The funniest thing about Putin's wealth.

[OAITW r.2.0]

He can't really enjoy it. Monk, Beezos, Gates, and Buffett can....but not Putin. He can't explain his wealth because he stole it from the Russian people. He can't enjoy his billion dollar palace because he stole the rubles to build it.

So he has to pretend it doesn't exist.

[smirkymonkey]

1. Do you really think any of them enjoy their wealth?

It just seems like they are obsessed with either preserving it or getting more of it. I don't really get a sense of "joie de vivre" out of any of these people.

In fact, quite the opposite. They all seem quite miserable in their own particular ways. Putin especially. And Trump really especially. How sad. So much money and such an inability to enjoy the experiences that it could give you access to. How frustrated they must be.

[Raine]

5. Even with all they have they're so needy and insecure

I bet there's homeless people that are happier they are. Sometimes the less you have the more pleasure you get out of simple things like a comfortable place to rest and a cup of coffee.

[smirkymonkey]

6. Yes, I do believe that.

I think that is what is meant when people say money isn't everything. I have known a lot of very rich people and I can say with certainty that they are some of the most bitter, miserable people I have ever met in my life. They really are/were. Maybe it's because they never really understood what mattered or that they felt people only used them for their money.

I have known some people with very little who have seemed like the most content, happiest people I have ever met. Generally for myself, I would say having enough not to be economically insecure is good enough for me. I don't have a desire for a lot of material things and as long as I can meet my needs and buy some gifts for loved ones and have a little fun here and there I am pretty happy.

[Chainfire]

8. That is good in theory.

But to be poor and insecure in the richest country is not a bed of roses. Especially when the wealthy want to beat you with the notion that you are poor because you are no good. As a child, I went to bed hungry and to school in Winter with no coat. I remember what it was to be known as PWT, the jokes behind your back, just loud enough for you to hear. The haves wanted to remove any dignity that might be hiding within you. I remember the shame of the repo man visiting and the utility company cutting off the lights.

I recovered economically when I became a young adult (I worked my ass off) and have lived a reasonably prosperous middle class life, and am now economically secure in my retirement, (barring serious inflation) but the pain of being poor is etched in my memory and the scars remain.

Perhaps that is why I have empathy for those with less than I do, something that many people who have never missed a meal lack.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I never meant to say that it wasn't an awful thing to be poor or economically insecure in

any country. I am sure it is and was traumatizing, as you have explained. Nobody should have to live like that in a nation as wealthy as ours, or even in a world where so many have more than they could possibly spend in a lifetime. If my words have caused offense, I apologize.

I only meant to say that I have known those who are very rich (like worth hundreds of millions of dollars rich) who were so miserable that I almost - well, actually did - feel sorry for them.

Because I knew that for all their money, they would never ever be happy. They had spent their entire lives focusing on the wrong things and being trained to focus on the wrong things and for all their advantages they were just bitter, miserable people and were pretty much irredeemable. They could not find happiness, peace or even contentment anywhere.

It's too bad that their money could not have been re-distributed more fairly than it probably was after their deaths. Instead, it just went to the next greedy generation, continuing the cycle.

[msongs]

2. one suspects all their parties are like the ones hermann goering used to have, glittering

criminals in their finery

[artemisia1]

3. Best comparison tonight on DU. You win the Internet. /nt

[fierywoman]

4. If I correctly remember an old Chinese saying: You can only sleep in one bed at a time.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. Ill-gotten gains.

Lots of company.

Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent

https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/paradise-papers-exposes-donald-trump-russia-links-and-piggy-banks-of-the-wealthiest-1-percent/

Snort snort.

[Samrob]

9. I don't really know if any of selfish uber rich enjoy anything except the quest for more riches and

power. There are a few who give lots to the service of mankind but far too few. The one who try to do some good with their wealth are usually bad-mouthed by the hateful and accused of all sorts of things from being a communist (although that has lost its meaning except among the braindead MAGAs) or of devious plans to overtake the planet.

Maybe there is some hope of getting energy help from Venezuela? Aren't supposed to be our "friends" now?

[edhopper]

10. He enjoys his wealth by having it

for sociopaths like him, it's not about what he can do with his wealth, it's about having more than others.
His enjoyment comes from power and controlling the lives of others.

[hamsterjill]

12. Exactly!

It’s all about having more and nothing about what he already has.

That’s why Trump idolizes him.

[Doc Sportello]

11. Studies show the wealthiest are not the happiest

Psychology professor and researcher Ed Diener has been studying the relationship between wealth and happiness for 35 years. His most interesting conclusion to me, from a piece he wrote several years ago, was that the happiest people are those in the middle. Breaking the data into three classes by income (adjusted for COL differences), the poorest were the unhappiest while those in the $40K to $250K were the happiest. from what I remember, he concluded that was because those in the middle had enough to meet their basic needs and a little more to enjoy the extras. The richest found that more wealth gave them more to worry about.

An article about his work:
https://unews.utah.edu/the-connection-between-money-and-happiness-is-real-to-a-point/

snip
The analysis used data from the Gallup World Poll, which includes observations from more than 1.7 million people in 164 countries. Diener, who has studied happiness for more than 35 years, is a Gallup senior scientist.

“What we show here for the first time is that in some places increasing income after some point actually leads to decreases in life satisfaction,” Diener said. “We don’t yet know why this is — perhaps these people work so hard that they cannot enjoy life, or they become focused mostly on materialistic goals or whatever. We just don’t know.”

[lagomorph777]

13. That's his favorite part! He loves having a huge secret stash and private getaways.