• orcrist@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    7 hours ago

    Not worded like that. A lot of billionaires, probably all of them, are evil narcissistic fuckheads. The narcissism does the heavy lifting. They can’t imagine themselves being poor, and they certainly can’t imagine themselves being the kind of poor person that they despise.

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Billionnaires are hoarders. They don’t need the shit they hoard but they can’t help themselves trying to get more shit.

    The problem is, billionnaires hoard money at everybody else’s expense.

  • morgan423@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    23 hours ago

    No. Every single one of them could pull $100,000,000 out of their personal money circulation and just store it in various stupidly safe places that barely return the rate of inflation. For all I know, maybe they all do that.

    They have so much money that it’d be almost impossible to lose it all, but if they managed to do it somehow, then they could pull out that safe nest egg and still have more money than they could ever need in a lifetime. There’s almost zero chance that they’ll ever be poor.

    • knightmare1147@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 hour ago

      I suspect it’s related to insurance in the case of loss by the bank. I think most have upper limits to how much they’ll reimburse if they’re robbed or something so they’ll store it in multiple accounts.

      I don’t think anyone would just have an exorbitant amount of money in one spot.

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Billionaires are almost always created by starting with substantial familial wealth, taking large financial risks, and getting lucky. They then generally misattribute this luck to personal excellence, causing them to underestimate future risks.

    On the other hand, they also induce institutions to change in ways that really do insulate them as a class from the consequences of risk. Both of these factors would tend to reduce their fear of losing their wealth and status.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    1 day ago

    Their definition of poor is likely not ours. We might see someone rich beyond words while they see themselves as ruined. A great example of this is the ending of Succession.

    But no. They will never reach our definition of poor.

  • Boozilla@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    1 day ago

    I’m guessing most do not, because it takes a lot of work to spend a billion dollars. I speculate they are competitive with each other and want to be the richest of the rich. And/or they have dreams about colonizing Mars or whatever.

    I think one blind spot many of them have is: you do NOT want to be a wealthy person living in a poor country.

    • notaviking@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Oh no I disagree, I would rather be the richest person in a poor country than be the poorest person in a rich country. But I grew up in a low-ish, not nearly the lowest, income country so maybe I am just used to it.

  • 7fb2adfb45bafcc01c80@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    23 hours ago

    Only in the sense that they worry about the working class rising up and making their wealth worthless. That is, if they get to stick around to see.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 day ago

    I just saw a post on LinkedIn from a low-rent c-suite that lost their cars and home. Other c-suites were reaching out to help them like I’ve never seen.

    Billionaires won’t ever be poor because their peers will help them.

  • EABOD25@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    24 hours ago

    IMO, Money equates to power and authority. They aren’t wrong in thinking that, but have you ever heard the saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” or “Evil checked grows. Evil tolerated poisons the whole system”?