I used to believe that the rich were superior to the rest of us. Not in every way but in some very important ones. In my youth, I thought the rich were happier than us peons. I believed their excess wealth made their lives better. As I've grown, I've noticed one thing that implies that the opposite may be true... at least in my opinion. I know wonder how the constant pursuit of more wealth could be the stuff of dreams. I feel that if money made one happy then having more than one could spend in a lifetime would make them happy for a lifetime. The fact that the rich not only want more money than would necessary to survive, thrive and even live extravagantly tells me that money does not makes them happy.
Take anything you do and consider the point at which you are happy with that thing. You make a painting or you build a business or anything for which you are passionate. In all of these pursuits there is a point of diminishing returns. You overwork the paint to the point you painting no longer evokes the emotions it once evokes. Your business no longer holds the challenge it once held for you. Whatever the pursuit, the passion you felt is no longer there once you've reached the pinnacle. You stop painting or you branch out into some other venture or you decide to do something other than make money for money's sake.
This last one should be especially relevant when you consider the harm your excess in wealth causes to others. Given that at any moment in time, the slice of the proverbial pie is limited, you and your fellow one percenters should understand that taking a larger portion of the pie is leaving everyone with an ever-shrinking portion over which to fight. When you and your cohorts have billions of dollar, this directly impacts millions of people's lives. When you own all of the means for survival, you hold millions of people's lives in your hand. And, even if you're the most benevolent person, there is no guarantee that whoever inherits those means for survival will be as benevolent. Your heirs might be jerks who jack the prices up, forcing millions into greater acts of desperation. The kind of desperation we see in flash mobs rushing in to steal from big box stores or taking out loans to buy groceries. The kind of desperation seen by people working as greeters for Walmart until they die.
The only way a person could be okay with having wealth that causes actual harm to millions is if that person is a Sociopath. So I no longer believe the rich to be better than anyone, nor happier than anyone. I no longer look at people moving up the ladder as merely more ambitious but simply greedier. Though greater ambition may have been the reason for upward mobility in the past (I suspect not) it is now greed that drives these go getters after a certain point. Anecdotally, I have too often seen the cream rising to the top is cuddled as these individuals are simply more willing to act in immoral ways to achieve their goals. In a Society in which the highest office in the land (the Presidency of the United States of America in my case) is corrupt, the likelihood of ever office beneath being corrupt must go up. Imagine a Mafia where the nice guy rises to the top... It doesn't exist.
As for the rich being smarter, I no longer believe that because they haven't truly thought about what will happen once they've turned the world into one giant ghetto. Of sure they may have their private island to hide in when the crap hits the fan, but who's going to tend to their needs on those islands? Think about it, society has collapsed. The rich jump on a yacht that if piloted by someone whose family is left to rot in the ruins left behind by the rich person's pursuit of wealth. Or, maybe that rich person's island life plans included the pilot's family and friends. Maybe those plans also included the chef's family and friends as well as the yacht mechanic's friends and family. Maybe they don't at which point you'd better hope your servants cared little to not at all about all the people they've left behind. Fingers crossed.
Maybe, instead of an island, you opt for an underground bunker built out if a decommissioned missile silo. Living underground for an indefinite amount of time in the future sounds much better than fighting your urges to accumulate as much wealth from others today. Instead of imposing limits in your greed right now, you'd rather restrict you life to living in a concrete and steel tomb for you and your family. Don't worry, we'll accommodate your desire for solitude in that hole by putting a nice thick concrete cap on top of you silo so no one will ever disturb you again. It would be the least we could do for those who ruined life on the surface.
In 2018, I wrote a book highlighting the problems Humanity would face if more power, wealth, and control was funneled to a small group of elite individuals, groups, or organizations. In my book, I provided solutions (from myself and others) to the inevitable problems and also a means for the Public to analyze, compare, and contrast the words and deeds of those we choose to follow against reality. In my book Solutions: Enough complaining. Let's fix America.
In "Solutions...", I provide the means for readers to disseminate information as provided by their news sources of choice, their elected officials, and any other authority they choose to follow. The book also offers a means to hold their leaders up, not just to a higher standard than is currently accepted but to one that would improve their lives and the lives of those for whom they care.
