Normally when people say this, their tone makes it evident they are envious, but that's missing here and I'm curious.
I grew up in India and the wealth disparity couldn't be any starker. I feel that if I was ever that wealthy, I would spend a lot of it trying to improve the lives of poor people and homeless people, instead of buying 4000 shoes or a 100 Hermes bags.
I know from close contact with Filipino Boxers, how broke and poor a large population of their country is. Meanwhile their President is stealing from her people and hoarding 4000+ shoes, when she can only wear 1 pair at a time :)
So I really want to know, is there some very primate (and hence hard to control) instinct in all human beings, which causes them to hoard useless stuff instead of using their wealth for 'greater causes'?
PS: cool boxing site! :)
Take me for example. I indulge myself with books, songs, apps, etc. Granted, it's on a completely different financial scale than Hermes bags, but I own more things than I can realistically consume. So let's call whatever I buy but can't consume "excess".
Whatever instinct causes me to buy stuff in excess instead of using that excess to help the poor more than I currently do is likely the same instinct that causes the rich to buy 4000 shoes and 100 Hermes bags instead of helping the poor more.
I don't introspect enough to know what that instinct is, but most of us here probably have similar very minor excesses in our lives and can get some clues by thinking about those.
For example: as a European, I am aware that both poverty in Africa and the war in Syria is an issue, but frankly and like many other people, it's not something I lose much sleep over. That doesn't mean I wouldn't help if I could (e.g. by donating money), but given these things are happening not that close to home, I accept them as a fact of life. The west isn't in a position to solve many of the issues in developing nations.
Also, just because someone is wealthy doesn't necessarily make them happy. There are plenty of unhappy wealthy people. Wealth often makes you lose your way in life, and for some it can be more of a curse than a blessing. Wealth aside, some people just don't care much for others. But on the flipside there are also plenty of amazing wealthy (and less wealthy) people that will go out of their way to help others.
Wealth accumulation doesn't come with a social contract that you have to try and fix social issues in society. Some people will, others won't. I don't see any issues with that.
This all said, obviously stealing is never acceptable. But I could understand how someone would own 4000 pairs of shoes, if they're compensating for say a loveless marriage, or some sort of emptiness in life.
Musk with his personal space programme at least makes "sense" of some sort. Imelda bought more shoes than she could wear in a lifetime: that's dysfunctional.
And it came with a real human cost. How many human QALYs did that collection cost the Philipines? Or, more personally, how many dead children is a Picasso worth?
Their inability to use their money well is contemptible and unfortunate.
> Moreover, the earth, even though apportioned among private owners, ceases not thereby to minister to the needs of all, inasmuch as there is not one who does not sustain life from what the land produces.
> When what necessity demands has been supplied, and one's standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documen...
I'm curious about this, too. Sibling comments are asking why any person or company would hoard that money when they could be donating it. A company I know just spent over a $1M USD on a domain name and got a lot of hate for it -- many complaints that the money could have been donated instead.
For reference, I grew up dirt poor, and still work insane hours every day in a continual effort to dig myself out of a pit I never asked to be in. And I still don't think it's fair to criticize how private entities spend their own money. I absolutely understand leveling the playing field, and using a position of privilege to benefit society. But if I get rich and blow my fortune on luxury goods so what?
This. Exactly. What prompted you to say this? Do you think if you do get filthy rich, you will follow through on blowing your forture on luxury goods? If so, what prompted you to feel this urge??
Why is it ok to normalize 1 instinctual response (greed) but not the other (envy) ?
That wasn't just a description of wealth, it was a description of a crime, and the extravagant purchases of the criminal.
Disgust is the emotion in question. It reminds me of a cat I had that would just keep eating till it puked, then eat the puke. Only the cat wasn't stealing the food, so it wasn't quite so gross as Imelda.
How would you not feel disgusted by that?