The Rich

A very interesting post today on 3quarksdaily on the rich.

Not only do the rich corrupt the major institutions of society but "they corrupt the nature of society itself by turning their corrupting powers and dubious satisfactions into cultural standards for the rest".

Of course we all want to be rich, live like the rich, own the things the rich people own. Me as much as anybody else. I surround myself with trappings that make me feel rich. That makes me feel good. Life is good when I feel rich. When I can buy anything I desire I feel good. When I desire something I can't afford I feel bad. Obviously we have the rich to blame for us feeling bad. The rich are responsible for our unhappiness. It makes sense doesn't it?

Being rich from hard work has a certain satisfaction to it. You can congratulate yourself and feel good about yourself for succeeding in life. Self - image is boosted by wealth attained from hard work.
Of course, if you are old money, then you take comfort in the fact that you are different from the rest of society because you never had to work. You look down on the self - made rich as inferior. They might have as much as you but they don't have that certain quality, that certain style that comes from being born rich.

And being rich means you expect certain things to happen automatically. You expect the rest of society to fawn and be obsequious towards you. After all being rich means you are better and better means superior to others.

Being rich means you can buy influence, favors, politicians, whatever it is you desire because money is power. Power is the ultimate drug. Rich is good. Richer is better.

Of course, don't get me wrong, not all rich people are happy. We've all heard of the saying, "money doesn't buy happiness". We've all known of the mythical unhappy rich person.
So what would make somebody rich unhappy? Lots of things.
Not being able to control the aging process.
Not being able to control the weather.
Not being able to silence critics.
People that don't respect your wealth.
Death.

So the moral to this story is that as we ordinary folk go about our lives fretting about our ordinary problems we can spare a thought for the rich who also have their own special woes to deal with.