The Idle Rich

Ah, the wealthy in society, the idle rich. They're not, as the wag once famously proclaimed, 'like you and me'; after all, why should they be? They don't have to be pedestrian, they've got untold wealth. They needn't toil for scant remuneration, they've been born into great wealth or acquired it through clever entrepreneurship, or business acumen which recognizes that there are certain scruples and laws that pertain to some, but by no means all, aided and abetted by that other famous proverb: 'there's one born every minute'.

And I don't mean the wealthy, the unscrupulous capitalist, but those among the great unwashed who are cowed by wealth and afford its owners celebrity status by its very acquisition, or alternately - worship by default.

Human nature, that's just the way it is. Money makes the world go 'round, the world go 'round, the world go 'round. Those that have it may satisfy their every whim and conceit. It's the way it is. And while the rich are not like you or me, if you or I had that untold wealth at our disposal we could handily turn things around and yes indeed become just like them. But man does not live by lucre alone, and having an embarrassment of it at one's disposal can become, to some, simply palling, a downright bore, for nothing is beyond one's reach and there is nothing to be hoped for, nothing to aspire to, nothing to solve. Other than to sit and count it.

So the wealthy turn to other means of comfort and appeal, playing life games which in fact only the wealthy can afford to do. There are many options; set up charitable organizations in one's own name with one's own wealth, to dispense largess to those areas where the perceived need is greatest. Something akin to playing God, offering not salvation through righteous living, but through dispensation of wealth. The awesome power of distributing wealth for the purpose of alleviating dire straits visited upon helpless, hapless populations falls to some, and more power to them. For indeed, this is power - to sit in judgement in determining where one's investment will wreak the most 'good'. Adulation follows.

Whether it be making costly vaccines for impoverished peoples susceptible to dread diseases, or encouraging others in one's own stratosphere of national society to take up the good fight against global warming, the wealthy, the celebrities among us seek to enhance their legacy in life by providing inspiration and hope for others' futures. They may in their inner selves be wanting as decent and good human beings, but the artifice of compassionate caring can be readily accomplished through the good auspices of money-dispersal. It will be the good they accomplished when they could that will recall them to fond memory, not the manner in which they acquired the wherewithal to do so, or the sad dysfunction of their personal lives.

The celebrated, the wealthy and the politically accomplished can also aspire successfully to the highest position in the land. In third-world countries by military diktat, in capitalistic democracies by calling in their social and political favours to amass gaspingly-great sums of dispensable cash with which to run a political campaign. Needless to say, the recipients of such favour, themselves favour and befriend and eventually give pay-back to the great corporate boardrooms of their nation. Wealth, whether one's own, or that 'borrowed, with-interest-to-follow' can enable accession to the administrative power of a country through attainment of the stature of the most elevated position possible: sufficient funds and political smarts equal the opportunity of election to the highest level.

Humility is not an asset, nor is uncertainty whether or not an unchallenged intellect should aspire to that office. Being born to the manner and the manor are definite assets in this day, and in this age. Canada, for example, has had her own such in the likes of Paul Martin and Belinda Stronach, of late. Some politicians achieve the wealth they desired post-leadership with the considerable help of their 'friends' in high corporate places while others bring their wealth to bear upon their aspirational successes or lack thereof.

And then the wealthy make decisions, having attained their coveted positions of power, that impact directly upon our lives; we live with the fall-out of their decisions, they have the option, much exercised of walking away from their folly.