Targeting Michael Bloomberg

Micheal Bloomberg has approximately 48 billion dollars to his name…or so that is what is reported. Michael Bloomberg is the 6th richest man in America and the 8th richest in the world. His fortune is accumulating daily, exponentially, the way all billionaires portfolio’s accumulate. Michael Bloomberg is known for his media company and for the fact that he was the mayor of New York in the early 2000's.

When Bloomberg wakes up tomorrow…what is he going to do with his colossal 48 billion. His is like the hand of God. He could change the lives of millions and millions with a single stroke of his pen and beat of his heart. Just imagine for a second how much suffering Michael Bloomberg could alleviate in this country if he wanted to…it is perverse. The same can be said for Mark Zuckerberg who has 53 billion dollars by virtue of creating a social media platform. I’m sure he has some charitable foundations, everyone with money has charitable foundations…it is a public relations nightmare not to (just look at Trump). Also, from a tax standpoint it is good policy to have charitable giving…and, let’s assume for the sake of it that Bloomberg actually feels good about his giving to charities….

Now, imagine tomorrow Bloomberg were to wake up and decide to hire a group of young students to be in charge of notifying random families of need that they have just received a gift of $10,000. Michael Bloomberg declines being mentioned in this charitable act but instead he gives this pleasure to the many young people he has hired to notify these struggling families (one young person per struggling family that receives $10,000)….Now, imagine that Bloomberg does this for 300 struggling families…families that are in the fights of their lives….that is 300 families X $10,000…that is $300,000. Now, Imagine that Bloomberg did this everyday for a year….that makes out to be approximately 1 billion dollars…that still leaves Bloomberg with a paltry 47 billion.

So, each day for a year 300 kids get to experience what it is like to tell a struggling family that they have received $10,000. That is about 100,000 young persons who are likely to be transformed by seeing the faces of a family that has just heard that they have received $10,000. (Imagine if any of those 100,000 young people were transformed enough to make a big difference in the lives of others in years to come)

Also, Imagine that 100,000 families over the course of a year will have had their lives totally changed as a result of the gift that came indirectly from Bloomberg….And, now imagine the ripple effect of that distribution of compassion and wealth over the course of a year…..

And do this every year……..

Michael Bloomberg won’t feel this loss in his wealth any more than he feels the breeze generated from a flies’ wings that is flying on a different continent from where he is standing. He wouldn’t feel it if he did it 47X as much as that…he would still be left with 1 billion dollars….

Yet, Michael Bloomberg doesn’t do this….he hordes his 48 billion. He doesn’t think creatively about ways to change lives on this level. If you have that amount of wealth and you aren’t spending most of your waking hours thinking about how to eliminate suffering with it…then it is a crime against humanity. You are the problem. You are greed personified…selfishness personified….apathy personified.

I’m not saying that Michael Bloomberg doesn’t have some great qualities or that he has no philanthropic tendencies…I do think that giving 1 billion dollars to John Hopkins University, his alma mater (which he has over the course of his life) is much much different and much more detached than giving sums of money to struggling families….

Michael Bloomberg has 48 billion dollars and according to his own website "Bloomberg Philanthropies" he gave 510 million dollars to charity last year. That is approximately 1% of his wealth. That is unbelievably thoughtless and selfish. And much of that went to schools he attended and bureaucratic institutions.

In going to one of the Bloomberg companies websites I took this definition of what Bloomberg L.P. is all about. Bloomberg is a “data and media company that connects influential decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people, and ideas. Bloomberg L.P.’s great strength – quickly and accurately delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, it delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.”

I can decode that definition by telling you that Bloomberg is in the business of making rich people richer. I doubt if Bloomberg News and Data does anything dramatic to help the working class people of America. It is a financial information based media agency…It connects financial “movers and shakers”.

Whether you believe the Bible or not….there is a passage from it that I believe is transcendent for all people, be they religious or non religioius…

“To Whom much has been given, much is expected”. Given how good our infrastructure and institutions and financial grid has been to Michael Bloomberg....I expect a lot more.

The biggest problem with this picture is, in my opinion, the culture we live in….it is us....just like the biggest problem with the Trump phenomena isn't Trump...it's you and me. We live in a culture where a man can make billions and billions off of the platform that he inherited….and amass a personal fortune of 48 billion…while at the same time 16% of our country lives in poverty….23% of children under 18 live in poverty in this country...that is the second highest among the 35 developed countries. I bet Bloomberg doesn't know that stat nearly as well as he knows how the Dow Jones closed yesterday at the end of trading. Bloomberg can stroll around in his 3 piece suit and give speeches and no one expects him to do one thing to help others…there is no cultural expectation or burden on him whatsoever to give even one cent of his fortune away….(he actually did give 1 cent of his dollar to charity last year). That is pathetic….If he were to walk down 5th Avenue and curse at people who are walking by, and call them “losers” and give beggars 5 dollars to kiss his shoes….society would look down on that….that would violate our standard of decent behavior…

But, to horde billions and billions of dollars while your neighbors suffer unspeakable pain…day after day….that is fine in our culture..in our society. Try thinking of it this way: What if there was a disease that was affecting the lives of the great majority of Americans. Michael Bloomberg had the medicine to help alleviate that disease. He had enough of that medicine that he could help millions and millions...but he kept it locked up in his factory. He didn't even give a speck of it to those who are suffering daily from this disease. He just horded it and gave speeches in his 3 piece suit. How would we feel about him then? Well, in my opinion we should feel that same way about him now.

I would love to live in a society where that level of callousness, apathy, greed, will be greeted with boos and hisses every time you step up to a microphone….

It is not appalling to earn billions…knock yourself out...but it is a sickness in my opinion, to horde billions….it is an act of war (by omission) on humanity….

Bloomberg has a legal right to put all his money in a vault in his basement, but he should pay a great price in the courts of public opinion….instead, he is revered, and treated like a God.

And it is inexcusable….

I think that no matter what you do on this planet…whether you make a cell phone with great data capability, or invent gaming Apps, or create a social media platform, or play center for the Cleveland Cavaliers, or if you have a "Big Box" empire throughout the country….Your life is ultimately measured by how much suffering you tried to alleviate in the lives of others….

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” - Horace Mann

Let's face it...everything else is selfish details..

my opinions....