As wealth concentrates in the hands of the ultra-rich, overall demand declines and economic stagnation deepens. The rapid accumulation of massive fortunes by figures such as Bill Gates and Son Masayoshi represents the very mechanism of inequality itself, while the mass media that glorified them became its accomplice. Drawing on an essay by Joseph Stiglitz in Newsweek, this piece exposes the structural truth behind modern economic disparity.

In other words, the more money accumulates in the hands of the wealthy, the more demand declines.

Long ago, when I had completely departed from the path my mentor had once ordered for me—“Go to Kyoto University, remain in academia, and shoulder the future of Kyoto University on those two shoulders”—and instead chose to walk the path of business from nothing in Osaka, I formed a close friendship with a truly great man I met through work.
He was a graduate of Hibiya High School, the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law, and later became a top executive of a prestigious major corporation.
A voracious reader, he once said the very same thing, and so did the director of the advertising bureau of the Nikkei Osaka headquarters, who at that time came regularly to hear my views.
“There is an American scholar saying exactly the same thing as you. Have you ever read him?” they asked me.

As readers know, once I resolved that I had no choice but to live my life as a businessman—and the moment I decided that there was no longer any economic path back to the academic world—I made a vow that for the next ten years I would watch no films I wanted to see and read no books I wished to read.
I cut myself off from all reading, theater, and cultural activities, devoting myself entirely to business.
To put it bluntly, during that period I did not read a single book.
Naturally, I had no way of knowing who that scholar might have been at the time.

Later in life, however, I came to think that it must have been either Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz.

In this week’s issue of Newsweek, there was an article that once again made me realize this truth.
It was an essay by Joseph Stiglitz.

Within it, there is a passage stating that Bill Gates becoming the world’s richest man in the blink of an eye, and Son Masayoshi becoming one of Japan’s top one or two wealthiest individuals with total assets exceeding 500 billion yen, represent nothing less than the greatest engines of inequality.

It appears in the January 12 issue of Newsweek, page 32, in an article titled “Prescription for the Great Malaise.”

[Earlier portions omitted]

In general terms, the spending of the wealthy is far smaller than that of the poor.
In other words, the more money accumulates in the hands of the rich, the more demand declines.
At the same time, the structure of countries such as Germany, which maintain current account surpluses, is itself a major cause of the grave problem of demand deficiency.

[Later portions omitted]

In short, those who have created the greatest inequality are Bill Gates and Son Masayoshi—and the mass media that have continuously praised them.

This column continues.