General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The $38,000 hand bag: if you had more money, how would your lifestyle change? [View all]hedgehog
(36,286 posts)she has helped more people than she knows. She has my respect.
The question of societal values comes back to individual values, I think. As long as in our heart of hearts, we secretly hope to be one of the 1%, we will never get around to redistributing the wealth this economy produces. Even as I type this, I hesitate because wealth redistribution is such a bad phrase to so many people. It's a matter of recognizing that the cleaner who mops the floor in a surgical suite is as important as the heart surgeon who works there. Maybe it's OK for the heart surgeon to earn more, but the person with the mop deserves to at least make a decent living! Toss in that their roles may be reversed if they'd had each other's parents, and the entire attitude of "I worked hard so I deserve this" becomes questionable.
I just re-read your OP and realized that you asked the most succinct question: "Is Oprah entitled to spend her money as she pleases? "
I think my answer is "yes, but"
Yes, but within limits. Even if very wealthy people give to charity, it is important for us to realize that that also is an expression of power. Bill Gates is to be applauded for the money he gives to improve life in the third world. But is anyone comfortable knowing he is also spending money to impose his vision of primary education on the rest of us? At a certain point, and I don't know what that point would be, the money has to be seen as a result less of individual effort and more of a glitch in our economic system. I don't want millionaires donating money to their projects; I think it should be taxed so all of us can decide what direction we want society to take.