It’s time to call out the “Billionaire Money Hoarders” for their harmful and antisocial behaviour
It was still dark yesterday morning as I sipped my coffee and somehow found myself watching the show “Hoarders”. It made me think of an article that I read last week about a billionaire who was charged for doing essentially the same thing but with money; hiding (hoarding) 2 billion from the IRS. It got me thinking. Both junk hoarders and money hoarders don’t need what they’re hoarding. No one needs 50 broken vacuum cleaners and 700 old newspapers stacked in what used to be a second bedroom. And no billionaire needs extra money, for any reason, least of all to further their PR-chasing pet projects that are often referred to as “philanthropy.”
Now some might say that while the means by which billionaires accumulate their funds may be questionable, why not just focus on the good work that they’re doing. Instead of criticizing them, why not praise them? Hmm, I always find that argument interesting — are we really supposed to throw ethics and morals aside for the billionaire class? Why do some people feel the need to defend their greed? It’s an interesting psychological question that will have to wait. Today I’m simply comparing two types of hoarding behaviour and how our views may not be quite as objective as we think.
Divine Oracles or Mental Defect
On one hand, we celebrate money hoarding billionaires as great capitalists; brilliant leaders, and thinkers to be admired. We put them on a pedestal and parade them across our media outlets as if they’re divine oracles who can see into the future. We feel honoured to hear them speak and consciously or subconsciously we hope that we can glean some nuanced insight that might bring a small advantage to our lives.
Now consider the other type of hoarder. People who fill their homes with junk because some trauma is haunting them and has made it difficult for them to let go. We often look down upon these struggling people and label them as having some kind of mental defect. And thanks to the incentive and reward system of capitalism, it usually doesn’t take long for some inventive entrepreneur to find a way to exploit them and profit from their misfortune, all under the pretext of education and some free psychological counseling for people who often can’t afford it.
Harmful or Harmless
Both groups have an unrelenting need to keep outrageous amounts of stuff (I use the term stuff here to include money), but one group’s image is protected by the media and politicians, while the other is exploited for our amusement. But are the two groups really so different? Aren’t they both dealing with the same affliction? Why don’t we also send psychologists in to help billionaire hoarders with their mental illness? I’m sure people would find it equally entertaining. We could take cameras into one of their many palatial homes or onto one of their private jets or luxury yachts to learn about what may have happened in their lives to make them feel so disconnected from people, that they feel little to no responsibility for the negative effects of their money hoarding on society. Yes, these groups may be similar in some ways but when you look at it from the cost to society — there’s no contest.
Junk hoarders are mostly harmful to themselves and their family, although they sure can be frustrating neighbours. They regularly pose an increased threat of fire due to all the combustible material that’s piled up to their ceilings, and there’s often a noxious smell that radiates beyond the walls of their home from whatever food or dead animals are decomposing, and let’s not forget the eventual eyesore as the overflow usually finds its way to the backyard and then inevitably the front yard. Clearly, the biggest threat that these folks pose to society is to those few unlucky people who find themselves living right next door. But all things considered, they’re mostly harmless.
Billionaires on the other hand are the opposite of harmless; they are dysfunctional and psychologically disturbed society destroying predators. Just consider how much time and money has been spent by billionaires to influence politicians to lower their taxes and create “legal” tax avoidance policies like offshore accounts and tax-sheltered “donations” that play perfectly into their PR-enhancing “philanthropic” efforts. If you don’t look too closely it may seem harmless enough — some rich person is spending money on something that seems altruistic — but it’s not that simple. These hoarding and inequality expanding efforts have consequences.
English