The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats

[Curmudgeoness]

70. And he understands something that we understand...

"I’m not the smartest guy you’ve ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at all—I can’t write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future."

He doesn't have that attitude that he is smarter and better and harder working than those of us who have not succeeded in life. Most of the uber-wealthy have a sense of their own self-worth that is out of proportion to reality.

I will also say that he obviously had enough money to invest heavily in Amazon when it was founded. This put him many rungs above us on the success ladder from the beginning....because even if most of us had known Bezos, and even if we would have seen to great potential in his idea, we would not have had the money to invest enough to become wealthy. Hanauer got a philosophy degree when he went to college---something that is laughed at today (and was then) if you ever want to actually make a living. He was already riding a wave, probably from birth. But yes, he did make great decisions, and yes, he does get it.