his book by explaining his relationship to the wealth that was accumulated by his parents. He describes his first job working with mobile homeowners renting their sites in private parks in New England, and that wanted to buy these sites, rent becoming too expensive. After realizing the funds were insufficient to buy the land, he tells the bad news, but few of them decided to make new sacrifices, and give it all to buy this land. He said he could have helped them, but didn't, and said maybe he should've. That's when he decided to start giving a lot of "his" wealth, thinking that he too, should be able to make it on his own.
In the introduction, he describes the extreme wealth inequality that is striking the USA and introduces a few ideas to solve that, such as increasing the minimum wage or implementing higher taxes. However, he says, the best way to solve this issue is to call on the wealthiest to "come back home", it is to say, to be willing on their own to give and to help solve this situation.
The discussion in part I of the book revolves around a few ideas. First, people have a complex relationship with wealth. In one of his talks, he asks the audience three questions: who feels some kind of rage against the 1%? who has ever felt admiration towards actions that have been done by wealthy individuals to make things better? who wants to be in the wealthiest's place? He realized people feel hatred, admiration, and want to be the object of their own anger.
It was also interesting to read about the discussion that he had with a former executive that was working for Boeing. After confronting him with the fact that Boeing is not paying any taxes, he was surprised by the former executive's answer, which said he was himself quite disappointed by the situation. Hank then tells Chuck about his trip to Kenya where he had an engineering project. He told him how he met kids that were in such a bad situation, and how this affected him in his decision to start working with these people and build houses for those who had not any. He said his heart was "cracked-open", and Chuck believes this is the solution to bring wealthy people to start fighting for this cause.
Ghali
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I definitely agree with the last paragraph you wrote regrading seeing others in poverty and realized how privileged you are. It is important for those who are privileged to see poverty and understand how bad it could be.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Your final paragraph really resonated with me as well. I think it is very apparent from the extremely contrasting situations in the environment that surrounds our school reminds us every day how fortunate we are. It is a reminder to not take everything for granted and that there are many out there who need help.
ReplyDeleteDavis
Unfortunately, the issue of tax is just as complex as trying to read another person's mind. I'm appalled at how many companies don't pay taxes; however, this is a result of local and state governments who use this as a way to bring the companies in to create a stronger economy. So instead of taxing the company, it falls onto the burden of the "increasing" number of people to pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that it's up to the wealthy to make this change.
Yeah it really sucks when large corporations like Boeing and Amazon don't pay taxes but they legally have a responsibility to their shareholders to try to pay as little as possible so there's nothing they can really do. I believe that companies of a certain size should be required to pay a proportional amount in taxes.
ReplyDelete-Khalil Faris
It was good to learn about why Collins decided to start helping those who are less fortunate. The wealth inequality in the US is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed and I think the rich donating their money is one of the most effective ways to do this. The problems associated with taxes and other subsidies that big companies receive also contributes to this inequality but its also complicated issue since most times the government will do this because it will create more jobs and revenue for a particular place.
ReplyDeleteThe "come back home" title he gives to this concept is interesting to me. How can the ultra-wealthy come back to something they don't understand/have never been to before? In Part 5, which I read, he discusses integration and assimilation with the less fortunate which might help the wealthy gain a better perspective I guess.
ReplyDelete-Allegra
Encouraging the wealthiest to "come-back-home" has been a relevant topic which many politician I feel struggle addressing. It seems like Mr. Collins does a good job at bringing up the issue but proposing agreeable solutions seems to be the toughest part. Thanks for writing!
ReplyDeleteDan
I like how you chose to focus on the example of taxes on the one percent. It is easy to criticize how they are treated, yet most people strive to earn money to one day become part of the one-percent. It almost humanizes those above us which Collins does so well.
ReplyDelete-Garrett