I think it's become fashionable to appear more humble ever since the crash of 2008 and the occupy movement. I remember the news running stories about Bill Gates/Mark Zuckerberg/ect driving normal cars, wearing normal clothes, living in modest houses. The idea being that they're so rich that they don't care about status symbols. Back then this would be directly contrasted with the gold chains and fancy cars of famous rappers and athletes (in a racial kind of way: the white billionaires wanted to differentiate themselves from black millionares)
I was in high school in the early 2010s, it wasn't uncommon for teachers to imply the billionaires were rich because of their seemingly frugal spending habits, as if the difference between a 500k house and a 10 million dollar house was any more than a rounding error for them
That's probably not the only factors involved, but billionaires definitely seem to care about their reputation. All those space exploration stunts are pure vanity, but billionaires can pretend they're doing the world a favor by advancing science
It predates the GFC. Warren Buffett only drinks Coca Cola and loves McDonald's. Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) was famous for his ball caps, and the book "The Millionaire Next Door", about how rich people are actually just boring Toyota drivers, came out in the 90s.
This is supposed to make us peons feel humble, but really it just made me go "what's the point?" Like the neighbor said in Office Space "shit man, you don't need a million dollars to do nothing" If someone is a ruthless shark like Warren Buffett and they want to own an island full of jewels and party 24/7, I get it. Why go to all that trouble just to eat a Big Mac tho?
I think it's become fashionable to appear more humble ever since the crash of 2008 and the occupy movement. I remember the news running stories about Bill Gates/Mark Zuckerberg/ect driving normal cars, wearing normal clothes, living in modest houses. The idea being that they're so rich that they don't care about status symbols. Back then this would be directly contrasted with the gold chains and fancy cars of famous rappers and athletes (in a racial kind of way: the white billionaires wanted to differentiate themselves from black millionares)
I was in high school in the early 2010s, it wasn't uncommon for teachers to imply the billionaires were rich because of their seemingly frugal spending habits, as if the difference between a 500k house and a 10 million dollar house was any more than a rounding error for them
That's probably not the only factors involved, but billionaires definitely seem to care about their reputation. All those space exploration stunts are pure vanity, but billionaires can pretend they're doing the world a favor by advancing science
i think this process has been going since at least the french revolution tho :)
this is how old money distances itself from new money. by pretending to be humble.
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Definitely, they just try to keep their hedonism behind closed doors. Just ask the late Jeffrey Epstein
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It predates the GFC. Warren Buffett only drinks Coca Cola and loves McDonald's. Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) was famous for his ball caps, and the book "The Millionaire Next Door", about how rich people are actually just boring Toyota drivers, came out in the 90s.
This is supposed to make us peons feel humble, but really it just made me go "what's the point?" Like the neighbor said in Office Space "shit man, you don't need a million dollars to do nothing" If someone is a ruthless shark like Warren Buffett and they want to own an island full of jewels and party 24/7, I get it. Why go to all that trouble just to eat a Big Mac tho?
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