In the movie Parasite, the poor family going through a tough time is sitting together talking about the rich family they just interacted with:
Ki-taek: She’s so naive and nice. She’s rich but she’s still nice.
Chung-sook: Not “Rich but still nice.” Nice because she’s rich, you know? Hell, if I had all this money, I’d be nice too!
The stress from having to perform all the time to bring food to the table can put people in a bad state of mind, where they are less able to take a breather. Dealing with difficult people then does not come easy. Shelling out bullshit money to sort something is not an option.
I don’t think though that rich people are kinder overall, in terms of giving. There are so many people who spend their lifetime building up their communities and helping others, who will not be on any list of rich people. Indeed, the richest donate a small fraction of their money … it is rare for rich people to disappear from the list of rich people.
The analogy has been made that billionaires are like Smaug the dragon, hording their money for doing … nothing useful. They are withholding money from the economy, money that does not circulate as well as if it was with poorer people. Money only trickles up and then gets stuck there, and only through taxes on income and/or wealth, this effect is being made less severe.
It’s not a coincidence that equality leads to higher happiness, not just for poor people, but also for rich people who have then less, because they do not have to fear the strong economic difference and stronger cohesion.
Leave a Reply