THE UBER-RICH

Let’s consider the uber-rich.  

Have you had that fantasy where, by some quirk of fate, you become a zillionaire?  If you are like me you begin by saying “first, I’ll give a bunch of money to (charity of choice) and then I’ll set up trust funds for all the members of my family.” (Because naturally, this will make you especially beloved and cherished even though historic examples show that your family will probably turn into jackles.)

I just spent a week in Oklahoma, my home state. Oil and gas accounts for the income of 1 of every 5 people in the State and about a third of that 20% are among the uber-rich. Everyone else is pretty much uber-poor. O & G have always been close to the hearts of Oklahomans but fracking created an entirely new batch of zillionaires. Consider the case of Harold Hamm.

Harold is a self-made zillionaire, the youngest of 13 children born of a cotton sharecropper in Enid, Oklahoma. He graduated from high school and yadda-yadda-yadda, now aged 72, is CEO of Continental Resources and in 2014, his net worth approached $20 billion (that’s a “B” for billion).

Sue Ann is divorcing Harold and she wants half of everything. On Jan.6, 2015, Harold tried to buy her off by sitting down and writing her a check for $985,000,000. In true Oklahoma style, she ripped the check up (later amended story: she cashed the check.)

The 2015 State Budget just changed the top income tax rate to 5%, a decrease from 5.25%, allocating $50 million dollars (total) to the Department of Education to support state local schools.  Oklahoma ranks 46 among the 50 United States in public school spending per pupil. Sue Ann could - all by herself - pay for one terrific public school system and Harold could complete the job by sending every single graduate to college. 

Meanwhile, the 6 Walton heirs (Sam Walton: founder of Wal-Mart) hold a combined net worth equal to the bottom 30% of all Americans. They are not Oklahomans; they are Arkansawyers, just over the border. 

So last week, I visited Bentonville, the corporate home of Wal-Mart and site of the brand new Crystal Bridges Art Museum, built by daughter Alice Walton.  Here’s a picture of said museum, designed by Moshe Safdie. Remember him Rochester people? He’s the architect that the County of Monroe paid somewhere around $3.4 million to design Renaissance Square Performing Arts Center that never got built.

Crystal Bridges Museum sits in a surprisingly beautiful rolling terrain surrounded by woods that were frosted with purple wild redbud and white dogwood trees. The collection itself is o.k. There’s a walking trail outside that meanders past large sculptures and lunch was above average.  Admission is free - courtesy of Wal-Mart Foundation and groups of school children may attend courtesy of a $20,000,000 gift from anonymous donor to offset transportation, substitute teachers, etc.

All very nice. But employees of Wal-Mart earn on average $8.81 per hour. There is no health insurance provided for employees working fewer than 24 hours a week and the company is one of several that is pushing to erase  worker comp laws.  Employees work - and shoppers shop- in possibly the Country’s ugliest buildings. Obviously, the bottom line is CHEAP and CHEAPER and American shoppers apparently see no connection between quality of life and quality of goods.

Today, the 30 year old CEO and Founder of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, announced after looking at significant scientific input showing that American workers reach “primary comfort” at earning benchmark of $70,000 per year, that every 120 employees of Gravity Payments would earn … you guessed?…a minimum of $70,000 per year (including himself.)

Mr. Price earned more than a million dollars annually until today’s “voluntary pay cut” so perhaps he has a few dollars set aside for a rainy day. His employees are quoted as saying such things as “my wife and I can start a family now” and “I can finally afford to buy a house for my son and myself.”

Does all this smack of socialism? I don’t know. I have spent my adult life preaching and selling the necessity of art and the value of culture. I want a healthy city symphony and beautiful parks. I protest ugly architecture and hate that the public must often choke down easy, cheap solutions to civic planning.

But in our search for the solution to “what to do about the poor?”, the obvious answer is to start by paying workers more money. And if there must be a choice between education and another art museum, I vote for education.