That last comment: "Some people are scared of money or behave irrationally with money. I've been to a few therapists that have high powered husbands or clients that illustrate just how irrational they can be. I can see the evidence for the spirit of malcontent with management but I would agree it's not something that can be half-heartedly expressed through a what is basically a meme. It needs to be articulated accurately if it is to improve."
I find it difficult to take anyone seriously when they say people with lots of money make irrational decisions. Especially when making said money is generally viewed as an achievement in our society. None of us know that situation unless we're in it. That really goes for any situation. Just like in sports a spectator yells at a player for "making a stupid decision". Think about someone who just got an ego boost making a bunch of money. They can give/lend money to friends and family when they're down, being the hero. When before the money, they were kind of a nobody. They're going to protect that ability at all costs. Even at the cost of outside people to that circle of friends and family. Why care about people who don't care about your own family? Thus, you get someone who might be harder on their employees, making sure that certain numbers are met, so they get to stay at the high income position. Is it really irrational to maintain a level of heroism among your close friends and family at any cost? Livelihood, in modern society is pretty much the difference between life or death. No real income can lead to homelessness and a great chance of never getting out of it. Essentially "death". Obviously, it's no excuse for breaking the law or detriment to the health of "strangers" (employees). But if you realize that they're not just out to "destroy the world" and have the same basic drive as everyone else, do well for their family, you approach the "problem" differently. Which, comes to where you said, it needs to be articulated accurately to improve it. I just don't like the idea of "well, they're irrational even though I've never been in their same situation".
>"well, they're irrational even though I've never been in their same situation".
You're going to have to define your level of richness for me to answer that. But some people hoard dumb stuff even if they're rich. Some people leave close connections out in the cold that causes untold amounts of social damage that comes to bite them later on. Some people sink large amounts of money on vanity projects and dumb investments that put them back to square one.
I can understand attempting to do good an incurring a "dumb cost" as a stupid criticism of the rich. Some rich people don't even do good things, they just waste money and opportunities. Even some people on the pathway to being rich waste the opportunity. There is a story about a guy starting a scooter company. The scooter has two footholds in a V formation that lead to the central pillar you hold onto like a normal scooter. The inventor hooks up with Richard Branson and is set to hit probably tens of millions if not hundreds from all the way it was playing out. At the last hour before committing to launch he decides it's too much for him and sits it out. He goes home to a shitty job where he knows how everything works and has a middle class life.
Why?
Moving into any particular position in life takes a huge mental and social change, I can see rich people burning out and throwing their money away back down a few notches as they relax into a more common path in life. It can't only be measured in character or personality though. There is something else going on.
I've known people scared of accruing a lot of money. We outsource our money management to tax accounts, banks, brokers, dealers, financiers all the time. There is a deep principle in money or large quantities that is taken for granted. Emphasized even in the US. What is it that grants some the ability to manage a flood of cash, and others drown?
Homelessness in the US is not death, unless you choose it to be. It is exile at it's deepest. People come back from exile, not from the finality of death.
> But if you realize that they're not just out to "destroy the world" and have the same basic drive as everyone else, do well for their family, you approach the "problem" differently.
The world needs more of this style of thinking. Pure logic, or more accurately what people commonly think they're engaging is, even at its best falls short when trying to figure out what's really going on in a system as multi-dimensionally (and often counter-intuitively) complex as multicultural but globally integrated humanity.
Gosh,it's taken me hours to get this post through, I'd love to see HN open source their "you're posting too fast" algorithm, I suspect speed isn't the only thing involved.
That last comment: "Some people are scared of money or behave irrationally with money. I've been to a few therapists that have high powered husbands or clients that illustrate just how irrational they can be. I can see the evidence for the spirit of malcontent with management but I would agree it's not something that can be half-heartedly expressed through a what is basically a meme. It needs to be articulated accurately if it is to improve."
I find it difficult to take anyone seriously when they say people with lots of money make irrational decisions. Especially when making said money is generally viewed as an achievement in our society. None of us know that situation unless we're in it. That really goes for any situation. Just like in sports a spectator yells at a player for "making a stupid decision". Think about someone who just got an ego boost making a bunch of money. They can give/lend money to friends and family when they're down, being the hero. When before the money, they were kind of a nobody. They're going to protect that ability at all costs. Even at the cost of outside people to that circle of friends and family. Why care about people who don't care about your own family? Thus, you get someone who might be harder on their employees, making sure that certain numbers are met, so they get to stay at the high income position. Is it really irrational to maintain a level of heroism among your close friends and family at any cost? Livelihood, in modern society is pretty much the difference between life or death. No real income can lead to homelessness and a great chance of never getting out of it. Essentially "death". Obviously, it's no excuse for breaking the law or detriment to the health of "strangers" (employees). But if you realize that they're not just out to "destroy the world" and have the same basic drive as everyone else, do well for their family, you approach the "problem" differently. Which, comes to where you said, it needs to be articulated accurately to improve it. I just don't like the idea of "well, they're irrational even though I've never been in their same situation".