Anyone on the far left spectrum of politics can tell you that I'm not a very good progressive. I'm risk averse, somewhat apologetic to capitalism, cynical and ready to compromise. I quiver when it comes to talk of a "revolution" to overthrow an entrenched economic system. I have no problem with making millions of dollars and am open to doing that myself one day.
But what happened today to my former colleagues at DNAInfo and Gothamist had really made me rethink a lot of things. First, you all know, I understand the life of an underpaid, overworked, under appreciated local news reporter. I did it for seven years. At no point in those seven years was I making enough money to be financially independent. I did it because my parents paid for my food, shelter and transportation. Very few people are offered that privilege, especially in New York City. Many of my colleagues went into debt taking care of their cars, which they needed to get around, or paying to live in leaky, drafty basements. They did it because they loved journalism and hoped for better times. It rarely worked out for them and they left the industry for better paying jobs - and were branded as sellouts for it, even by readers themselves.
In the 1950s, one in three Americans were members of unions. When the cost of living rose, and business owners scoffed at raises, unions were there to fight to make sure workers got what they needed to feed and take care of their families.
This year, all the reporters for DNAInfo and Gothamist asked for were the same benefits one in three workers had in their parents' and grandparents' generations. And what they got was a billionaire who had just bought their company seven months ago on a whim, shutting it down, leaving them unemployed and walking away with his billions. On top of that, he scrubbed the internet of their work, not only wiping out their source of pride, but also the items they need to compete for jobs in an already dwindling pool. He ruined lives, all because they asked for just a little bit more. He's not the first one to do it, he's just the latest, and we as Americans keep tolerating it.
In my discussions about this, I came across this guy, who proceeded to tell me that billionaire businessmen do lose everything when businesses they run fail (his example was Bernie Madoff believe it or not). When countered with "they rarely do," he said "why should I lose my fortune that I invested?"
Then he said what he'd do with a billion dollars (see the Tweet). It may seem reasonable to you, but it shocked the hell out of me. Here's why:
What he doesn't realize, or does and doesn't care, is that behind every one of those business ventures, there are mothers and fathers trying to pay rent and mortgage, trying to feed their children, trying to take care of a sick relative, or their own health issues. The idea that someone would take their billions and play Russian Roulette with the livelihoods of hardworking Americans astounds me, but here he is, admitting that is what he'd do. The rich, he seemed to argue, are above accountability. Their accountability is making the tough decision to fire a single mother, or a father with a sick child. That was accountability to him. But when the venture fails, they just throw up their hands and walk away with their billions las if they just had a string of bad luck at a penny slot machine at Tropicana and not gambled with something that provides a path to the American Dream to dozens, hundreds of thousands of people who weren't lucky enough to pop out of a million-dollar uterus. Then they apparently cry in the daiquiris poolside about the people they had to lay off, and we're supposed to get warm, fuzzy feelings from the few minutes they think about us between their luxury spa treatments or holes of golf.
There may have been a time when the rich cared about people; when they saw their wealth as a debt that needed to be repaid; when they felt their reputation mattered more than their money and building a thriving middle class with happy and satisfied workers was in everyone's interest - and in that time, maybe capitalism worked. That is no longer the case it seems. Too many people seek only one reality - to make more money, no matter how many mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and families they have to destroy to do it. People are expendable. Lives are expendable. We're just pawns in their live-action game of Monopoly.
They've become a poison on society. And too many people throw their hands up and say "that's life, what can you do?"
You can do plenty, all you need to do is want to. We built a thriving middle class before, we can do it again. If Capitalism can't provide that, then its time we got innovative and come up with something else.
And if you can't muster up enough empathy to be even a little bit outraged at what a man worth $2.1 billion did to hardworking journalists who barely make enough money to survive, then I dare say we have no redeeming qualities in common and finding common ground is a fruitless exercise. YOU are the problem and YOU are the one who needs to do some soul searching.