Do Wealthy People Have Moral Obligation to Help the Poor?

Introduction to the Moral Debate on Wealth and Poverty

By reading the newspapers and following the news in media, we see that the issue of wealth and poverty is ubiquitous. The divide between poor and rich is getting wider in the whole world. Tak-ing account of the social and economic situation, the climate issue and different political factors of countries, which severely restraint their development, one can see that poverty is rising. The world needs an action plan to fight poverty and to ensure the survival of millions of people. When we drive past poor areas and see people without housing, without food and without any basic necessities, should we help them? Is there a moral obligation or should we think that those people are lazy and should work harder and be more proactive and so they would not be in that situation? And what about people in other countries? People in the developing countries? Should those people suffer from hunger and disease because of political instability and the global warm-ing? Is this their fault that they are not born into advanced societies? The discussion about help-ing poor people and especially that wealthy people should help the disadvantaged population is a question that I have been dealing with since a long time. “Do wealthy people have moral obliga-tion to help the poor?” is the key question of this essay. I believe I have a moral obligation to help the poor because I have been blessed with more than I effectively need in life. I see it as a duty to share what I have been blessed with. In my opinion, poverty is not a choice. All persons have a moral obligation to prevent suffering and that is why I think wealthy people have moral obligation to help the poor. In the following, I will briefly define the terms poverty and wealth, and I will argue why wealthy people have the moral obligation to help.

Defining Poverty and Wealth in Today's Society

The UNESCO (United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) defines poverty as the lack or the scarcity of money and material possessions due to different economic, political and social factors. Today it is widely that one cannot consider only the economic part of poverty. Moreover, it is considered to undermine human rights (UNESCO, 2018). In my mind, poverty exists on many levels. It is not merely the lack of financial resources, rather, the imposition of barriers. Barriers to healthcare, barriers to choices, barriers to education. It is a deprivation of possibilities and the inability to live a safe and healthy life. Poverty means to me also to have less than the basic needs. I associate the term with the failure of society to distribute wealth equally. People are dying and suffering because they are not able to cover their basic needs while others live in abundance.

Living in abundance means to me being wealthy. Peter Singer a renowned utilitarian defines wealthy and thus wealthy people as persons with greater income than the need to cover the basic necessities. After satisfying the basic needs, such as food, housing options, and healthcare, wealthy people have sufficient income to meet other expenses (e.g. luxury articles and long-distance travels) (Singer, 2013a, p. 343). When people talk about being wealthy, they often focus on the high income level. Also for me, wealth means having a high income, which allows to en-sure the basic needs and have more possibilities and perspectives in life.

The Growing Divide Between Rich and Poor

The difference in wealth, between the rich and the poor is a big issue in the present time. For me it is the case that if wealth were more equally distributed, a lot of suffering and death could be avoided. But does that mean that the wealthy people should help the poor? My answer is: Yes.

One reason for my position is a religious one. As a Muslim woman, I’ve grew up with the Five Pillars of Islam. These pillars are considered as five basic acts in the religion and consist of Sha-hada (Faith), Salah (Prayer), Zakat (Charity), Sawm (Fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage). My father always taught me that in his eyes the most important pillar is the Zakat, the charity. Being a good, empathic and generous person is the aim. Although I am not very religious, the Zakat is im-portant to me. Feeding the poor, donating and helping the unfortunate is a moral and religious obligation to me. Also in Christianity and in other religions, charity is an important aspect. Help-ing the poor should be natural and morally obligated.

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Peter Singer's Ethical Argument for Assisting the Impoverished

That statement corresponds to the thoughts of Peter Singer. In his book “The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty”, Singer (2013b, pp. 15–16) presents his argument why peo-ple are in fact morally obligated to help the world’s poor. He also mentions religious aspects and underlies that putting itself in the place of others, is what thinking ethically is all about. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the Golden Rule from the words of Jesus and is remarkably universal and being found in all other world religions. To illustrate his argument, he uses the example of a child drowning in a pond. He maintains that if you saw a child drowning and you were in a position to save this child, you should do so because it is morally obligated. A child halfway across the world is no different to a child drowning or dying in front of you, just because you cannot see it.

The Visibility of Poverty in the Media Age

In my view, the pretext of not seeing the misery all over the world is no longer valid. Today, in the wake of the increasing opening of image worlds through media and internet, no one can ig-nore the terrible situation of humanitarian crisis. Through the media, people can see what is hap-pening and how poverty increases. Wealthy people may realize that there is poverty, but I think that a lot of them do not see a reason to help. Why helping the poor? I repeat that poverty gener-ally is not a choice. We are all born not knowing where our social standing will be. We could born poor, or we could be born wealthy and in industrialized countries and every one should be aware of this.

Global Income Disparity and Its Implications

If we take a look at the map “The World by Income” provided by the World Bank, we can realize that income is not equally distributed in the world and the poorest countries (if high income means wealth) are located in the southern hemisphere (The World Bank, 2017). Large areas of Africa and parts of southern Asia and the Middle East are affected by low income effects. From my point of view it is not only about the low income level, but also other factors play a crucial role.

The Role of Climate Change and Historical Factors in Poverty

Therefore I have to deal with the climate change or more precise the global warming. Around the world, people are experiencing with the effect of climate change. The impacts affect every coun-try on every continent, but people living in the world’s poorest areas are the most vulnerable. Many people living in poverty rely on natural and agricultural resources. These resources ensure their survival. The effects of global warming like for instance limited water resources are a real matter of life and death. Moreover, the climate change increases competition which often intensi-fies conflicts over resources. Because of the lack of food, undernutrition is an impact of climate change and people die or move away from their home countries. Some wealthy people may won-der how the climate change and the resulting impacts concern them. In my opinion they are not directly responsible, but we all have an influence on the climate situation. Wealthy people can afford to travel all over the world. The environmental impact of aviation is well known. Emis-sions are changing our climate and damaging the environment. Therefore wealthy people should help the poor because through frequent flights, what lives depend on, gets destroyed. Helping them by being more aware of the climate change, which for instance could mean that a millionaire in New York has to forgo truffle from Italy and consume more regional products.

Another reason in my eyes is a historical one. Enslavement and colonisation had also their im-pact on poverty. Nunn (2008) explored empirically whether the effects of the slave trades can explain part of Africa’s underdevelopment. He combined data of the number of slave shipped from each port or region in Africa with data from historical documents, which deal with the eth-nic identities of slaves taken from the continent. He found out that the parts of Africa that are the poorest today are also the regions from which the largest number of slaves were taken in the past. According to Nunn these findings cannot be taken as conclusive evidence, but there is a correlation between enslavement and poverty in Africa. These findings show me that the wealthy people in the developed countries have a moral obligation to help the poor. They should see that poverty is influenced by several factors and that perhaps their ancestors were involved in this sad chapter of human history.

I agree somehow that a lot of people think it is the duty of the government to combat poverty. However, it is up to all people and especially to people who are more prosperous to fight against poverty. A good example for helping the poor is “The Giving Pledge”, created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet. The Giving Pledge is an arrangement by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to give back. It invites and in-spires billionaires to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or other charitable causes in their will or during lifetime. The aim is to benefit society and each person who pledges makes an individual decision which particular causes they wish to support (The Giving Pledge, 2019). Why do I believe that this is a good idea? I think that this arrangement in-spire the HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals) also to think about helping the poor and giving something back to society. Also the next generations of HNWIs will imitate their parents and could generate an impact on moral thinking. The kind of this extreme giving is needed in our society because the rich have been getting so much richer and the poor vice versa. For the bil-lionaires the wealth they have has no real utility to them because they are not able to spend their whole money for themselves. But that wealth has incredible utility and impact to other people and especially to poor people. It can build schools, hospitals and infrastructure in the Third World and consequently help fight world poverty.