Do you think billionaires ever feel like this?

[senseandsensibility]

On an outing with my husband just now, we encountered a homeless man at the intersection. My husband keeps some cash in the car for these kinds of situations. He gave the guy a few bucks when we came to a stop. I made eye contact with the man and saw he had no teeth when he smiled and said thank you.

I felt a rush of emotion, and I said to my husband, I can't believe how much more we have than him and I feel guilty. I started to well up, and my husband patted my leg. We both began to sob a little. I said that it would be so hard to pick yourself up from that situation with no hope and so little support. It was painful to allow those feelings of empathy and despair to wash over my being.

Do you think that the billionaires you are enriching themselves daily at the expense of the least of us ever feel this? Maybe in their subconscious? I like to believe that they are human, but if they are, they would have to feel something and it seems like they don't.

Sorry for the downer post. Just had to let loose a little, I guess.

[wcmagumba]

1. No, I don't believe they do. These guys are soulless low empathy sociopaths (imo)...

Good on you for having these feelings and helping the homeless person...

[senseandsensibility]

10. I honestly would hope that all people have those feelings deep down

but they are painful, so I thought maybe billionaires were just burying them or maybe they're actually ignorant. I know it's easier to pretend not to see and to just go about your business, but sometimes it hits you, and it's overwhelming. That's what happened to me today. Thanks for your kind comments.

[speak easy]

31. Some people are cruel. They enjoy hurting others.

Around 1.2% of the population are psychopaths
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8374040/

Exhibit A: Steven Miller and his boss.

[Dave Bowman]

2. Wealthy people have less empathy/compassion.

"research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/

Now image how compassionate a multi-billionaire is.

[Blue Full Moon]

14. They profile as serial killers

[OldBaldy1701E]

26. Of course.

One cannot achieve that level of wealth without taking it from someone else. Usually, that destroys the person who loses the money. The rich don't usually get it from other rich people, as the wealthy, in general, don't spend a dime if they can help it. (I know a guy who is quite well off, and he is known for returning to the grocery store {after getting home} and hitting the customer service desk over being shorted like a quarter {by accident}). So, they take it from the Mom and Pop store down the street by raising the rent in an attempt to get them to move out so that they can raise the rent beyond their agreement with the old tenant, thus driving the old store out of business.

Why are we 'surprised' that the majority of wealthy people act like vultures?

[FakeNoose]

40. Most billionaires - in this country anyway - rely on lawyers and accountants to protect their wealth

The billionaires don't have to do the dirty work themselves. That's why they pay other people to do it.

I want to believe that they aren't completely heartless. After all, wealthy people do occasionally make generous (tax-free) gifts to benevolent causes. However the billionaires are quite insulated from such things as meeting beggars on street corners and the like.

[OldBaldy1701E]

49. Yes, they do. Which does not speak well of lawyers and accountants, to be honest.

Then, there is this:

After all, wealthy people do occasionally make generous (tax-free) gifts to benevolent causes.

Yes, they do. But, it costs them nothing to do it. Hell, in some cases, the rich person is not the name on the freaking check. It was signed by whatever shell company they are using at the time. Sometimes the rich person doesn't even know that they made the 'gift'. You mentioned this. The level of disconnect from the majority of society has created a delusion that the rich are desperate to, not only maintain, but expand. Of course, that delusion will destroy the rest of us. Yet, we don't seem particularly worried about it.

If it costs you so little (or even nothing) that it does not even register, then it is not exactly 'generous' now, is it?

But the main issue is this:

I want to believe that they aren't completely heartless.

With all due respect, this is why we are where we are. This country is never going to improve until we remove the system that has allowed this level of inequity. This country is never going to avoid another orange gibbon with the current system in place. The rich know that removing this system will remove their position in our society. Despite some claims of benevolence, none of them are going to allow this to happen. Which mean, the inequity will continue, and get worse. They don't care. They will act like they do, but the real solution is one that they will refuse to accept, even as they watch vast sections of the nation become wastelands due to over-use/abuse and complete lack of planning for the future. Once the instant profit motive is gone, they move on. Those who made them rich and live in those areas? Those who sacrificed to make this happen? Who cares.

But, we love our unfettered capitalism and the billionaires it creates, don't we?

(By the way, have I mentioned that millionaires and up account for around 5% of the population, yet they make up 58% of Congress? And, someone wants to tell me that all their decisions are solely based on the 'general welfare'?? )

[spanone]

3. K&R

❤️

[Emile]

4. Billionaires think these people need to lift themselves

up by their bootstraps straps. They don't know the meaning of empathy.

[enough]

5. No. They believe that they have gathered that wealth through

their own brilliance and effort and good genes, and also that God is obviously pleased with them.

[Woodycall]

17. Calvinism...

1. Calvinism Teaches That All People Are Inherently Evil and Deserving of Eternal Punishment
2. Only a Select Few (The Elected - i.e. Themselves) Are Chosen for Salvation, While the Rest Are Left Without Hope
3. The Unelect Are Considered Beyond Salvation and Have No True Value in God’s Plan
4. Calvinism Discourages Love, Mercy, and Compassion
5. Calvinism Would Create an Authoritarian, Exclusionary Society

[Moostache]

6. Let's get real for a second...

BILLIONAIRE = 1,000 time Millionaire
MILLIONAIRE = more money than 95% of the population will ever see in a given calendar or tax year.

To amass a fortune of more than 1,000X the feasible lifetime cap of annual income for the VAST majority of the population is already indicative of a serious character flaw - terminal GREED. I do not believe BILLIONAIRES should EXIST, let alone have feelings about their anti-social procivilities and anti-humanitarian tendencies.

I am of the opinion that our tax code needs to return to the days when the middle class was truly built - Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The top progressive bracket should be sliding UP annually so that after $100 M in aggregate wealth (net worth), individuals are taxed on a sliding scale for every dollar OVER $100M in assets/net worth. By the time you hit $999M, you effective taxe rate becomes 100% of every dollar OVER the $1B limit - in effect, a maximum wage for the billionaires. I am sure that some of the billionaire class are not 100% scum, but to amass that kind of "wealth", one cannot work hard enough, nor provide enough actual, real value to "earn" that much money. It is only via exploitation of labor and extraction of wealth via stocks and options or leverage that such wealth is acrued.

Do I think they feel badly for the homeless? NO... they can barely be bothered to cut the gap in wealth between themselves and the actual physical people who either make their product, drive their service or provide market value (which they then extract and deposit in their own ledgers as 'profits').

It is time for 90% marginal rates, and a sliding wealth tax above that.
It is time to address the fact that everyone is losing in 2025, and only the 0.01% are "winning" which is actually little more than collecting the money stolen from everyone for them by their paid bagmen in Congress and Washington in general.

Do they care? No, not much, not little, not a bit, not even a little bit.

[Nictuku]

7. I think that is the root cause of our Great Divide

Those without Empathy and those who have it.

[iemanja]

44. There are people with moderate to low incomes that lack empathy

One doesn't have to be rich.

[harumph]

8. They don't give a shit - or more often they just pretend to give a shit.

Many also believe in the "just world fallacy" which basically proposes people are in the state they are
because of god or some similar nonsense. Ergo: "I'm rich because god has willed it or I'm just so much smarter and better than
other people." Must suck to be them at death time. Must be something to go from a powerful master of the universe to a frail
little person dependent on a nurse's aid to empty their piss jar - if they're lucky. Sad!

[Catherine Vincent]

9. Probably not

They turn a blind eye on people like that, so they don't see it.

[Karadeniz]

11. The mind has to have soul energy to balance out the ego/survival effect of brain energy.

They wouldn't be materialistic, selfish, greedy people if their souls could produce enough energy to rouse empathy towards others.

[hamsterjill]

12. I don't think they do, and I don't think it's JUST billionaires.

I think it's Republicans, in general. For example - say a Republican encountered the homeless man at the intersection.

First, they would convince themselves NOT to give him anything because "he would probably just buy alcohol or drugs with it anyway".

Secondly, they would comment on how "ugly" his teeth were and that he probably never kept them brushed.

Third, they'd make some comment about how the City needs to clean up the streets from these types.

Fourth, they'd say that all of the homeless are that way on purpose and won't accept help from the MANY shelters available to them because they don't want to have to follow any rules.

I've seen this play out a million times in my lifetime. Republicans justify their indifference by blaming the other person. If they can place blame on that person, then they don't have to feel guilt. They can lay their heads on their pillows at night and go right to sleep. After all, the homeless man "deserves" it, right?

[bronxiteforever]

13. Kick and recommend. I know it has been posted alot

but your post reminded me of this quote from the Great Gatsby. They are careless people.

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

[MIButterfly]

15. Back in the day, rich people used to feel an obligation to help those less fortunate.

They gave to charities and hospitals and causes because they knew they were the lucky ones. Nowadays, they do no such thing. Oh, there are a few that donate money to various causes, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Now their attitude is more, more, more, all for me and sucks to be you.

[walkingman]

16. In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine what a billionaire thinks. From those that

I see or have seen on TV, most seem like they could not relate to not just homeless people but to the average working person in general.

However, people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates seem more like "normal" humans to me but I really know nothing about them. I do appreciate their philanthropic activities.

[Jean Genie]

18. Billionaire feelings

I USED to believe that extremely wealthy people (ie billionaires) still had feelings, still were members of the human race, still felt things like empathy, compassion, and, yes, even guilt.
But ... no I was wrong. They're nothing more than a bunch of self-centered lizard-brained aliens. There might be exceptions. I think there are. I hope for all our sake's that there are! Warren Buffet might be an exception.

[Jean Genie]

23. And also...

Probably Alexis Ohanian

And quite possibly Mackenzie; the first Mrs. Bezos

[Demobrat]

19. No. Billionaires don't see or come into contact

with people like that.

[Nasruddin]

20. Different species

I don't know for sure that billionaires are a different species, but they sure seem to think the rest of us are.

[IbogaProject]

21. I'm sure it varies

But I'd also bet even the philanthropic ones would scorn that person assuming he made mistakes to end up in his position.
Both Buffet and Gates had very significant advantages, so neither of them was truly "self made". But many of those Billionaires, and many with 10 or more million, just keep them selves as far as they can from any situation where they have to feel compassion. I think they spin a fantasy that their privileged and success was all deserved or earned. They have no concept of the damage of childhood hunger and the harm of being exposed to adults coping with poverty or other problems with alcohol and or drugs. I was taught to up my empathy by reminding myself this person was a kid once and it all went awry for them, maybe even in childhood.

[Aristus]

22. No. Billionaires, by and large, are sociopaths. They are indifferent to anyone's suffering but their own.

They have no empathy, no remorse, none of what we would call human emotions. All of that has been supplanted by greed. They don't want more money; they want all the money. They will never feel fulfilled because there will always be at least some money out there that is not theirs. That's why they constantly drive down wages, slash benefits, reduce the time a worker can take off to rest, recuperate, and just plain not be at work anymore, because the rest of us are human and need these things. They do everything they can to engineer ways to put someone else's money into their own pockets. It's sad that our elected representatives, who are supposed to protect the people from all that, are complicit in the selling of the American people.

[JMCKUSICK]

24. That's me excepting the roof Senseandsensibility.

To answer your question, no. I have members of my church who won't look at me as they walk by because I'm beneath them in stature. The dentures I have were made by a Medicaid approved dentist, it took more than a year to turn them from his original cast of horse teeth, no joke, to where I can wear them now for a few hours without pain, as long as I don't eat. Seven additional visits after which I just gave up.
It's not the rich I worry about treating me like shit, it's the ones who are that one paycheck away but won't acknowledge it that hurt the worst. There are way more of them, than the billionaires. The cruelty of their dismissals is almost intentional so as to create a further imaginary gap between me and them.
If you'd like to help me stay in my mobile home, please donate here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-john-mckusick-overcome-health-and-financial-struggles

I've never posted my GFM link in a comment but this is so on point. I hope you don't take offense.

Thank you for your amazingly poignant post.

[senseandsensibility]

29. That must hurt coming from people in your church

I hope things improve for you soon, and the members of your church "see the light" so to speak.

[JMCKUSICK]

30. It does, and I've pointed that out to my "mentor"

I get a "I know" and he does that to everybody about the main guy that does it.

[CloudWatcher]

25. By definition

If you have accumulated a billion dollars, that's proof that you have no empathy. Else you would have given away what you didn't actually need.

Greed is a mental illness. In theory we should feel sorry for them. Ofc I don't, I'm much too disappointed and angry.

The same kind of self-identification happens with the people that wear maggot hats. They're idiots, and we know they're idiots, and we should feel sorry for them. Ask me if I feel sorry for them after they're out of power.

[HeartsCanHope]

27. I have to tell you that I feel that way a lot, too--that I am so lucky I have what I need.

My heart breaks daily for those who are in need. How I wish I had enough to make a difference for a lot of people! I do what I can, but I always wish I could do more. I've never understood the hate mentality that looks down on someone for a needing a helping hand. The old saw, "There but for the grace of God go I," always springs to mind. Trump and Musk are two of the saddest, most ridiculous human beings on this planet. Laying up vast wealth that they'll never spend--yet always needing more. They acquaint wealth with happiness.
They've given up the things that matter most for that wealth. When they reach the end of their lives my hope is they have that last moment of clarity that shows them how badly they messed up their lives--and how rich the rest of us are that figured out long ago--that money isn't everything!

[llmart]

45. I absolutely believe that when they reach the end of their lives...

they still won't "get it". Musk and Trump are supreme narcissists and narcissists have no empathy - it's the number one trait of a narcissist. Even if they were on their death bed and knew it, they would have zero remorse for how they lived their lives.

I was married to a narcissist and his whole goal in life was to accumulate as much stuff as possible. He was by no means a billionaire but he was a narcissist with no empathy. He was stingy with everything including his affections. He had no real friends. All he cared about was work. Up until the day he died, he was still a royal class prick.

[HeartsCanHope]

46. I'm sorry you went through that.

I'm sure you are right, but I would love for them to have that moment of clarity when they realize their entire life meant NOTHING.
And they let everything of real value slip through their hands.

[FoxNewsSucks]

28. No, I'm sure that not only do they have no sympathy, empathy or understanding,

if they did look at a homeless person, or one of us, it would only be to see if there anything they could take from us.

I really do think that they are only wondering how their money got in our pocket and how can they take it back.

[sinkingfeeling]

32. No, most of the rich have no compassion.

[TheRickles]

33. In a word - No.

[BlueTsunami2018]

34. No. They don't view ANY of us as people.

Let alone a homeless person.

The ultra wealthy live in such a different world than the rest of us. Working people are there only to provide them with more wealth, we’re not actually people, we’re tools to be used, a means to their ends.

Now, I don’t burst into tears seeing a homeless person or feel any guilt for having avoided that situation for myself thus far but I do empathize and I hate that we have a society where such is even possible.

Considering the amount of wealth in this country, the six basics should be available for every single person. It’s criminal or at least should be that it isn’t.

[ancianita]

35. No. Most No. The richest of them said: "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."

He thinks that empathy has been "weaponized" and "exploited."

Other billionaires (like Bloomberg and Pritzker, and others I can't remember offhand) don't. They believe that empathy and compassion are evolved states of being; that the kindest person is often the smartest.

[3catwoman3]

47. Well said, JB!

Love my guv!

[2na fisherman]

36. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Redux?

I wish some cool Hollywood producer would air a TV show which presented real examples of obscene wealth and today's conspicuous consumption. Most regular people have no idea of the astronomical scale of wealth and privilege which billionaires enjoy. A show that focuses on those who can afford luxury yachts, multiple mansions and jets ought to educate the masses with concrete examples of what "wealth inequality" actually means in terms everyone understands. For example, I enjoy a bottle of 12 year old single malt Scotch usually priced at about $60 to $70. But who buys things like a bottle of 60 year old The Macallan Fine & Rare 1926 for $2.7 million? Well, a billionaire could buy a case for $32.4 million and still have money to burn. And don't get me started on the luxury cigar market and the daily gourmet meals at exclusive restaurants with no prices on the menu.
There are always the haves and have nots but it is becoming too noticeable for some who never flaunt it. There are some who pay staff to keep their names out of public view. For they understand how different they are from regular folks and may be anxious about being revealed as people who can buy anything.

[maxsolomon]

37. Bill Gates is a Billionaire. He's committed to giving away his fortune through his Gates Foundation.

He's probably experienced pangs of empathy through that work - they try to solve diseases in Africa.

I've also sat near him in movie theaters in Seattle - back when he was married - he gets out and about and has to have encountered Seattle's large homeless population. They're ubiquitous if driving.

So, maybe 1 Billionaire feels like that - sometimes.

[kimbutgar]

38. Billionaires has no consciences nor empathy

Once they become billionaires they lose their humanity and become service to self people.

[Torchlight]

39. I tend to think that empathyis more about individual disposition than wealth.

I've seen people just as poor as me, or even worse off, who show little compassion for those suffering around them. That said, I do believe that increased wealth often brings increased comfort, and with that comes a real tendency to rationalize. The more comfortable we are, the easier it becomes to justify looking away or insulating ourselves.

In that sense, I think wealth demands a greater degree of moral discipline. The more wealth and privilege we have, the more effort it takes to stay emotionally connected and ethically grounded. We may not be sinking in our ethical seas, but many of us are just treading water (something I wrestle with daily).

I've ever known only one "ultra-wealthy" person, and as far as I could smell, she was as sweet as she was kind. Then again, the kindest person I've ever met was just as poor as I was as a kid, and he turned out to be a life-long mentor.

So longer story than short, I'm not much help to you.



(But please remember, kindness exists in an unfathomable measure.)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

41. Keep the compassion, ditch the guilt. You have no need or cause for guilt. . . . . nt

[senseandsensibility]

42. Good advice

and appreciated. Thanks, my friend.

[iemanja]

43. Some do. Some give a lot to good causes

Bill Gates, for example.

[pansypoo53219]

48. wall street the movie- "greed is good." i shall never watch an oliver stone movie. reaganism still rules.

[Scott Alan Swaggerty]

50. No, not really.

[OLDMDDEM]

51. I only know of one. Many years ago I saw this billionaire give to a homeless man.

[senseandsensibility]

53. Who was that?

I'm just curious.

[OLDMDDEM]

54. Warren Buffet.

[senseandsensibility]

55. Oh, it all makes sense now.

[Ocelot II]

52. Most billionaires are never going to notice or see homeless people at all.

I think when you become that rich you can isolate yourself in your own world of other rich people, and you won't have to look at or consider the difficulties of the rest of us peons. You might pass by homeless people or go through a low-income neighborhood while riding in your limo with tinted windows to and from the airport where your private jet is parked, but you're probably not looking out the windows at all - you're on your laptop day trading or making out with your latest arm candy. You have no awareness at all. There are exceptions, of course, like Bill Gates and others who contribute generously to charities; and there have been and still are wealthy liberal politicians who did and do care about the poor - FDR, JFK, Gov. Pritzker, for example - but for every Bill Gates there are hundreds of wealthy people who care only about becoming more wealthy.