From a recent post at HBR:
The super-rich, whose gains reflect little social value creation, have gotten richer — and are hyperconsuming the stuff of idle, yawning luxury with an appetite that makes Caligula look like a blushing bride.
Aptly said. The super-rich, adding near-zero value to society, consume with an insatiable appetite, as the middle class slowly dwindle into a relic of the past. Change is coming…
I believe all people should to make decisions based on ethical and morally sound principles. The problem lies in the fact that these principles are not universally the same for everyone. They are built on a personal code of ethics – which is exactly that…personal. Poor people may be disgusted at how certain rich people choose to live their lives as described in the article. By the same token, many rich people may be disgusted at how many poor and middle class choose to live their lives. Spending beyond their means, trying to look wealthier than they really are, and expecting life to be given to them instead of earned. What many people forget is that many wealthy people have not lived most of their lives being wealthy, many sacrificed, ate cheeseburgers from a drive thru after a 16 hour day, lay awake at night and eventually realized their dream of owning a successful business. After decades of seeing their employee friends drive their fancy SUV’s to their cute little houses in the suburbs, and living without the yoke of massive stress on their shoulders, they feel the need to enjoy life too -we are all human after all. Many of the complainers fail to see that sacrifice of time and effort of building a company, which then employs the very people who feel hard done by and is somehow unfair. Many wealthy people cannot ever understand the person who says to the wood stove…”you give me heat first, then maybe I’ll give you wood.” Many people engage in this type of thinking to their own personal detriment.
That being said, I strongly disagree with massive consumerism and the constant sickness of acquiring stuff-which never satisfies. Stuff won’t make anyone happy long term, rather, by giving to others, teaching others, spending quality time with others, make a person feel valuable and truly fulfilled inside.
Who is the bigger consumer? Someone who spends $100 buying a really good quality toaster, or someone who buys the walmart toaster 4 times @ $30 dollars a pop, meanwhile 3 toasters sit in a land fill? What is more ethical or principled? If a North American person is writing this article, he is most likely in the top 10-20% wealthiest people in the world. Many people in the bottom 80% might say that the average person living here is spends obscenely. Wealth and the amount of it is completely relative. Why do we buy new cell phones if our old one works just fine? Why do many of us own more than one house or own vacation property? Why do we feel like everywhere we go in life, we should be entitled to an expensive beverage in our hand, as if we deserve it?
Why is the gap between rich and poor getting wider? I believe it is because people do not spend enough time to learn what successful people do and make justifications that they are in a vicious game of cat and mouse, and that the game board is unfairly tilted against them. This is failing to take responsibility for one’s own life and outcomes… Why is the ocean never empty? Because many streams feed it…similarly why are many rich people’s bank accounts never empty, because many income streams feed them. Jimmy Pattison receives favourable tax treatment from CRA – why? Doesn’t he provide tens of thousands of jobs to Canadians through all the companies he has built? Should he be treated like everyone else? I don’t think so. Should he be allowed to consume like everyone else? Even if 1% of his wealth will fill up an entire mansion full of new and fancy stuff…how much of average Canadians wealth goes towards pointless doodads? Yes….a heck of a lot more than 1%. We need to consider proportions and that some peoples piggy bank for disposable income is in fact higher than most others…is that ok? When a person spends money on stuff, aren’t jobs created? Aren’t all classes of people dependent on those jobs or purchases? Isn’t wealth spread around more through consumption than through saving one’s wealth, for one’s self, in one’s personal bank account. You bet! We, the people want the stuff companies make, and then we have the audacity to blame the “bone head” leaders who run complex organizations to provide the people with their wares? Its as if they made us want a speed boat…Is this logical?
There are many people who will say “the system made them this way”, or “its unfair that those people get all the advantages”, however we live in society where anyone can still achieve their dreams to become what they wish to be – if they want it bad enough…its difficult to win a game of solitaire if your missing a lot of cards, or haven’t bothered to read the rules. There are stereo types spread around in many circles, and there are bad apples in every bunch…but to say the top richest people in the world are largely nitwits who had good connections is a false belief system. The writer of this article has a certain belief about this. He is entitled to believe what he wants, but his opinion is only his opinion. Everyone has opinions and that is all they are – not fact. The article is called “How Our Economy Was Overrun by Monsters and What to Do About It” however he spend 95% complaining, and 5% saying we should make “fundamentally wiser decisions”. And that I agree with, sans the complaining
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wealthy people having a nice car or a big house. I also have no problem with people like Pattison receiving favourable tax treatment from the CRA. I do have a problem with greed and corruption.
Then again, I also have a problem with anyone that has an overly developed sense of entitlement (which, unfortunately, describes much of the middle class).