Watched the Oprah Winfrey show today and one of the guests was Jamie Johnson. The topic for the show was 'Class in America', as in in terms of social class. Jamie was there and he was talking about the disparity in America, where 1% of Americans own assets and wealth combined that is more than 90% of those below them.
Jamie was born into a wealthy family and his father inherited a billion dollars from his dad and his dad. Because of the company Johnson and Johnson. You know that shampoo which smells really nice we use? They first started out as a pharmaceutical company though, and later branched out making soaps, shampoos and the like. So Jamie was a very curious person and possibly, he did not like the idea of his family getting so much wealth, and that that wealth was growing. He talked to Milton Freeman questioning whether if the rich stopped getting richer, will the poor get richer? And Milton replied that the difference between the rich and the poor would always be the same, but over the years, the poor have gained some sort of wealth, they were richer than they were before, because of the wealthy. So wouldn't it be better to give the wealth to the rich, because they knew how to spend and spread it out, than giving it to the poor who are uneducated and unskilled, spending it on themselves?
He was raised rich, went to a prep school and went to uni. He decided to make films after that, one is "Born Rich", the other is "The One Percent", and although he has been criticised for his work, by his father and the rest of the socialites, I applaud Jamie for his courage. He was willing and daring enough to go against the upper class norms and think of all the people less well off. His film made me think a lot, and there are a lot of lessons to be learnt.
Very thought provoking.
