What Is The Purpose Of A Billionaire?

Posted on by under Economic issues, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Those who have followed Filosofa’s Word for any length of time know that I do not have a high regard for wealth or those who hoard it.  PeNdantry of the blog Wibble, has some thoughts on the wealthy and the way some people almost worship them, considering them to be geniuses, when really they are no geniuses at all.  Take a look …

Being a billionaire doesn’t mean you’re not totally nuts

Discover more from Filosofa's Word

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

34 thoughts on “What Is The Purpose Of A Billionaire?”

  1. God I am so grateful to be free of that prejudice. The 21st I plan on spending the entire day playing with a bunch of guys that built a country club around a manmade river that they stock with trout. Of all the possible made up things to hate. rich people might be the most inane.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Let me clarify and ask a question. First, my dislike and disdain of the wealthy is for those who believe they are somehow entitled and who do not even think about those who are struggling to survive, let alone share their wealth with those who need it. So my question for you is … do you think that is okay? Do you think it’s okay for someone to buy another yacht without a thought for the parents who have to listen to their child cry because he is hungry or sick?

      Liked by 2 people

      • No. I’m saying they are rare. The majority as all majorities are just like you and me, flawed but normal. If you judge by the ones that stick out your opinions will be skewed. God did not give us biometrics so that the FBI could categorize us. Hate the sin love the sinner. Bill Gates( I’ve met him) deeply troubled by temptation but unbelievably generous and determined to make a difference. My advice is wait until you meet someone before you dislike them. Death requires a touch anyway.

        Liked by 1 person

        • What you say makes sense … most of it, anyway. And yes, I do admire Bill & Melinda Gates (I have not met him … you’ll have to tell me about it someday) and many others who have committed to giving half of their net worth to charitable causes. It’s those like Musk and Bezos and certain politicians for whom I have no respect.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Itis not about justified disgust with some wealthy people it is allowing that disgust to transfer to others in the set unjustified. Idi Amin is total scum insulting scum but if you state “see a black man” Nostradamus is not needed to see the end of that road.

            Like

    • I do understand where you’re coming from, ryinger77, but I fear you perhaps don’t appreciate my point of view. If you have a moment, please take a gander at my post ‘Even the pessimists got it wrong, revisited‘, which may enlighten.

      To use David Robertson’s words:

      It’s not that I’m against people having lots of money, or even a disparity in wealth. I get by just fine on what I have. But money is power, and the amount of money in the top 20% – hell, the top 1% – is enough to bend society and democracy and markets and business and media. And that’s dangerous.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. Dorothy Parker, supreme mistress of the snappy put-down, said,

    “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

    In so many cases, the assets of the exceedingly wealthy are not earned; they are numbers on spreadsheets or digital ephemera manipulated to give the illusion of wealth. That’s not earning, that’s negotiating.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Oooohhhh … I like that one!!! And you’re right about the substance of those ‘assets’, but what it does mean is that if they want to buy … oh, say a social media company for $44 billion, they can do so … and then run it into bankruptcy within two years 😉

      Liked by 2 people

      • UFO’s. Humans have developed a very bad habit of making shit up when they encounter the unknown. If I had 44 billion anything I have a plan that would dent global warming, eliminate cheap weaponry and redistribute the billions equitably. (It will make the Space Force cool instead of a joke too, think Johnny Strabler in space)
        Archimedes without opposition stated “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. Mathematics reveals its secrets only to those who approach it with pure love, for its own beauty. Don’t disturb my circles! Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.” 44 billion things will purchase the lever and the fulcrum so the question becomes where to stand.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, Frank! Yes, I typically do when I share my views of those who hoard wealth. I just cannot understand how all that wealth can bring a person any pleasure, knowing there are people starving to death or dying because they cannot afford medical treatment, even as we speak. I just couldn’t … couldn’t sleep at night.

      Liked by 3 people

  4. First as rawgod points out the majority of people have no idea of what money is. Hint it is not a piece of paper with pretty portraits.
    Second the richest man in the world is the man who knows what enough is, the poorest will never be satiated.
    I knew a millionaire once and I would have died for him and if resurrected I would have died for him again. Prejudice is bad no matter the form it takes.

    Liked by 2 people

    • It seems to me that money itself is addictive. I do find some humour in thinking how the uber-wealthy will manage when an EMP strikes and knocks out the power grid for months, perhaps even years. No amount of money will have any value at that point. Not many of us would likely survive, but I think the poor among us would fare better than the wealthy.

      Liked by 3 people

    • We’re all different (thank goodness). I’m fully aware that there are rich folk who have good hearts. And there are those who crow about their ‘philanthropy’ in public (yet quietly use it to offset income to pay less than their fair share of tax). And there are those who simply don’t give a shit about the plight of others. “I’m alright, Jack.”

      I’ve been accused of being envious of the obscenely wealthy, but that’s definitely not the case (the word ‘pity’ is more appropriate). The prejudice sword cuts both ways, ryinger77: isn’t it just as wrong to tar with the same brush all those who believe that wealth inequality is simply evil?

      Liked by 2 people

      • Great song! I consider myself to be on the side of the “evil” line that the teachings received from my birth to only pray in private and to at all times disguise one’s wealth, is best. (exception always wear the best suit you can afford to court or the hospital)(there is always an exception, weird isn’t it?)
        A Taoist parable called Sāi Wēng Lost His Horse instructs my thoughts’ on discerning between good and bad. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

        • Thank you for pointing me to the ‘Sāi Wēng lost his horse’ proverb; I hadn’t heard of that before. Interesting; but I have to admit that I fail to see how it applies to the concept of evil. One can argue that there cannot be ‘good’ without ‘evil’, but I think that most will recognise the latter pretty readily.

          In the current discussion, to my mind at least, it’s fairly clear that those who wallow in luxury while deliberately turning a blind eye to those less fortunate than themselves cannot be considered in any way ‘good’. And it never ceases to amaze me how very many wealth apologists quickly leap to the defense of the obscenely rich, accusing their accusers of stereotyping (without recognising the irony in so doing).

          (I’m wondering how long it might be before Godwin’s Law is invoked in this thread….)

          Liked by 2 people

          • Godwin’s Law must always come up when defining evil. That was the last time within living memory it was widely recognized that EVIL walked amongst us. The opposite of good is bad according to instruction I have received and researched. Evil is in the realm of spirit along with godliness i.e. no conclusive results IMO. It’s not to say that it is not recognized it is just not possible to define it. I believe prejudice without experience is evil and experience to subjective to apply to judgement

            Liked by 1 person

  5. Pingback: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A BILLIONAIRE? | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  6. The obscenity of billionaires and multi-billionaires is that they already have more money than they can ever spend in one lifetime, yet continue to grub around for yet more profits. How much is enough? Ther is never enough for such people, they are the very definition of avarice and greed.
    Take the Indian businessman, Mukesh Ambani, worth $90.0 Billion. He lives in a country populated by some of the poorest people on Earth, yet sees nothing wrong in continuing to accumulate vast wealth beyond the comprehension of most intelligent people. And there are many more like him.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 5 people

    • I completely agree with you. It’s as if the money itself is addictive and once they hit that first million, they are obsessed with getting more and more and more, and they no longer see the woman on the street begging for help to take her daughter to the doctor, or the starving may begging for even a piece of bread. I could not live like that, but I wonder … if somehow I came into a million dollars, would I, too, become obsessed with amassing wealth just for the sake of wealth? I do not understand it, nor do I want to.

      Liked by 1 person

      • I’m unlikely to ever earn, find, inherit, win, or steal even a million bucks. But I have thought about what I would do if it were to happen, and I like to think* that I would use any surplus over and above what I needed to be comfortable** to help others***.

        … now. I fully accept that money can change the way one looks at things. I’m not sure the ‘me of now’ would like the ‘me of the possible then’ were that changed person to think something different at the time.
        ** begs definition of the word ‘comfortable’, I know. Let’s try, “roof over head (and reasonable expectation of never being homeless), belly full, and enough in the bank for a rainy day.” (Does not include any yachts, jets, helicopters, multiple mansions all over the place, private islands, etc etc etc.)
        *** again, definition required: perhaps a good starting place might be adopting an orphan or nine (I’d need to employ others to help out with that, as I’ve always been childless myself and would have absolutely no clue about how to be a parent), and/or using the surplus munny to run adverts on the idiot box to try to encourage others to do likewise.

        PS Thanks for highlighting my wibblette, Jill. I only realised you’d done it when a couple of your readers chimed in. Despite my best intentions even though I’ve now moved, I’m still finding very little time for blogging (much of the free time I used to spend on it is now taken up by my litter-picking patrols – I figure that clearing rubbish in my neck of the woods is a pretty good use of it; it’s far less stressful than getting constantly irate at our broken society and the morons runningruining it).

        Liked by 3 people

        • You’re right … we don’t know how our views and even our definitions might change if we suddenly found ourselves with a million or more in the bank, but I hope that we would still be the same people, that we would rather share our wealth than hoard it. ‘Twas my pleasure to share your wibblette … your views and mine are quite similar on many topics, including this one. I like your idea of the litter-picking patrols. Before my heart issues started a couple of years ago, I went for morning walks in the local park and carried a trash bag with me to pick up all the garbage people threw down without a thought or a care. I’d sometimes find shoes or other articles of clothing, once even a pair of undies! Mostly, though, plastic bottles and fast food wrappers.

          Liked by 2 people

    • It’s not money accumulation, it’s keeping score, as in, “He who dies with the most toys…”
      I had a relative like that. On a family visit, I had my digital camera with me; on my next visit, he had a better one to show off. In the 1990s, he started hoarding, mostly food, because of Y2k. He had so much food in his basement that half of it spoiled when the apocalypse failed to show up. It wasn’t enough for him to simply have things – it had to be more, bigger, more expensive.
      We can see this with Trump – his position on the Forbes list is more important than his family, his image or his right testicle, whether he deserves it or not.

      Liked by 3 people

  7. Jill, I don’t begrudge people who earn their money through diligence. I also respect folks who give back to the community. This 1/2 your wealth philanthropy is laudable. I am not a fan of folks who are born on third base and think they hit a triple. Usually, this comes with an elitist attitude. Keith

    Liked by 5 people

    • Sorry to quibble but they have been damaged they are not born with the affliction. The aforementioned millionaire protected me from that attitude. I had to develop it all on my own. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      • PS – there is book called “The Millionaire Next Door” written about twenty years ago which notes there are a more than a few millionaires who worked hard and saved earlier than others. The point of the book is they did not overspend having a decent house and reasonable cars. These are the folks I admire most in terms of wealth. I am not saying the very wealthy are all one way either, with Warren Buffett buying a $3.25 breakfast from McDonalds each day living in Omaha driving an older reliable car. These examples show the best way to accumulate wealth is not to spend it irresponsibly. Keith

        Liked by 4 people

        • I would bet money that the Bible receives the most praise and the most opprobrium from the same group of people, those that haven’t read it. But a man that assuredly did not speak English wrote: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Perhaps we might gain some understanding of someone’s racisms, homophobias and theocracy by examining our own generalized disdain for wealthy people? Thank you for your thoughts, this is what haunts me

          Liked by 1 person

        • Warren Buffet, along with Bill & Melinda Gates and several others, are the ‘better angels’ among the wealthy, and the exact opposite of Bezos and Musk, who waste their wealthy on useless frivolities.

          Like

Comments are closed.