I think we live in a relatively stable period of history, where law is well established and enforced. But what if things were different? In war, there are no rich, only the powerful – and the powerful take what they want. In an effort to understand an individual’s role in this system we have, I sought to create a scale upon which I could measure myself.
First is the scale for individuals, where we rank relative to each other. At the bottom is the poor, then the working class, then the millionaires, the multimillionaires and super rich, then the billionaires. I’d say the average person makes about 60k a year, spends most of it and saves a little, and in 40 years manages to save enough to retire for maybe 20 years before they kick the bucket. Then there are the business owners and other successful people who have managed to earn a few millions. I would put professional athletes and actors/movie stars in this category. However, before you think of them as rich and invincible, be aware that quite a few end up broke well before their sunset years. Sadly enough, this is where most people set their bars when they think of ultimate success.
The super rich I would say as people having at least 100 million or more in net worth. As far as I know, the only way to be worth this much is to own a very successful business, or to inherit it. It is generally too much for someone to make on wages, although exceptions do apply for the super stars in their industry (who usually happen to own investments as well). Then we have the billionaires, a zone that is exclusive to wealthy business owners or inheritance without exception. At the top we have the richest people in the world, which tends to hover at around $50 billion.
Now lets take a look at the richest people in the world and where they stand. For this purpose I am constructing a fictional billionaire called Mr. Average. The top ten richest people in the world has an average net worth of $34.2B and average age of 66 years. Mr. Average will take on these characteristics, he is 66 years of age and has a net worth of $34B. Assuming he lives to 100 years, he can expect to live on average 34 more years. That means he can anticipate spending $1 B a year until time of death, at which point net worth becomes irrelevant because he can hardly take his wealth with him to the afterlife. To spend $1B in one year, he would need to spend $2,739,726.02 every single day. Assuming he buys a ferrari every day, hosts a $100,000 party every single day, and otherwise pisses away another million, he would still be left with $1.4 M undisposed.
So I think it’s clear, $34B is a fuckload of money but what is it really worth? What if I said you could be Mr. Average at whichever age you are? The only price is = you have to die. Would you accept? If you did then you’re a fool, cause you’re dead and will never get to enjoy any of that $34B. Okay, I’ll give you a break. What if you can be Mr. Average with the $34 B, but in return you would lose function in 3 of your 4 limbs and be horribly disfigured. Deal? Think carefully about this, you will be a paraplegic and horribly disfigured billionaire for the rest of your life, with no possibility of recovery. No? How about the life of your most cherished loved one? If you take this one then you’re not even human. How about 3 of your 5 senses? How about even just one? How about freedom? You can be a billionaire but you also have to be a slave, you have to do what master says.
These are trick questions, all of the things I mentioned could not be cured by money. Would money make your loved ones come back from the dead? There are things – many things, in this world worth more than a billion dollars. Yet people would risk their lives for money, and not anywhere near a billion dollars, not even a million. People would risk life and limb for $10,000, or even less.
The only conclusion I can draw from this is that money gives people a sense of self worth. If you have no money, you feel your life is worthless. If you have a lot of money, you feel your life is worth more than others, and indeed other people feel the same too. Society is built on rules of conformity, and one of those rules is that a poor person’s life is worth less and a rich person’s life is worth more. Anytime you look down on someone because they are poor, you are enforcing this rule, and any time you wish you could be someone else who was rich, you are ingraining it into your heart. But in reality, is your life worth more or less depending on how much money you have? In my opinion, all our lives are worth as much as any billionaire. If you can realize your own worth, then envy would never touch your heart.
Don’t get me wrong, money has it’s uses. And it’s definitely better to have more money than less, but it shouldn’t define a person any more than how many pokemons you have. One final question, just to get the scale right between individuals the world as a whole.
Say I was Mr. Average and worth $34B. How much of the United States would I be able to own? Or even California? $34B, would that be enough for me to buy a city and rule it with an iron fist? Would I be able to field a private army and defend my lands? When you think about it that way, $34B really isn’t that much is it?
