Is it me or is this stupid. Ok, it's good for the rich to help out, really good in some cases, but it's not fixing the inequality gap. Everyone seems to be blinded by the money to realize they aren't fixing the problem. The rich people are stealing from the poor every day and night of their working lives, so they can give some of it back to the poor, so their kids can have something to steal from the poor. Does that make sense?
To make money in business it is assumed that the business is providing a service to the community, the more you provide the more you make, so both benefit, no stealing from the poor necessary. But I think this is out of whack today. From what I see and read it seems like the competition to stay in business and get rich is pushing companies to move from providing a service to, provide a pretty good service and trick people out of their money any which way they can. Basically amuse and confuse everyone, sell them on promises of happiness that only last until we leave the store, ... aannnnnd they might as well destroy the commons in the process since that is more profitable, or at least has less upfront costs.
You've probably heard this argument before, and you probably think I'm going to say we need regulation or government to step in.
I don't.
I think we all just need help making decisions. If some of those decisions end up in electing people to pass laws to make it illegal to trick us so often then so be it. But it has to start with a systematic, simple, accessible way for us to make better decisions. Start with a wiki page, then have a few services for key things like wealth management, employment, relationship tips, then move into full on one on one services, and try to make the most of a sharing economy. This could be done by a for profit business, or at least using the same principles as one.
I don't know anyone doing this or thinking of doing this. If you do, let me know!
http://www.oxfam.org/en/research/wealth-having-it-all-and-wanting-more