I think that it’s an addiction. There are people who like cocaine, and then there are people who like cocaine so much that they snort it until their noses collapse. Even when super-rich people give a ton of money away to charity, it’s not long before they need their next hit of that sweet, sweet green.
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How much do you need?
The idea that money can’t buy happiness has been disproved by science, at least up to a point. Experts say that happiness does increase with wealth, but the correlation peaks at earning $75,000 per year.
“The lower a person’s annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don’t report any greater degree of happiness,”
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/20/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-happy-according-to-wealth-experts.html
I’ve seen other reports that top it out around $95k.
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To be happy, sure, but I’m talking about that dopamine rush that billionaires must get every time they look at their bank account. Once you get a taste for it, it’s hard to quit and then it becomes all-consuming.
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At least Smaug just sat around on his hoard, raiding occasional livestock/people. He didn’t buy media and political parties, start religions to preach how right and justified it was that all that gold and treasure was his.
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Thanks. Completely depressing.
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It probably changes depending on inflation and local prices. The study that said $75,000 was from 2010.
I also recently saw something about how $15/hr was a living wage in 2010 too and the actual 2021 living wage is now $25/hr, but a lot of Democrats are still talking about $15. “Yesterdays solutions, tomorrow” again.
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I spoke to a land-wealthy rancher out of Texas I encountered as I was on a cross-country trip a few years ago. We got into the subject of art sales (because I’m a painter), and being 1%-adjacent as he was, he assured me that for many of them, it’s a game of one-upsmanship. You have to be the top of the heap, or you’re nothing – that’s how competitive they are. Like Trump constantly worrying about approval ratings.
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I’m all for pulling together when it comes to billionaires. The traditional way, of course, involves four ropes and four horses, but I suspect we can achieve the same results with enough people.
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Thanks. I will certainly check that out.
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Money does not buy you happiness, but it can buy security and stability, which are pretty valuable and important for happiness.
But yeah, ultimately, it’s not about being rich, so much as it’s about being not poor.
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And not even $15/hr now, but $15/hr in 2025.
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You can tell just how insulated/deluded some people are by how little improving anyone else’s welfare it takes for them to declare they are victims of warfare.
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Yesssss, this coincides from what I read/heard (rarely, I am not doing research on such people), namely they see their motivations for ceaseless accumulation of wealth as:
- a race, and only that. Sometimes they even admit they don’t need so much, but they don’t like to look “weak”;
- a climb upwards in society’s strata: one wannabe Scrooge explained with disdain to a Guardian journo that “the level of society I can attain by earning 10mil/year are much higher than what I can reach with only 1mil/year”;
- compulsion to repeat: basically, it’s the only thing they know how to do, so they do it over and over again, by ingrained mechanism. This could explain the hostility and the reluctance to change, even when it would be actually healthier for them to do so.
Conclusion, we are dealing with sick people here, and their malady is quickly becoming everyone else’s problem. Halp!
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They also don’t want the labor stock to get “lazy” (i.e. not desperate).
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Inciting violence? Physical harm to those that ‘deserve it’, regards with social wealth? You and Cooperman share a common bond. Ironically.
It’s more about common lies guys tell than about actual size, but I get your point.
If it were possible to edit, I would change it to something having to do with not ghosting after sleeping together.
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So, the common pitchforks and torches notion is a sentiment expressing removing horrible people from positions of power, same as bring out the guillotines.
Surely you know this by now, I know you’re here plenty, this should be very obvious to you by now.
I’m screaming at the man’s horrid stupidity. I’m not arguing people should hunt him down- that’s what Republicans do in case you didn’t notice Jan 6th.
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Being a millionaire is a thing normal people can accomplish these days. Related: A million bucks doesn’t buy you what it used to. Lots of people have a net worth over a million dollars by retirement.
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Billions of people are dirt fucking poor and can’t afford food, clothes, heat or healthcare but sure, its achievable for all.
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