By Abdulillah

I must say, with all the commotion going on we have forgotten this basic old adage. Unfortunately; we in our beloved land seem to have forgotten what makes money actually work for the benefits of society. Too often we see the rich and elites of our country, who have benefited from our countries resources, sit on their vast treasures of wealth socked away in foreign bank accounts or obscured under a mattress.

These few one percenters – who unlike the Bill Gates of Microsoft and Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway who give from their wealth for betterment of their society and the world are sitting holding tight to what they have, spending only on themselves, with little or no philanthropy to for it. They drive their beloved luxury cars all over the city, not worrying about the potholes in the streets or that poverty and unemployment has been gripping the nation that they managed to make their riches in.

Now I know you all will say, hey Abdulillah are you stating that getting rich is wrong? This sounds like sour grapes to me- and you would be right! However; this is not what I am talking about. I am simply stating that this is happening all over the world these days. It seems that in the past few years, money in the form of greed and excess in this country and the world at large has been tolerated, and more than that, it is celebrated, while our economy and country suffers, and where the new mantra is “ME” and to hell with the rest”.

What has surprised me is that these one percenters, however cannot seem to open their eyes to the injustice around them. They say we have made it from our hard work, and bold innovative thinking taking all risks, and why should we have to share of our hard earned wealth with anyone.

They say behind snickering faces and behind lying teeth that this disparity that is growing more and more each day is from a natural growth in the global economy, while they continue to make more money each day off a rigged system that they managed to set in place such that they never lose. Whilst; the fast disappearing middle class now joining the fast growing poor class is being burdened with long hours at work, for less pay and where the mother cannot stay home but has to work long hours alongside her husband to make ends meet.

Did they stop there, no; they continue to flaunt this wealth. You see these people in their large gas guzzling luxury vehicles cruising the streets of Amman, Karak, Tafileh, Zarqa and many other depressed locations with no worries on their mind as to where their next meal may come from. They do not worry why only around their large mansions the asphalt has been laid, the streets and sidewalks are cleaned, and the trees are well trimmed as they sit in café’s sucking on the ends of water pipe hose’s, while the 99 percent others suffer each day going from one municipality to the other trying their best to get someone to hear their pleas for relief.

These elites have been exposed by the leaders of our nation for what they are, vampires who live off the blood of others – only you can add suffering to that. When they are done with the victim they leave him to die and move to the other. They use their positions in some cases to change laws and even worse to outright bribe and steal the public’s money.

Worse than that; when they are found to have done this, they either run off and never pay any of the public’s money back or when they are dismissed from their lucrative positions for being dishonest brokers on behalf of the people, they lash back out in devilish whispers to whomever will lend them an ear, how they are the ones that kept the country strong and without them the country would fail. They continue with the scryers from across vast oceans to denounce our leaders and us, by trying their best to division and suspicion between the people and their leaders.

They have been shoveling at us more male cow manure if you ask me. If they truly represented the good of our society, they would have been the first to stand up and lend a hand by putting their wealth to use in this country, instead of taking those long vacations abroad as they nest on their ill-gotten gains. They would have visited the hospitals and schools like our leaders have been doing to see where they can help. Like providing new computers for elementary schools or pre-mature baby incubators in hospitals, or building new parks for children or public libraries.

I am sorry my fellow citizens to tell you that the world is changing and for the worse. Especially in these trying times – it seems egalitarianism has died, replaced by greed, ego and self-aggrandisement. Whatever happened to godly behavior – where a person gives from his wealth as every religion on earth asks us to do, where money and wealth are distributed by spreading it around then hoarding? Unfortunately; the new mantra most popular today is “the person with the most toys wins”.

I say instead of putting these greedy, Midas like 1 percenter elites in white collar 4 and 5 star jails when caught, such that they may continue to live off of the public dole. I say we make them live in the poor areas stripped of their wealth and prestige - where they have to fend for a living, cleaning and filling potholes in the street like the rest of 99 percenters, and when they finish their allotted terms, we boot them to the corner next to their foreign advocates- who by then would have deserted them so that they may learn what it means to have such fair weather friends, instead of country and a public beholden to them for their philanthropy.