: DO YOU REALLY THINK BILL GATES WORKS HARDER THAN A COLUMBIAN COAL MINER OR AN ENGLISH HEALTH WORKER? IS HE EVEN SMARTER THAN MANY WORKING CLASS PEOPLE WITH ONE THOUSANTH OF HIS WEALTH? TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES LIKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF MICROSOFT ARE COLLECTIVE EFFORTS INVOLVING THOUSANDS OF WORKERS YET ECONOMICALLY POWERFUL INDIVIDUALS LIKE BILL GATES ARE ABLE TO EXPLOIT THESE WORKERS TO DIVERT CONSIDERABLE WEALTH TO THEMSELVES. THIS IS PARASITISM. This is an excellent post. No, Bill Gates doesn't work nearly as hard as a Colombian coal miner, or a Malian peasant, or an Indian latrine cleaner. He exemplifoies the fact that power (and wealth) in this society is based not on how hard ypou work, but rather on "possession, privilege and circumstances." 9this is a quote from Tom Hayden, one of my personal heroes, the onetime radical and anti-Vietnam War protester, today a State Senator from California.
And work is not a individualistic enterprise neither, at leats not the work involved in building and designing computer chips. When i see a man like Bill own, what is it, 25 billion dollars? it horrifies and saddens me, for I think of how many babies' lives could be saved for a couple of dollars, how many families could be fed for that muuch money, and how many peopel could be raised up to a decent standard of living. If Bill has 30 billion dollars, that could give 3,000 dollars to 10 million people worldwide. That's equivalent to raising an entire country ;like Burkina Faso to a middle class, reasonable standard of living. that he should have it and they, who really need it, should not is a testament to the fundamental injustice in the system. Can you tell a woman whose baby is dying because she couldn't afford 4 dollars worth of rehydration slats that Bill Gates' luxuris were mroe important than her child's life?
Until we reach a society where people receive according to their needs, the struggle won't be over.
