jumpingjacktrash:

FUCKING THIS

now, lemme say a thing:

unlike a lot of angry folks, i have no real problem with people who have cultivated their assets over a few generations and have a million or two in property and investments. that’s something you can actually do with hard work, time, and enough luck that medical surprises or other misfortune doesn’t take it from you. i know actually quite a few families that could pool that much across three generations or a handful of siblings and cousins. that’s the kind of wealth that gave rise to the story of wealth being the result of hard work and intelligence – because if there are a couple doctors or lawyers in the family, or someone bought IBM stock in the 70′s, some attention and elbow grease can give you seven figure results.

which is NOT to say ‘everyone can do it, if you’re poor you’re just not trying’. there are a lot of factors that go into that, and a lucky start is the biggest one. in america, abled whites get that lucky start a lot more than everyone else, and yadda yadda you know the rest.

but the point is, people with like 1.5 million, or 4 million, can end up there by taking advantage of their luck and applying work to it over decades. if that’s what their priority is, of course. so i don’t look at someone with a lake house and an investment portfolio and instantly think EVIL BAD. i think: i don’t really agree with their priorities and we probably wouldn’t get along socially, but the instinct to grow your family’s prosperity is universal, and i’m not going to condemn them without evidence of wrongdoing.

ok, that said?

the ultra-rich?

the billionaires? the hundreds-of-billions-aires?

monstrous.

you cannot cultivate money like that. you cannot grow it as a family project. it starts with an absurd windfall, and then you grow it through crimes compounding upon crimes. crimes against humanity, if not crimes by the law. you acquire billions by making money your god, and flushing your soul down the toilet.