Friday, October 30, 2009
Bernie Madoff
I've been reading about Bernie Madoff. This has made me wonder why people who have a lot of money always seem to want more. I want more money. I think £10 million would suffice. But then, I suppose, I would, indeed, want more. I probably couldn't afford a decent yacht, for example. So, say, I have £100 million. I think that would be enough. But, reading about Madoff, I see that there is no limit to the amount of money people want. This is obviously competitive. With £100 million on hand, you will almost certainly find yourself surrounded by people who have more. More would buy you a bigger yacht, perhaps one with an attached submarine. This is pathetic, of course, but, at this level, I don't think the possessions are anything more than signals. The real point is the pursuit of the abstraction of numbers on a bank statement. This is also pathetic. There used to be a joke about rich people phoning their money every morning. This feels psychologically accurate, the abstraction of money has become more real than what it buys. One of the reasons for the values in the art market - and, indeed, the amount of art - is the intuition of some rich people that there's something a bit thin about the money abstraction. They could read poetry, but that's a dangerous step too far away from money as it costs nothing, or a bit if you actually buy the books. So they buy art which is a dream team - it offers non-monetary values and it is very expensive. Anyway, that said, I still don't really know why people with a lot of money always want more.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
I have worked out that I need someone -- maybe you -- to give me a £2 million tax-free lump sum and then I will be content. But then I man of modest tastes, and a socialist to boot. I know nothing of the status anxiety of the north Norfolk jet set.
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange paradox that those who are desperate for money - and usually end up with it - are those for whom it's peculiarly useless. They value it more for what it represents than what it does.
ReplyDeleteOh, okay, Nick, you should have said. Where should I send the cheque?
ReplyDeleteI read an article, I forget where and when, which suggested that most people say they would be happy if they only had an extra £4-£7k per annum.
ReplyDelete""Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it." - GK Chesterton, 'A Miscellany of Men'.
ReplyDeleteAs ever Bryan - and Gaw - it's the wrong people who have the money. If only they would give it to people of taste and discernment like...like.....like us.
Do you watch The Wire? I suspect big money is just another version of the game. It's not about more, it's just about the next move. That's what hooks.
ReplyDeleteIn the rerun of a rerun of Alan Whicker's interview with JP Getty, all was revealed, if that's what a surfeit of dosh brings, gimme poverty.
ReplyDeleteDescribing him as the richest living American was a misuse of the word living, richest living American miserable old git may have been more appropriate.
Oh well. I thought the point was that people with lots of money always think they don't have any and are forever rushing around turning off lights and the central heating while worrying about where the next dollop of even more money is going to come from. Obsessive Money Disorder is nature's way of telling you you're overdosing on the stuff. What better antidote than spend spend spend!
ReplyDelete"I think £10 million would suffice. But then, I suppose, I would, indeed, want more. I probably couldn't afford a decent yacht, for example. "
ReplyDeleteBut you could rent one. Surely the greatest luxury afforded by great wealth is that you don't have to own things any more.
I think Jane Austen's sketch of Mrs Norris catches it well (see below)--it's psychological,of course. I think people born to wealth are much less prone to this problem (as JA noted, the habit originated in necessity).
ReplyDeleteA recent discussion of Schwart's Paradox of Choice book and TED talk strikes to the heart of the matter I think. I discuss it here.
JA on Mrs Norris:
Having married on a narrower income than she had been used to look forward to, she had, from the first, fancied a very strict line of economy necessary; and what was begun as a matter of prudence, soon grew into a matter of choice, as an object of that needful solicitude which there were no children to supply. Had there been a family to provide for, Mrs. Norris might never have saved her money; but having no care of that kind, there was nothing to impede her frugality, or lessen the comfort of making a yearly addition to an income which they had never lived up to. Under this infatuating principle, counteracted by no real affection for her sister, it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity; though perhaps she might so little know herself as to walk home to the Parsonage, after this conversation, in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world.
Forget Getty you miserabilists. Did anyone see Evan Davis with Warren Buffet earlier this week? It was strangely life enhancing. And the very best capitalists - usually American - have a knack of giving it all away at the end anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's also perfectly possible to be poor and miserable, or middle-income and miserable, or pretty well-off and miserable. Just in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to form a commune and pool our wealth. We could then buy a yacht and/or a football team.
ReplyDeleteHey, look, we treat the wealthy like they're better people because of their wealth, especially when we're raising funds for a church or college. So why wouldn't they want to be even better people? It's inspiring, really.
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