What does this say about the disparity between rich and poor? It basically says that there is a disparity.
This phrase is hella cliché and it pains me to use it now, because I get so tired of hearing it. (Big sigh) Here goes: the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Wealth is becoming more concentrated basically. Now if you are referring to the disparities between rich and poor in a wealthy nation like the United Kingdom, then it says something different about the disparity. You have rich and poor in the United Kingdom, but I bet the poor in the UK live a whole lot better than the poor in Burundi. If you are talking about the disparity between rich and poor internationally, then that scale is large. When I think of disparities I usually think internationally, not domestically. My family lives below the United States poverty level, but I never felt that the way I grew up should be considered as “poor.” The only difference I saw and still see in wealthier people of the United States is that they have more stuff than I do. I necessarily did not see that as a disparity because I always had enough of what I needed, and even more.
As we can see in the news story, money is not being reallocated to the middle class or poor; it is being reallocated from the wealthy to the wealthy. Damien Hirst was already a wealthy man before the auction, now he is wealthier. He received his money from other wealthy people, and he is going to spend the bulk of his earnings in a way that it gets reallocated back to the wealthy. That is how it goes in a capitalist economy. You have thousands of employees, but only a few business owners who get the big slice. Why does the business owner get the big slice? Because it is their business, they started it, and if it was not for them the employee would not have a job. The employee gets a smaller slice because he/she is a small part of the enterprise. So when Damien Hirst goes to the grocery store, the bulk of the money he is spending is going to the grocery store owner, and the cashier that is ringing up the groceries is getting a smaller slice. As economic growth occurs, usually the number of employees a business has grows, but there is still only one boss. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-mart Stores Inc., built his first Wal-mart down in Arkansas. When his company was small he had a few employees. As his business grew he had to hire more cashiers, stock persons, truck drivers to move the products; he had to build distribution centers and people got employed there. He had to hire regional managers to handle the estimated 3800 stores he has around the United States. Sam’s individual wealth grew way more than many of his employee’s individual wealth combined. I am pretty certain that a substantial amount of people who bought at the auction were wealthy business owners. The owner of the grocery store where Damien Hirst buys his groceries may even have been there. If that was the case Damien got all his money back plus extra for all those loathes of bread he’s bought. LOL
Much of the money being made today is not reallocated to the poor/middle class. Philanthropy and government spending (taxes) are some of the primary ways of reallocating wealth, but they are not too effective as of now. I would say that the rich are holding more wealth than they are giving out, and government spending cannot solve all the disparity problems even though it is a good method.
Ultimately this story shows the rich are not affected as much monetarily during hard times as the poor/middle class.
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