By Frank Yin

Jeff Bezos is “building a yacht roughly the size of Rhode Island at the cost of about $500 million”. To many people, this seems like a reckless decision. Bezos’s $500 million could be spent to help many Americans. However, I see it as a wealthy person trying to enjoy their own fortune. Criticism is necessary but we should have empathy for billionaires.

Over the past 100 years, billionaires have made both effective and ineffective contributions to U.S. society. A responsibility of supporting others has been created for very wealthy people. They have received lots of criticism and hate for “wasting” some opportunities to help others. People are arguing on how to help less fortunate people. For example, the amount of tax extremely wealthy people should pay is a controversial topic.

In the past, many have tried to solve similar issues. For instance, one reason communism was created was to stop inequality between higher and lower classes. However, communism has not been very successful because of its lack of sole motivation. In our capitalistic country, there have been many extremely successful people. But we struggle with what the rich should do to help others.

Criticism gives pressure to rich people to help others which is great for society. When rich people help out, many people benefit. More vaccines have been provided, houses and schools have been built, more support for poverty, and more. But hate is too much. Instead, we should be more sympathetic and give positive feedback to keep motivating them to donate.

There have been examples of donations with bad intentions. For example, GoPro Ceo, Nick Woodman, avoided taxes by donating without much proof. Woodman was able to control where and when he wanted to donate, so he could keep his money in the foundation forever. Woodman was able to save tens of millions of dollars because of his donation. But the money is not owned by Woodman, so will eventually be donated. And most of the time, donors’ intentions are to be generous.

Many billionaires are normal people that are trying to make a comfortable living. But they are given a responsibility to donate because of the resources they have. We should give them less hate and provide a more positive reaction to donations. Most donors are generous and we should appreciate them. While others make controversial actions, we should criticize but also sympathize with them.

Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/23/its-easy-hate-billionaires-they-can-fill-voids/

https://futureexecutives.org/communism-what-exactly-is-it/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/business/donor-advised-funds-tech-tax.htm