It's strange how we almost never praise people for earning their money. I remember growing up on a blue collar family on a blue collar city and being really proud of it. Instead now, we praise those who spend big, as if that is more impressive. Society seems focused on spending as a sign of success, even though a hard work mindset is what should really counts.
What surprises me the most is that this is true even for the self-made millionaires I know, they do not like showing off money in any way. Yet we keep praising people who basically live cashflow negative with inherited money. We focus too much on big spending and end up promoting consumption over real effort.
Maybe it's time we stopped making excuses for an unfair system and started looking for real solutions. We often quote Adam Smith for his invisible hand, but we should also pay attention to what he said about inequality and how dangerous it is when wealth is concentrated in too few hands.
I don't think it's just western. Bernard Arnault would not be at the top of the league tables if it were not for Chinese people "keeping up with the Chens."
What surprises me the most is that this is true even for the self-made millionaires I know, they do not like showing off money in any way. Yet we keep praising people who basically live cashflow negative with inherited money. We focus too much on big spending and end up promoting consumption over real effort.
Maybe it's time we stopped making excuses for an unfair system and started looking for real solutions. We often quote Adam Smith for his invisible hand, but we should also pay attention to what he said about inequality and how dangerous it is when wealth is concentrated in too few hands.
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