Are Rich People Okay?

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Are rich people ok? That depends on where their wealth comes from.

Someone who is a self-made person who gets rich off their own ideas is someone I want to hang out with every chance I get.

Someone who parasitizes the ideas of others or leeches off the government is horrible human being I prefer to avoid. I’m not a fan of Wall Street or subsidized corporations. Tesla isn’t morally perfect, but Musk at least has the right idea. Government Motor Corporation can go to hell.

For what it's worth, it's mostly dealing with how the ability to hoard wealth impacts the psychology of those who do so.

Oh.

Hoarding wealth isn’t healthy. At least not if you’re hoarding money. If you’ve earned the right to nice things, you should have them. Enjoy your money.

I believe that wealth should always be oriented towards personal achievement and self-actualization. It’s just that heavy investment in the achievements of others always returns in greater achievement for the investor. People will take that to mean that poor people are entitled to the wealth of the rich, but they aren’t entitled to anything beyond what they earn. Rich people need workers to stay rich. They won’t have workers if they don’t reward them appropriately and reasonably for their work. Both rich and poor alike share these values and maintain a symbiotic relationship, with wage earners enjoying access to the same things as wealthy people without having to pay for it (weekend parties at the mansion, company dinners, Christmas bonuses, well equipped and comfortable workplaces, scholarships for their kids, etc. etc.) while maintaining a reasonably comfortable life for themselves with their wages. Employers who neglect these kinds of things can’t attract the best workers to be competitive.

I don’t imagine that hoarding wealth and refusing to invest in talent is exactly mentally healthy.

But I don’t think that hoarding wealth, which is within the rights of any capitalist, is something that makes someone mentally unhealthy. I think it just indicates that the rich person is simply less rational than the next guy. Remember, spreading wealth must be a rational choice with an objective result or goal, not an obligation. Someone who feels obligated to squander wealth where it is undeserved is just as irrational as the greedy hoarder.

Ebenezer Scrooge is this weird sort of altruistic hero who sees the error of his ways and becomes the corporate progenitor of Santa Claus. In the case of Scrooge, we really do see someone suffering from the mental effects of bitterness and resentment, and we can explore the roots of that. Scrooge is a rich person who really isn’t ok. But his change of heart isn’t any more rational. Like Oprah’s you get a car, and you get a car… A good thing done for the wrong reasons isn’t good, and Scrooge’s do-gooder mentality is disingenuous.

Scrooge can only redeem himself by seeing other people as valuable and worth keeping in his life. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in the original story. He is motivated by guilt and shame over how he is perceived by others and seeks only to change this image. Granted, good things result for others, but not because Scrooge authentically believes these people deserve anything.

Scrooge McDuck is a better hero, though, because despite having a greedy streak, he sees value in things foolish people discard or abandon. McDuck also has his feathers in industries that improve the quality of life for consumers and remains at the forefront of innovation in those industries. Both characters have miserly streaks and can be cold, ruthless, and unfeeling.

But at the end of the day, McDuck at least has his self-respect. McDuck, without overtly trying to be, benefits more people and not just his own family entirely by accident when all he truly cares about is himself. Scrooge, on the other hand, only helps people because he comes to hate himself. In terms of mental health, McDuck is a quirky eccentric with an exceptional talent for logic and a high self-esteem. Scrooges actions, on the other hand, point him more in the direction of the loony bin.

Scrooge McDuck is a treasure hunter, a self-described “adventure capitalist.” McDuck is the quintessential Randian hero in that he specializes in recovering wealth hoarded by looters and positions himself to restore wealth to others like himself. He’s not unlike the dread pirate Ragnar Daneskjold of Atlas Shrugged, though he’s a bit of all the Galt’s Gulch heroes wrapped up in a single character.

I see a lot of potential in the Dickens character, but I think he has a long way to go to fully realize the Christmas spirit. Scrooge’s objection to Christmas is that it’s too consumerist and wasteful. His redemption comes in the form of returning his sister’s love by caring for her family and by rewarding his clerk for making Scrooge’s business a success. He gives to charity, investing in the futures of poor people rather than trusting the government to redistribute wealth to parasites who don’t deserve it. By releasing part of his wealth he allows himself to enjoy what money can buy, and he finds happiness in the joy he can bring to those he cares about.

The Dickens book is weak on these points, but with a little care and imagination Scrooge is not a bad person.

Who CAN’T love Scrooge McDuck, though?

Gosh. Around 43 minutes in he gets into some real weirdness.

So let me get this straight. That couple vow to have 8 kids, and have each of the 8 kids have 8 kids, for "eleven generations?"?.

So how many kids would make up the last generation? 64 Billion (just counting on my fingers -while trying to do it my head- no paper-no calculator)?

But, they'll be conquering the galaxy, at least according to the plan.

I like this plan. Where do I sign up?

It's a stupid plan, besides you're a poor so you're not invited to their billionaire eugenics program.

:roflmao:

They certainly can be, whilst its less often you hear of genuinely friendly and caring wealthy people they do exist and now and then you see true acts of kindness being undertaken. Given the opportunity i'd like to think King Charles would be a bit like that wandering off and blending in with the crowd helping people out on his way to where ever he was going. He'd certainly offer some good gardening advice probably even help someone prune their tree's.

Wealth in its self doesn't make a man or woman bad evil sinful or maligned, ive always seen wealth as a tool an enabler rather than a means to an end. Its when people make wealth their god or they elevate it to a level of importance that almost nothing else in their life matters is when it becomes a problem. That's where you have lust for money and power which tend to go hand in hand. Some people are so addicted to making money they have lost sight of what it even means to be human. You can be humble but also wealthy sadly in the world today its not often seen.

Wealth often corrupts ppl.

Musk is a pretty horrible person. He got his wealth from his parents and then was rather unsuccessful until his company was bought out by PayPal and he's pretty much spent his entire career riding on the coat tails of other people. The current Twitter debacle is a much more illustrative example of what happens when it's up to him to run things.

Most of the ventures he runs are successful in spite of him, not because of him. His stupid comments have set Tesla back many years and put it on the verge of bankruptcy at times trying to make his comments into something other than a pack of lies.

That being said, there are people who get rich as the result of generational wealth and then proceed to use the money in a way that is ethical and respects the rights of others. But, much of the wealth is by people like Musk that are just absolutely horrible and only get away with it because they've got money..

Yes, there's definitely a bubbling effect that divorces so many of them from reality on top of the lack of an incentive to poke too many holes in the established practices that brought the wealth.

I'm sure all the rich people out there are just fine.

Many rich ppl consider themselves above the law.
Look at Trump and politicians on either side of the political divide.
They would look good in orange.