I agree with Doug & Woj about the nonrevolutionary effect of knowledge of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Wealthy-watching is a national sport. Conspicuous consumption is a national pastime, as Veblen noted a hundred years ago.
Btw, I do note that the _kids_ of the rich can't help being rich, or growing up with the problems of wealth, even if they give it away or refuse their share. (It happens, rarely. Wittgenstein refused to take any part of the family wealth and tried to make a living as schoolteacher (yikes, can you imagine?) before caving in and becoming a university instructor.) And wasn't there a sad story about the son of some wealthy CEO who became an inner city school teacher in NYC and was murdered by an ex student a few years ago?
But mostly they keep the money and drink too much or take drugs and maybe go to a shrink. If you are going to be moserable you might as well be rich. Unhappiness is much more bearable when you are wearing Armani.
--- "Mr. WD" <mister.wd at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/10/07, andie nachgeborenen
> <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Problems more people wish they had . . . .
> >
> >
>
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071009/bs_nm/wealth_summit_psychologists_dc
>
> If more Americans realized how much money just a
> handful of people in
> the U.S. had -- you know, so much they need a shrink
> to handle it -- I
> suspect there'd be a lot more support for policies
> aimed at the
> redistribution of wealth.
>
> The problem is that most cities have nothing close
> to the Upper East
> Side; most people don't read newspapers that have
> ads offering
> services to teach children 'who may never have to
> work' how to be
> socially responsible about their wealth; in many
> areas the rich kids
> go to public school with everyone else.
>
> In fact, most Americans think of wealthy people as
> respected members
> of the learned professions or the hard-working
> managers of relatively
> modest family businesses that employ people in the
> community: They
> take their families on nice summer vacations, and
> their kids wear
> clothes from the nicest stores in the local mall and
> probably go to
> the most prestigious state or regional universities.
> What's there to
> resent about that? The most well-known billionaires
> like Bill Gates
> and Warren Buffett have been careful to cultivate a
> similar image.
>
> If there was any popular comprehension of some of
> the largest Wall
> Street bonuses and/or the typical Upper East Side
> lifestyle, you might
> even have open revolt.
>
> -WD
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