BY: AIDAN MACNAB

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

These were Uncle Ben’s dying words to his nephew Peter Parker.

So why am I quoting Spiderman? Because it is an essential lesson for anyone with any kind of power or privilege. Those who have it, have an obligation to those who don’t. It’s this layer of empathy, and a seasoning of humility that separates super heroes from super villains.

By next year, the world’s richest 1% is set to have as much wealth as the bottom 99. But that figure is not even as stunning as the fact that the richest 85 people on the planet have more than the 3.5 billion on the bottom half.

To those of us without trust funds, who don’t know what dressage is and aren’t likely to don the cover of Forbes magazine, these stats feel like a call to insurrection. But for a small number of those on top, their privileged reality can serve as a call to action.

There is a small movement of the very rich using their resources, not for photo-op, tax-deductible philanthropy, but charity backed by an ideology representative of Uncle Ben’s dying words.

Credit: Farhad A. Ebrahimi

Farhad Ebrahimi is an Iranian-American whose father made a fortune as a tech industry entrepreneur. His activism first focused on climate change, but as he peeled the layers of that issue, he found that it was part of a crisis of capitalism, the same crisis driving income inequality to such astounding levels.

He founded the Chorus foundation with 25 million dollars of his own money and says that he will only keep as much of his inheritance and assets as he needs to cover his cost of living.

Chorus works for a “just transition” away from the “extractive economy,” to the “regenerative economy.” They want to empower the 99% to wrestle economic and political power away from the moneyed elite that has captured the government and refuses to allow solutions to climate change to interfere with their profits.

Over the last ten years they have been investing time and resources in eastern Kentucky because of the fossil fuel industry’s influence and effect on that region.

Ebrahimi is also on the steering committee of Solidaire, an organization made up of wealthy people who use their resources to fund political, social and environmental movements. They have an interest in groups which are “collaborative,” “have an intersectional analysis on the relationship between economics, racism, climate, gender and sexual orientation,” and are “working for systemic change,” by “building power in communities.” Idle No More and Tar Sands Blockade are among their grantees.

Naomi Sobel inherited a staggering sum when she was in junior college. She calls the self-made businessman “a myth.”

There is an emotional distress created by massive wealth that can lead to soul sickness and feelings of isolation—so much so that some American aristocrats are forking over $400 an hour for “wealth therapy.”

Sobel thinks this is a ridiculous way to cope with the moral deficit of inequality.

Naomi Sobel is a heiress to a huge fortune as well. She helped start Resource Generation, a “space for both support and political education among young people with wealth.” The group is around because amidst so much inequality, wealth can carry with it a soul sickness and feelings of isolation. This feeling is prevalent enough among the American aristocracy that many are forking over $400 an hour to therapists specializing in “wealth therapy.”

They believe that the distress created by massive wealth and a conscience, is only curable by giving to others. This attitude has scientific backing. Michael Norton, who wrote Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, did a study at UBC where students were given money and told either to spend it on themselves or someone else. Those who chose others ended up happier, while the ones who spent it on themselves felt the same.

Sobel’s family made their money from construction and mining. She believes that those whose fortunes made from public investment should feel an obligation to the public.

Sobel is a member of Astraea Lesbian foundation, which works to promote the rights of LGTBQ people. She calls the self-made businessman a “myth.”

Members of Astraea’s grantee partner celebrates an event in support of the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender community in Singapore

Credit: Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

Sobel’s family made their money in construction and mining, in the early 20^th century, beneficiaries of federal contracts for infrastructure projects, including the Hoover Dam. She says these projects relied on government grants for investment and existing infrastructure.

That’s why now she’s an advocate of ending “Reaganomic” tax-cuts for the rich, as the revenue is so needed for public investment. She feels anyone whose wealth came out of public investment like hers, should feel an obligation to the public.

Ronald Reagan, 40^th U.S. President created economic policies that called for widespread tax cuts, a decreased social spending to increase military spending and the deregulation of domestic markets.

After all this positivity, it seems necessary to include a disclaimer. It is not as if the aforementioned 85 super-rich are falling over themselves to better their community. If a majority of the 1% felt the same way as Sobel and Ebrahimi do, we wouldn’t have this level of disparity between haves and have-nots. The efforts of these exceptional wealthy individuals are only necessary because so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of people who spend their time lobbying governments to lower their taxes, break unions and keep their employees’ (if they actually employ anyone) income as low as possible. But Sobel and Ebrahimi are aware of that and it’s what they are fighting against.

Image sources: razoo.com