J2T3W4 CA: Should Billionaires Exist?

Question 1

According to a 2017 Oxfam report, the top (A) billionaires own as much combined wealth as (B)

Answer 1

A: 8
B: the poorest half of the human race

Question 2

There are (A) Singaporeans on Forbes’ 2019 Billionaires list.

Answer 2

A: 22

Question 3

A report by Wealth-X in September 2019 showed that nearly (A) of the world’s richest people are self made. Only (B) of global high-net-worth individuals were categorized as having completely inherited their wealth.

Answer 3

A: 68%
B: 8.5%

Question 4

Philanthropic work of Bill Gates (Gavi)

Answer 4

Bill Gates has given millions of dollars overseas to the cause of combating malaria and promoting immunization, which has proven surprisingly effective: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided $750 million in seed funding to establish Gavi, a non profit organization that specializes in providing vaccines in poor countries. In total, the foundation has given the group over USD$4 billion as of 2021. A WHO report estimated that Gavi provided 888 million immunizations and averted 15 million deaths and is responsible for supplying 1.5 billion COVID vaccines worldwide.

Question 5

Mistreatment of workers in Amazon.

Answer 5

Many workers at Amazon are earning the minimum wage of $15 an hour. Workers have claimed to be “treated like robots” and subject to extremely unsafe working conditions.They are also barred from joining or forming unions to collectively bargain for better conditions.

Furthermore, in April 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak wore on, workers from Amazon’s warehouse and shipping facilities voiced concerns about their personal safety, as Amazon failed to provide them with protective equipment or masks and hand sanitizers, even in the 50 Amazon facilities where at least one case of Covid-19 had been reported. Furthermore, as more workers fell ill, all Amazon did was give each worker a additional US$2 an hour, while continuing to hire masses of new workers to replace those unable to work. This led to the New York General Attorney suing Amazon in Feb 2021 for their blatant negligence of health and safety requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question 6

***Elaborate: Billionaires can end up corrupting democracy when they use their wealth to fund politicians to sway the into adopting polices that are beneficial to themselves

Answer 6

Ideal of democracy - where each person in society has equal worth and political power, symbolized by the rule of “one man, one vote”

Billionaires, using their wealth and influence, can shift social and economic policies to their favor. Billionaires may lobby and donate money to the candidates that they prefer, who promise to enact policies that allow these billionaires to maintain our increase their wealth.

For example, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon and richest man in the world, bought over the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. The Washington Post is a major American daily newspaper with a global readership. In 2016, the Washington Post ran 16 negative stories against the Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who championed progressive wealth tax, in 16 hours. This had a detrimental impact on his chances of getting elected by giving American people a negative impression of him.

The ability of billionaires to sway political leaders, in a way that prioritizes their own agenda over the interests of the ordinary masses, is a direct threat to democracy.