Tycoons in the New Economy

The world’s social unrest and the demand for social justice bring out prolonged frustration, particularly among the middle class and the less affluent portions of society. These classes bear most of the burden for the global rise in the cost of living and growing inequality...

One of the reasons why anger is turned against tycoons is the disproportionate level of centralization of wealth. Currently, 1% of the world’s population holds 40% of the world’s wealth. Such extreme centralization affects the stability of the financial system and economic activity throughout the market, since the dominance of the firms owned by the tycoons affects public welfare, which is subject to ties and interests of the dominant firms, their strategies, and the priorities of a ruling few...

The criticism of tycoons reflects the criticism of the extremes to which capitalism has been taken—cultivating consumerism and extreme inequality, and compelling us to lead a life of stress, debt, and constant pressure as we pursue a never-achieved happiness from acquiring material possessions. Studies indicate that people who focus on materialism tend to suffer from high levels of anxiety and depression...

There is a degree of dishonesty in the enmity toward tycoons and the desire to see them fall. We love to hate tycoons because we are not tycoons. In all likelihood, if I were a tycoon, I would defend with all my heart the economic and social system that allows for our emergence...

We can argue about whether or not the system is just, but in fact, the majority of people depend on tycoons for their livelihood. We need to understand that we are all in the same boat and in the same economic system, in which we are all interdependent. Evidently, the current method is not ideal, and manipulations of powerful people and institutions have a lot to do with its faults, but we cannot upend the system altogether. Attempting to create social justice by destroying tycoons will actually destroy the society that destroys them, and the first to suffer will be those who depend on tycoons for their livelihood—nearly all of us—because they’ll be out of a job...

While it is tempting to head out to the streets and yell out demands for justice, actually doing so would only worsen the situation. After all, when has destruction led to good results? From the bloody French Revolution through the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and up to the 2011 revolution in Egypt, rarely—if ever—has a revolution achieved positive results. While the situation that emerged after the dust settled and the blood dried might have improved aspects of life prior to the revolution, if humanity could evolve into better states instead of revolting into them, it would be better for all...

The demonstrations throughout the world calling for social justice, and the damage to the economy and to society from over centralization, inequality, and the unchecked power of tycoons, have pressured governments into acting to reduce the centralization and the influence of tycoons...

First, it is important to note that in a mutual guarantee-based system in the global and connected world, tycoons have their rightful place. The equality required in a harmonious society is not absolute equality, but is relative and idiosyncratic, where each receives according to one’s needs and contribution to society. If a businessperson frequently travels abroad and needs a private jet to be more mobile and efficient, thus providing his or her many employees with work, than that person should have a jet. In such a case, it is not a luxury but a necessary tool from which the entire society benefits...

The harmonious way of life we have described may seem unrealistic and far-fetched, but the global crisis caused by the competitive and individualistic nature of our current way of life, compared to the way we ought to live in our global and connected world, will accelerate the change...