Rich Is Wrong

When I was young and adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered, “Rich.”  It was a popular answer that usually got a few laughs and head shakes regarding how clever I was.

Now I am teaching my kids that there is something wrong with being rich.  I am teaching them that to be rich, to hoard your money the way that the majority of our world’s rich do, is wrong and should be called out as morally repugnant.

Rich people could set in motion solutions to almost all of the problems of the world in one week, but instead, they blow millions on themselves–renovating and re-renovating their multiple residences, spoiling their kids rotten, and bribing various governments to give them preferential treatment.

We emulate the rich by building as big a house as we can with as many luxury finishes as we can.  The rich emulate resorts and shopping malls– their houses must compete with their favorite vacation spots, their closets are full of clothes with tags on that they will never wear.

Rich people hoard money–they are hoarders.  Poor people who hoard are just copying the behaviors of the wealthy.  We should view the hoarding lifestyle of the rich–Jay Leno hoards cars, for example–with the same disgust that we view the poor hoarders’ fridge full of rotten meat and penchant for pissy cats.