friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Imagine being Elon Musk, or Donald Trump, or Boris Johnson. You have more money than you know what to do with. You could literally afford to go to whatever paradise you want and spend the days of your one life doing whatever you please.

They came so tantalisingly close to having more fulfilling and carefree lives than 99.99% of humans who have ever lived, but instead they want the masses to fear and adore them.

And they are utterly miserable, because nothing will fill the void, and the more they try, the more they debase themselves in front of billions, and the people they most need to respect them probably think they’re losers.

Idiots. Fools. Losers.

Musk is the worst of them. Read some Iain M Banks books, didn’t understand any of then, decided to save the world by becoming a solar power and electric vehicle magnate with space colonies.

But instead he is approaching old age as the proprietor of a bankrupt nazi chat room, and none of his kids will speak to him.

How can you have so many advantages and yet fuck up so amazingly completely?

in reply to Sarah Brown

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Sarah Brown

Irony is, it’s entirely possible to win at life and get the adulation and respect they so deeply want, while leaving their impact on the world.

Just look at Dolly Parton.

But their egos get in the way. They all want to be Julius fucking Caesar.

in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Matthew Daly

MySpace Tom has the right idea.

His wealth isn't enough for a personal space program, but it's enough he's free from ever having to worry about money again as long as he doesn't waste it on crap like super yachts. Now he has multiple homes across the world and spends his time travelling and enjoying himself. That's a much more mature approach and I would wager he's far, far happier than Elon Musk will ever be.

in reply to Angie

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screambiogenesis

@angiebaby Back when one of the lotteries was over a billion USD, I did some math.

Based on giving up a ⅓ or a ½ of it to taxes initially and putting the rest of it into an account with shite returns (I think it was 0.5%), you could donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity every year and keep a ¼ million for yourself... and never touch the initial money.

That kind of money is unfathomable, and most of the people who have it are SO unimaginative and sad (if not horrifying).

@Angie
in reply to Angie

mastodon - Link to source

Selena

@angiebaby
That's kinda how I try to live: I want to keep enough money for me to live a comfortable life, but have no desire to acquire 'bragging wealth' (big car, big house, expensive travel, etc)
It would be fantastic if it wasn't just €10 or €100, but I could just give €10k to some random homeless person or fill up a GoFundMe.

But that could only happen (to some extent) if I won the lottery. Because I support high taxes and other measures that pretty much preclude billionaires.

@Angie
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Paul 💙 28 💔 💚

So true .. the fact is all these wealthy people will eventually die and rot away

They will leave their kids wealthy, but in a world a bit shittier because they existed.

Their kids have a choice of emulating their parents or trying to repair the damage for their kids.

So it will continue until they either die trying to make the world better or die with their money being of little value in a future shithole

in reply to Bob Thomson

mastodon - Link to source

Paul 💙 28 💔 💚

@bobthomson70
I like to think of Nobel who saw his obituary in error when he was still alive

If they could see how the world will perceive them when they are dead... It might rip their arrogance away from them

Very few wealthy individuals are going to be thought of well after they are dead.

The people who suck up to them now... Won't give them a thought in death

@Bob Thomson
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Dave

I often think they're cursed... they acquire money and power *because* of their innate thirst for money and power. But when they're accumulated more money and power than anyone will ever need, they can't stop because that innate thirst doesn't go away.

I like to imagine that if I was a pro footballer earning 5 million a year, I would work for a year then never work again. But that is why I will never ever be in that position.

in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

(rainynight65) has moved

Musk pretty much fell into money from his first business ventures. He started his first company with $200k, partly from his dad, sold it for $307m, his share was $22m. Then he cofounded x.com with $12m, it became PayPal, was bought by eBay for $1.5bn, he walked away with $175m.

That kind of quick money will do a number on most people. He wasn't even a good CEO, he was replaced twice but got the money by being a major shareholder.

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source

TC Won't Give In To Lies

@ndevenish
Each if these men got to this position with early advantage, luck and ... years of lying, cheating the system and cronyism.

Their grotesque wealth and power is the result of undermining the system for personal benefit. They've bent the system to promote (and foster) narcissistic sociopaths like themselves.

Billionaires are not going to help society. They are the proof it is broken.

@ndevenish
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

WMK

How indeed?

It's almost as if concentrating wealth and power in the hands of flawed individuals doesn't produce outcomes that benefit humanity as a whole and may likely be a huge impediment to Democratic societies being able to confront and solve existential threats and shared problems.

Tax these myopic, irresponsible, and dangerous man-babies so that they can enjoy their lives of luxury without trying to burn down the world to satisfy their deranged egos.

in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Nicole Parsons

All these men are examples of people lacking the ability to read the room.

So they built a curated version of the room to cope & there's always those willing to utilize such men.

Fascist movements are born from insecure men exploited by a fossil fuel industry unwilling to yield power.

Musk:
forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/202…
accessnow.org/press-release/sa…
Trump:
washingtonpost.com/politics/20…
thehill.com/policy/4215912-sau…
rollingstone.com/politics/poli…
Boris Johnson:
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
desmog.com/2023/06/16/boris-jo…

Boris Johnson's Honours List Includes Climate Science Deniers and Fossil Fuel Lobbyists  - DeSmog

Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list includes MPs and political advisors with ties to climate science denial and the oil and gas industry, DeSmog can reveal.
Adam Barnett (DeSmog)
This entry was edited (2 years ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Just Tom... 🐁

- I saw this a few days ago. Not the idiots you mention, (these are drug lords), but the same syndrome: "...my question is always, “Hey guy, why not stop? You’re rich, your money is safe somewhere, you could have a good life with your family.”. But no. They cannot stop. They take cocaine but the real drug is not cocaine, it’s the dollar. They are absolutely enthralled by greed and they cannot control this passion they have to make money, no matter what." vice.com/en/article/xgwpx7/sin…

I Research Economic Crime and Hang Out With Mexican Cartels

Bertrand Monnet is a professor, but his field work is a little... unusual.
Kev Kharas (VICE)
This entry was edited (2 years ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Mastodon Migration

Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!

— Kurt Vonnegut

This entry was edited (2 years ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Trump & Epstein: Biz partners.

The "He didn't NEED to be president! He's putting himself thru this for US!" crowd is a huge part of why #TheOrangeMenace still has so many loyal supporters.

They don't realize HE WAS NEARLY BROKE before running for president in 2016 (only doing so to boost his profile after finding out NBC was paying Gwen Stefani more than him.)

#DarthTraitor refused a salary simply *to skirt financial reporting laws*, then made a fortune using his office for personal gain. #MafiaDon #Emoluments

#emoluments #theorangemenace #darthtraitor #MafiaDon
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

OpenDown

It's so incredibly frustrating. The material wealth that could be used for good is wasted on these parasitic leeches on society. When you have money like these people do, you're shielded from all the negative repercussions from your money hungry actions while I get covid for the 8th fucking time because they got money from lying about it and the other "good" rich people accepted this line of thinking without a fight. I'm going to die young
in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

Scott Matter

Accumulating wealth mostly doesn’t satisfy us as humans - the example of these and so many people before them shows pretty clearly.

We (humans, in particular cultures) have this lovely myth that getting rich will make us happy, keep us satisfied. But once we start to get rich, we start to fear losing that wealth, and try to accumulate more to protect against that loss. And then we use some of that wealth to build up systems of exploitation and security, to try to keep us safe and to keep accumulating more.

The capitalist machine is this, on a system-wide scale.

in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

StarkRG

I think he liked the Culture series because it depicts a libertarian post-scarcity utopia and he latched onto the "libertarian" part, disregarding the fact that the "post-scarcity utopia" part can't happen in a libertarian society.

As for why people like that strive for public adoration, I expect the commonality lies in at least one of their parents' emotional unavailability.

in reply to Sarah Brown

wordpress - Link to source

CJ Paloma's ...account

deep down inside, every abusive sack of stuff... hates themselves.

And to deny their own self hatred, they keep trying to "prove" themselves… and patriarchy says they have to do that...by dominating over others.

They're so unaware they don't even realize they hate themselves -because- they keep trying to dominate in such stupid and futile efforts to feel "superior".

This entry was edited (2 years ago)
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