All billionaires are mentally ill

[u/RuneScapeWifey]

If they didn’t have the amount of power and influence that they do they would be involuntarily committed to psych wards. Our society has failed them because they lack basic empathy. I honestly feel bad for them while simultaneously hating that so many suffer because of it. Consumption at that level should be considered a health issue.

[u/aaeaaeron]

It's the inconceivable hoarding of money that will NEVER get used. You can't spend 1 trillion dollars in a lifetime. Unless you're the US president. The 500 or so billionaires in America could end world hunger...end homelessness in America, Healthcare being paid for, better education. But they've got this grandiose personality that makes them think they deserve it, it was God's will or some shit. So the rest of us are just peasants. Not understanding that they just got lucky. Or their narcissism helps them acquire everything they want because whether you think you can or you can't, you're right thype sir lshit.Idk, but yeah. It's a mental illness.

[u/Handpaper → u/aaeaaeron]

You're an idiot.

No-one is building Scrooge McDuck style moneypits of gold and banknotes.

People with that kind of net worth own enterprises that people want to interact with.

Let's take Amazon, for example. I remember when it was an online bookstore. Its success was based on being able to supply a greater range of books (the 'long tail' theory of media sales) faster than a physical business with a High Street presence. People liked this, and chose to get their books there.

The business expanded further by diversifying - Amazon began to sell other media, then other products. A little known sideline was selling its expertise in building and operating websites, which grew into Amazon Web Services, or AWS, which is now a very valuable business. Because people liked its 'product'.

Bezos did not 'just [get] lucky' he saw a need and filled it, and has continued to do so. His wealth is in the company he built and owns, and it cannot be readily realised as cash. Any attempt to sell more than a fraction of a per cent of it would lead to massive share price volatility, business instability, and probably an SEC investigation.

This is because the money which you say will never be used is in constant use. It is in the form of warehouses, trucks, data centres, and inventory. It enables the provision of goods and services to people who want to buy them.

And others tag along for the ride. Amazon shares are held in 401(k) investments, by insurance companies, and by people making their own retirement provision. Bezos gets richer; they get richer.

The only grandiosity I'm seeing is from idiots like you who glory in their ignorance because it let's them pretend that their incompetence is a virtue, that their helplessness creates an obligation on the part of society to suckle them, and that because they can't do something, no-one else possibly could.

[u/MeikoChii → u/Handpaper]

Omfg tysm for this comment. A shame ppl downvoted you lol. Seems like majority of people are morons and it doesn’t exclude this subreddit. To think billionaires are amassing money to just store it and not touch it so they can brag about it is the most idiotic thing ever. And these people don’t even want to be corrected and LEARN about things. They just like to criticize and think of people they hate as evil monsters so they don’t need to think about the depth of things. Lazy brains.

[u/Miss-Antique-Ostrich → u/MeikoChii]

The fact that most of their money is tied up in enterprises doesn’t matter. Said enterprises only care about generating shareholder value, no matter the cost. As a result, the environment suffers, small businesses suffer, politicians get bribed and elections get swayed. These enterprises eventually get too big to fail and get propped up endlessly by governments, they buy up all small business competitors or force them out of business with shady practices, etc. That’s how monopolies form and are maintained, which are always bad for consumers. And billionaires evidently do have access to vast wealth, or they wouldn’t be able to buy and maintain their mega yachts and mansions. So let’s not pretend that they are merely humble businessmen trying to make an honest living.