I was gonna include a third option about how money is easier to achieve without considering the morality of your actions but that’s not really a philosophy as much as it is an objective fact.
Both. Money attracts corrupt individuals, but it also causes people to become corrupted in some scenarios. It can be a gradual thing, and it doesn’t always have to be drastic things like a black market kidney. Having money opens up options, some of which are more corrupt.
Money doesn’t corrupt people; it’s more like a truth serum for the morally flexible. It’s not that money changes people; it just gives them a megaphone to broadcast their inner used car salesman.
Suddenly, those “creative accounting” skills you never knew you had emerge faster than a politician’s promises during election season. It’s like money has a magical power to turn “I would never” into “Well, just this once” quicker than you can say “offshore account.”
No one is perfect, and money reflects the not perfect side very well in many!
Most things emerge from complex systems.
“A causes B” or “B causes A” sounds tidy, but obscures the reality.
The Mode of Production determines what ideas and traits are more expressed among society. The Base determines the Superstructure, which in turn reinforces the Base.
Ok yes but this makes no sense to someone with zero background in marxist theory.
This is what is being referenced ^
This means that the values of a society are determined by the economic structure but also that these values then reinforce that structure. So you end up with societal values that closely allign with whatever best reinforces the base. In the case of capitalism that is typically greed. So no, money alone doesn’t corrupt people or make them greedy but the economic system that money facilitates does.
Correct me if I am wrong about anything 👍
Fantastic elaboration, comrade, that’s exactly what I am saying.
Not really sure. Somebody wire me an obscene amount of money and I’ll report back. Probably.
Corrupt people will be attracted to money.
A lot of otherwise honest people will become corrupt if they see others being corrupt and getting away with money and prestige from it.
A few percent of people will never be corrupted.
I’d say it’s this entirely. Honest people don’t seek money, but if they see their peers getting grapes instead of cucumbers for literally no just cause, then that injustice cannot go unanswered unless they get their grapes too.
I grew up near an area where a large number high net worth people. For example as a kid I thought Lamborghini was a common car because I saw them all the time.
In my experience lots of money brings out your true self and let’s you act the way you want. So if you are inclined to be self centered and an asshole you can be a massive asshole. You can also be generous and kind.
Most rich people are pretty normal. However the normal ones do try to not make it known that they are rich. So you often don’t notice the normal rich people.
It’s also hard to tell the difference between a person who lives on a 200k a year income and a person with a double digit millions net worth.
I had a friend as a teen. I invited him to go diving with me as he had never been. He showed up with a 20k wetsuite.
Yes. Most people stop making more when they have enough.
People who don’t stop are already broken and corrupted. They have nothing better to do. No better idea. No other desire. Than to accumulate more. It’s degenerate, sad, to keep wanting more, to feel that hunger when it is already satiated. Like a rat addicted to cocaine, still pushing itself to push the button for more and more.
I keep joking that we should make video games mandatory for millionaires when this subject comes up but I legit think that playing some grindy game or management games would make this type of people less greedy to some degree, because at their core they appeal to our seemingly primal urge of always hoarding more resources.
Yes.
Both but I believe to a certain degree a person can have a certain amount without it corrupting them. Beyond that point, everyone is corrupted. There are no truly benevolent billionaires because a person must engage in various questionable practices to keep growing their wealth at such an exponential rate. Basic market economics dictates that a business entity competing for a limited market share must repeatedly find new ways to make more profit by using strategies their competitors aren’t. This includes but is not limited to skirting around regulations and laws, and somebody unquestionably runs those companies.
I also think most people massively underestimate the impact that conditioning puts on a person’s outward demeanor, but that leads into a deeper tangentially related discussion. Regardless, people are complex creatures.
—To put it simply, to become a billionaire or even a typical* megamillionaire a person must invariably step on someone else.
*The only exception I can think of are SOME lottery jackpot winners.
Lotteries are no different than stepping on people. They have to buy into the process, but the amounts allocated from lotteries for education or other grants is outpaced by what is given up in prizes. And many lotteries engage in games and mechanisms to keep people in the feedback loop of pouring money in. It’s a tax on the stupid and the poor.
I can’t say that I agree. If lotteries don’t bring in more money to fund public services than they pay out, then that’s a failing of a political nature. That means it could be a failing of an entire state population if that state represents a democracy, or it could be a failing of a states corrupt political class if that state isn’t a democracy. Regardless, it’s not necessarily a corruption of the winner which I was referring to earlier. Additionally, I’ve heard the “tax on the stupid and the poor” concept multiple times before, and the level of condescension towards the lower class in a discussion about financial ethics has never sat right with me. It also ignores the entertainment aspect of playing the lottery. If we really want to do away with a tax on the poor as well as the foolish, then perhaps it’s more important to end excise (AKA sin) taxes, but that’s also beside the subject.
I firmly believe greed comes from two thought processes: A sense of fear, or a desire for authority. I don’t know if wealth will make you a monster, but it will certainly show what you really are.
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Has something to do with the emotions that one is subjected to upon receiving
