Namaste friends, I have not written a blog for a bit. I hope you enjoy this incomplete snippet from "Dancing With God."
How different our world would be if we stood united in demanding our governments guarantee all people entitlement to a middle class standard of living.
Almost everyone is limited by a shortage of money, we all want a better quality of life. Why is it; three out of every four of us are destined to never own a home, have savings in the bank or travel beyond national borders? Few people in the world are wealthy enough to choose whatever they want from life. Most can only dream of wealth; in fact, only .013% of the global population are millionaires. There are two commonly accepted definitions for millionaire; those who have assets totaling more than 1 million, or, those with over 1 million in investment capital. If we use the first definition; we can estimate, 24.2 million of earths citizens are millionaires. I prefer using the second guideline; which equates to an estimate of 10 million millionaires currently on the planet. Roughly one out of every seven hundred thousand people become a millionaire. Fill ten professional football stadiums with people; the global average tells you only one person would be a millionaire. Almost one third of all Millionaires live in America, as a result many Americans have a hard time realising how few people actually achieve this level of financial freedom. If you are not a sports fan; imagine the following. If America had an average per capita representation of millionaires, then there would only be 441 millionaires in the entire country. As it stands now; roughly one out of every 100 Americans (3 million people) are millionaires. There was a time when being a millionaire meant you could stop working. This is not the case for most; a recent Forbes study indicated 46% of all millionaires stated they did not feel rich. Forbes goes on to sympathise with the rich by further stating; it would take 7.8 million dollars in 2010 currency to equate to the purchasing power of a mere 1 million 1958 dollars. Having never had more than $ 10,000 in the bank; I find it hard to comprehend how a millionaire could feel financially challenged. Possibly, Forbes could commission another study; to determine a name for the mental disorder which causes such harmful misrepresentations of personal wealth.
Looking into the bay window of a mansion; what do we find? It appears they have more of everything. As well, the quality of their possessions are far superior to that of the average household. I am sure they eat at fancy restaurants, travel around the world staying in five star accommodations. If we are to be honest; everyone desires wealth, fame and prestige. I would love a heaping serving of all three, especially the cash. There are people who smugly maintain they wouldn't want to be rich or famous; I have stood on that pulpit more than once. Such rants usually go on to iterate a bevy of reasons why wealth is a curse. Convincing as these arguments can be; I doubt very much anyone would toss a winning lottery ticket in the bin. Possibly the greatest artificial commonality of global humanity is that we have been programmed to desire and amass money. Money represents freedom; it is seen by a large segment of society as the only viable outlet from misery.
What would I do if I were a multi millionaire?
This question is best answered by honestly inquiring into our personal dreams. It is not easy to remain honest in answering such a question. Ego will want to step forward to paint self as a loving, caring, wonder being. Singing from the highest branches; ego will usually spew a list of altruistic desires akin to sharing the wealth or enriching the lives of others. Like a politicians promissory note; such lists mostly consist of shallow pipe dreams. Blatherings of ego aside; I think we all know the next big jackpot winner is most likely to rip snort it down the highway of self indulgence. Why not indulge! More than likely, the next winner is going to be a working class stiff just like you, me, or the neighbour. The human race has chosen to exist in a state of continual need. We believe everything is in limited supply; therefore, we have been trained to covet and hoard. I would have no problem with people being wealthy, if, everyone had an equal share. There is more than enough for all of humanity to live in abundance.
When it comes to hoarding material wealth; few are more adept than billionaires. It is estimated there are 1003 billionaires in the world today. This represents .0000000014% of the total population. There is no point in even taking a stab at trying to define their lifestyle. It reminds me of the old joke; Question:"What does a 1,200 pound Grizzly bear eat?" Answer:"Whatever it want's."
All kidding aside; billionaires are a problem. In a world that insists on using money to fuel the gears of survival; we take on a massive burden when we allow a billionaire to enslave millions. Think of it this way; there does exist a limited amount of material wealth. Most global economists agree; the total material wealth on the planet is roughly calculated to be 70 trillion dollars. If all this wealth were to be equally divided; each person would have about $ 10,000 in wealth. From this reasoning we can deduce that if one person were to own 1 billion dollars in wealth; then 1 million people would have to be limited to only 10 dollars in wealth to accommodate the rich persons excess. If we take this paradigm to the ultimate level we find a shocking revelation. Conspiracy theorists estimate; the wealth of the Rothschild and Rockefeller families to total over 10 trillion dollars. Wow, that would amount to the equal share of over 1 billion people.
Having tossed about a good deal of numbers in this chapter; I feel a proviso is in order. Using statistical data to support an argument is much like trying to climb an icy slope. We must accept; the ground upon which statistical arguments are made is only as firm as the ethical resolve of those correlating the data. Essentially, an emotional quotient exists; inversely proportional to the scientists vested interest. If I am a dairy farmer adding up total milk production; more than likely my figures will remain true; as there are a limited number of variables and I experience no gain by incorrectly totaling production. If I am an economist determining dispersal of global wealth; more than likely my figures will be skewed by emotional investment. Everyone has an axe to grind, myself included. Statistics are most often used as a whet stone upon which arguments are honed. As such, we must never consider statistics as accurate interpretations based on empirical certaintudes, rather statistics best serve us as indicators of trends. Having now a firmer grip on this icy surface; we can look below to gain a definitive perspective of this shockingly unbelievable global movement toward monetary slavery.
A handful of people are considered trillionaires.
One thousand and three people are assessed as billionaires.
Roughly 10 million people on the planet are millionaires.
About 2.6 billion people are middle class.
3 billion people are lower class eking out day to day survival living on less than $3 per day.
1.4 billion are dying of starvation.
The wealth of the Rothschild family alone could easily feed and house the entire world population.
Hovering in the room like a pink elephant is the big question, how did things get this way?
Most people attribute this ugly situation to economic Darwinism; whereas, financially strong individuals naturally displace weak or less capable competitors. Included in the crass scientific theology is the accepted premise; God's will is being expressed, this is the order of nature. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Darwinism itself is a rendition of nature solely promulgated by the elite; designed to highlight shortage as the promoter of competition. Humans are relegated to constantly fear their inability to maintain a living in this fictional rat race. This delusional depiction of jungle survival is not human nature, nor is it animal nature, it not natural at all. This entire construct is the elite method of using fear to control and divide the masses. Class structures in society are designed to handcuff unity by encouraging us to climb over each other in the rise to imaginary financial freedom. We have all been taught to recognise specific causalities of poverty: lack of intelligence, laziness, instability, criminality, craziness, physical disabilities, or just being born in the wrong place. The root of Darwinian ethos firmly states; equality is an impossibility, moreover, it is a fools dream. The moment we choose to exact a quantitative evaluation; we set ourselves up to create an apex, a mean and it's corresponding nadir. Not every bird will get a worm; one must rise early to capture the prize, thereby earning the right to prosper in health. Having established competition as the basis for existence; society is compelled to glorify success and malign failure. Everyone gets a number stuck on their back; away we go, the race is on. By hook or crook; whomever collects the most paper wins.
Standing back from the insanity of fiscal Darwinism, even for a moment. We can ask ourselves; is this who we truly are? Is this the ultimate reason for our existence? Do we need pause to answer these rhetorical queries! Hell no, we are not yet so weak in the knees that our champion, Eros, could be slayed by a paper tiger. Shallow is the mind that trusts a paper God should trump the ultimate truth of love.
In Lak' ech, dear brethren, illusions of love...
