I have some really bad news about your family tree...

[starroute]

62. In a world run by billionaires, $75 million is absolutely not "really rich"

The Koch brothers spent over $100 million in the 2014 election cycle. That's more than Ben Affleck's entire net worth.

The ultra-rich are very good at using the merely rich as cover. I forget where I saw it, but there was an article a couple of weeks ago about how most of us think of being rich as something that allows you to fly first class -- not as something where you own your own jet. We think of it as being able to stay at the best resorts -- not as owning a private island.

The scale on which the ultra-rich operate is inconceivable to most of us, and they're very happy to keep it that way. They're even happy to allow the occasional Bill Gates or George Lucas to be paraded before us as self-made billionaires. But the game is ultimately not about money alone but about power, a sense of entitlement, and a complete disconnect from the lives of ordinary people. The ultra-rich are bred to be sociopaths -- and they're ultimately toxic to the fate of this planet.