Thursday 12 December 2013

Super rich

There is a lot in the papers at present about the super rich because of the Saatchi/Nigella court case.   Having read it all in The Times, I have decided that I have absolutely no desire at all to be in the super rich bracket.   It would seem to me that as long as we have enough for our needs (rather than our wants), are healthy, well fed, warm for the winter - what more is necessary.   The whole thing about being super rich seems to me to be obscene when I think of all the people who are below the poverty line and are going to go hungry and cold this winter.

£1500 each month on fresh flowers?  I love my bunch of daffodils for New Year - what pleasure I get from watching the buds open to remind me that Spring is not all that far away, and to prompt me to go out into the garden to see how far up the snowdrops are.

A Home tutor for my children?  I think children should grow up in the kind of environment where they meet 'all sorts'.   That way they learn to get along with everybody.

£500 on a bottle of wine - no thanks.

It would seem to me that this kind of life is life lived in a bubble, protected (or excluded which ever way you look at it) from real life so completely that the two never ever meet.

I have a home help one morning a week.   She has been coming to me for over fifteen years and we are great friends.  (She is my main source of information as to what is going on in the area!)  No way would I want a housekeeper - somebody to make all the decisions for me - I like to decide what we are having for lunch.

There is something immoral about great wealth in a world where so many are starving.   But the sad fact is that if all that wealth were to be shared out equally then after a year or two some would be super rich again and others would be poor.  It seems that making money is an interesting occupation for some whilst others just spend it.

One thing is for sure.  Wealth is not for me.   I have never bought a Lottery ticket and after reading about the super rich I never shall.  The chances of winning six million (as someone did a fortnight ago) are very remote - but I don't wish to, thank you.   Luckily the couple who did win it, having bought each of their children a house, are carrying on as normal as they can't think of anything they want.   I hope it continues that way for them.

15 comments:

Edwina said...

A couple of big lottery winners - and we're talking millions here - are now divorced, or on the way. They posed for photos only a year ago, looking so happy and pleased with life, and yet obviously they weren't that happy if they couldn't stay together. I would have no problems getting rid of the money - we have a local hospice desperately in need of funds, a dialysis unit that needs updating and more machines and staff to cope with the ever increasing number of patients, all I would leave would be enough money to ensure me and Him were looked after for the rest of our lives, to live peacefully in comfort and ease and security. The rest would just go, in a flash. Like you though, I don't buy the ticket, am not interested in fancy cars, meals out, wines and so on. I have always said all we want is all we need to get by. Good health don't have any more really, but our own roof over our heads, enough to keep us warm and fed well, and supplied with books! And we have each other, and in a world where there are lots of people who are alone, of all ages, not just the elderly, then I count myself as rich beyond compare.

Susan McShannon-Monteith said...

Never mind that they ooze with wealth, the fact that they've probably made the cover of every Rag Mag in the country and the general public buys the papers adding to their wealth in one way or another.
Give me a warm fire, a kittie on my lap, doogie at my feet and a lovely snowfall outside the window and I'm the richest soul on Earth.
Susan

Crafty Green Poet said...

I agree with you, excess wealth is obscene, though it would be nice to have that sort of money to be able to give it all to charities...

Gwil W said...

I don't think all super rich people are beyond the pale. The Walker brothers Jack and Fred of Blackburn for example were the salt of the earth, and are a great credit to the town and much loved by its citizens.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I agree - the super rich are obscene, at best. I would love to win a huge lottery - oh what fun I'd have. I'd go to the grocery store and pay for baskets and baskets of food for the families who work in the raspberry fields and live in hovels. Maybe I'd buy them a nice house. I would stop by the local "store" that gives out payday loans,and before the people go in I'd give them bundles of money so they wouldn't have to pay 480% (yes, that's right 480% interest) to those creeps inside. I would spend money for schools and Boys and Girls clubs - and hospice - oh I'd have such fun. Maybe I'd better buy a lottery ticket first. LOL If I saw an old car broken down by the side of the road I'd give them a ride to a car dealer and buy them a car - new and shiny and with a warranty.

I've heard that many of the lotto winners have to move because so many people come begging for money - I don't want to move - we bought our little retirement home 6 years ago and we love it here. Maybe I'd have to put up a sign - sorry - out of money, I gave it all away.

Heather said...

I'm sure many of our super rich give generously to charity without anyone realising. They will certainly be paying a vast amount of tax and all that wealth doesn't guarantee happiness, as some folk seem to assume. As long as we can pay the bills, help our children if they need it, give a bit to charity and keep ourselves warm and fed, that'll do for me.

Terra said...

You are right about the obscene spending by the wealthy and it is not just the one percent. An acquaintance of mine (upper middle class) spent $60,000 on a cruise with her husband last year. Also, I just realized that if you are middle class in the USA, UK and some other countries, we probably count as the one percent of the world's population. We have so much, we are blessed.

MorningAJ said...

Just once in my life I'd like to taste a £500 bottle of wine (though the rest of the trappings I could live without) It's just that if I had £500 to spare - I wouldn't dream of spending it on a single bottle of wine.

I'd like to be rich enough to be a philanthropist.

Anonymous said...

Having seen some of the problems of the wealthy and their need to factor in lawyers to fight the problems created by the wealth, I'm glad I have my simple life and little home. I do buy lottery tickets occasionally as I would like to see more of the world, travelling comfortably and not ostentatiously, and pay off our home, see my mother comfortably off in old age and well cared for, and buy my daughter a home.
That's all! No gold, no fancy cars or showiness, - and give the gift of retirement to a husband who is finding the home stretch to that particular goal very tiring.

Loren said...

I'm definitely with you on this, Pat. If I had that much money I'd have to spend far too much time finding ways to give it away to worthy causes.

I'd much rather be out walking looking for birds. Most of the things I enjoy most cost very little, and they have the benefit of helping to keep me in shape.

thousandflower said...

The concept of ENOUGH is missing too often. I, too, have no desire to be super rich. We have enough and a little over as our trip to see you demonstrates. Not only do I not need all that money but I have never wanted to live the kind of life you have to lead to get it. I would prefer to devote my life to farming, weaving, my kids.

Cro Magnon said...

I don't really have a gripe against people being 'rich'. Many of them employ huge amounts of people (Branson, etc). However some are so overpaid that it is just plain immoral (footballers, bankers, health managers, charity bosses, etc).

Personally I am happy to be able to give my children a leg-up, and to have a healthier bank balance at the end of each year than I had at the beginning.

Arija said...

People like Donald Trump and John Travolta and all that super rich clan with their private jets just give me the creeps. Who wants a 12 million dollar house to clean? To leave obscene amounts to one's children usually just ruins their life. Some do help endangered animals. I commend Brad Pitt for building a whole street of new houses in one of the poor districts of New Orleans after the cyclone so those poor people could restart their lives. But then, it was only one street.
it is good to remember that no matter how much money you have, you still put your pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.
I bet none of those rich people enjoy their breakfast egg as much as I do from my three bantams or their salad from some far flung place on our Earth where you have no idea whether it was grown on human waste or not.

thelma said...

Love all the comments, never bought a lottery ticket either. The thought of having a lot of money terrifies me, and I would make a big list and give most of it away.....

Dominic Rivron said...

I spent £48 on a bottle of wine in about 1983. That wouldn't quite be £500 now, but it would be pretty expensive. I have to say it wasn't the best I've ever tasted.

The Co-op here have been doing a pretty good Spanish white wine for £3.99. Sadly, they seem to have stopped doing it. Their latest £3.99 offering isn't half so good. I'm always on the lookout for good bottles for under a fiver.