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connection between wealth and unseemly behavior?

justabubba

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watch this video and see if you observe a connection between wealth and unseemly behavior


those who were actually well off and made to feel less wealthy demonstrated more empathetic behavior

is this in any way responsible for our current state of the union where we have the best government money can buy, where the wealthy, like those in the study, do not attribute their good fortune to their financial fortune but to their personal merit?
 
watch this video and see if you observe a connection between wealth and unseemly behavior


those who were actually well off and made to feel less wealthy demonstrated more empathetic behavior

is this in any way responsible for our current state of the union where we have the best government money can buy, where the wealthy, like those in the study, do not attribute their good fortune to their financial fortune but to their personal merit?


I'm not surprised at all. I've been suggesting that the findings in this study were true for a long time. Then usually, someone who thinks they are richer than me, or possibly just trying to get an ego boost or playing "macho man", comes along as bashes me for saying such, often accusing me of not being successful, or not being educated, or being on welfare, or just claiming that I was jealous of those who were successful. Ha, I guess I proved my point didn't I?

Success, even when caused by luck, often quickly goes to ones head.

The part that I don't understand is why so many relatively non-successful people fail to recognize the same thing that I do.

I can't count how many times that someone has told me that Warren Buffet, or Bill Gates should be admired because they are "self made", and that everyone has that same opportunity. In reality, neither are what most people would call self made. Buffet didn't really purchase a farm when he was seven years old from money that he earned on his paper route. His parents purchases a farm, and titled it in his name, although it is true that Buffet contributed something like $4.50 of his own money from his paper route.

Gates started Microsoft with money from mom and dad (who were rich), and even his first business deal, the one with IBM that instantly made him rich, was setup by his mother, who was a personal friend with the CEO of IBM.

Donald Trump was a multimillionare before he even graduated college, yet he never owned or developed any real estate until after he graduated from college. He claimed that he "made" his millions from work, but the truth is he had never worked for anyone but his dad, and it's not that hard to save millions of dollars when dad is paying you $10,000/hr to tag along with him. Trumps first business partner after college was...get ready for this...his dad.

And ten years ago, when people were trying to blow the whistle on B Madeoff, they were accused of being jealous of his success, and Madeoff's defenders claimed that Madeoff was "just that good" that he could make fortunes even during bad markets. Of course today we know the truth.

And what really gets me are those who think that inheritance somehow is an achievement. Like they really did something to merit inherited wealth. Inheritance isn't an achievement, it's just something that happens. Not really much different than winning the lottery or finding the Hope Diamond in their back yard.

Getting rich, I mean really rich, not just the "millionare next door", almost always involves some form and combination of cronieism, corruption, inheritance, celebrity and luck. Hard work and/or being smart, is often a factor, but for every super rich person, there are thousands of people who are just as hard working, and just as smart, who are relative failures.
 
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People whose lives revolve around the exclusive pursuit of money are usually sociopathic human beings, IME, so it's not surprising that the OP article mentions abuse.

It's funny because money has no inherent value, aside from the faith-based value that humans attach to it. Rather than investing their lives in real, tangible things and proper human relations, these psychos go for the dollars.
 
People whose lives revolve around the exclusive pursuit of money are usually sociopathic human beings, IME, so it's not surprising that the OP article mentions abuse.

It's funny because money has no inherent value, aside from the faith-based value that humans attach to it. Rather than investing their lives in real, tangible things and proper human relations, these psychos go for the dollars.

What I found most interesting is that when regular people felt wealthy, even for just the period of a board game, they started to display these sociopathic tendencies. So is is that many wealthy people become wealthy because they are sociopaths, or is it that becoming wealthy increases sociopathic behavior? I dunno.
 
watch this video and see if you observe a connection between wealth and unseemly behavior


those who were actually well off and made to feel less wealthy demonstrated more empathetic behavior

is this in any way responsible for our current state of the union where we have the best government money can buy, where the wealthy, like those in the study, do not attribute their good fortune to their financial fortune but to their personal merit?


Thank you for posting this, it was very interesting. It reminds me of a special 20/20 I saw regarding charitable giving. It discussed how much more giving and charitable poor people are then MOST wealthy people.
 
A competitor of mine once told me about this lady who came into her business, and said that she had to get priority service because she was very important.

I figure that if you have to tell someone that you are "very important", you really are probably not very important at all. your just an asshole on an ego trip.

One of the things that I have noticed about most really sucessful leaders, I mean those at the top, who are not trying to claw their way up the ladder, is that they are usually quite laid back and not anal or self agrandizing in any way, and are always respectful of others. On the otherhand, those who are still trying to claw their way up are often total assholes.
 
watch this video and see if you observe a connection between wealth and unseemly behavior


those who were actually well off and made to feel less wealthy demonstrated more empathetic behavior

is this in any way responsible for our current state of the union where we have the best government money can buy, where the wealthy, like those in the study, do not attribute their good fortune to their financial fortune but to their personal merit?


Hey bubba. Can you imagine... some papa winger along with junior winger going on a tour of UC Berkley prior to junior wingers admission and sees, what he perceives to be the whole staff…playing monopoly.:mrgreen:
 
I could have told you this.


Just ask any police officer who works in an area of wealthy people...........
 
What I found most interesting is that when regular people felt wealthy, even for just the period of a board game, they started to display these sociopathic tendencies. So is is that many wealthy people become wealthy because they are sociopaths, or is it that becoming wealthy increases sociopathic behavior? I dunno.

It's not about wealth, it's about status. It's a scientific fact that when humans gain more status they produce more testosterone, whether they are male or female. Testosterone makes people more ambitious, aggressive, brutish, and more likely to abuse and take advantage of others.

But that in of itself is not an excuse. People who have done the necessary inner work can rise to power and not have it affect their compassion for others. Unfortunately, most people have not done this inner work, so when they are given power they lose control.
 
Aren't there plenty of examples counter to this like bill gates ?
 
It's not about wealth, it's about status. It's a scientific fact that when humans gain more status they produce more testosterone, whether they are male or female. Testosterone makes people more ambitious, aggressive, brutish, and more likely to abuse and take advantage of others.

But that in of itself is not an excuse. People who have done the necessary inner work can rise to power and not have it affect their compassion for others. Unfortunately, most people have not done this inner work, so when they are given power they lose control.

Thats a great explanation and makes perfect sense to me.
 
Aren't there plenty of examples counter to this like bill gates ?

I'm sure there are. I even mentioned that most of the "top dogs" that I have ever met were super nice people who seemed to be exceptionally complimentary and respectful of others. But I don't know what they were like on their rise to the top. It's very possible that a certain amount of sociopathic behavior raised them to the level that they achieved, then once they had gained what they desired most in life, they chilled out.

It's been well over 20 years since I had a real job, but at that job, one of the things that really drove me out of the corporate world was my observation that it tended to be the "snakes in the grass" who climbed the ladder the fastest. These were people who talked about others behind their backs, and attempted to publicly ridicule their coworkers - sometimes even in there presence. People like that are often thought to be competent, or "strong" leaders, when in actuality they are just like crabs who are trying to climb out of the pot by pulling down others. Some of these people climbed early in their careers, only to eventually be caught and terminated. One particular guy had gone from dept manager trainee to shift superintendent of our manufacturing plant in less than two years, then shortly after he was caught breaking into the company store and stilling product and cash out of the register. Another fast climber was caught secretly destroying wasted product so that he didn't have to report the waste on his paperwork. Another loved to play games with his peers, and would do stuff like turn off a conveyor belt as he left the building, so that products would end up raining from the ceiling all over the plant, it was obviously pure sabatoge, but he would blame the other supervisors claiming that they should be aware of the operating status of all equipment at all times.

However there are plenty of examples, like Steve Jobs, that counter any counters. From what I understood, Steve Jobs was most definitely a sociopath, at least for a lengthy period of time.
 
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