[justboxing]

I'm not envious. I want to understand why such wealthy people wouldn't spend the money improving the lives of other human beings, and instead waste it on overprices sh*t like a $12,000 Hermes bag.

I grew up in India and the wealth disparity couldn't be any starker. I feel that if I was ever that wealthy, I would spend a lot of it trying to improve the lives of poor people and homeless people, instead of buying 4000 shoes or a 100 Hermes bags.

I know from close contact with Filipino Boxers, how broke and poor a large population of their country is. Meanwhile their President is stealing from her people and hoarding 4000+ shoes, when she can only wear 1 pair at a time :)

So I really want to know, is there some very primate (and hence hard to control) instinct in all human beings, which causes them to hoard useless stuff instead of using their wealth for 'greater causes'?

[ispolin]

One way to answer that might be to look inside ourselves.

Take me for example. I indulge myself with books, songs, apps, etc. Granted, it's on a completely different financial scale than Hermes bags, but I own more things than I can realistically consume. So let's call whatever I buy but can't consume "excess".

Whatever instinct causes me to buy stuff in excess instead of using that excess to help the poor more than I currently do is likely the same instinct that causes the rich to buy 4000 shoes and 100 Hermes bags instead of helping the poor more.

I don't introspect enough to know what that instinct is, but most of us here probably have similar very minor excesses in our lives and can get some clues by thinking about those.

[athenot]

I would attribute that to a desire to raise oneself up at the expense of the others, stemming from basic lack of empathy and belief in superiority. This is often justified through societal constructs (economy, profession, race, caste…)

PS: cool boxing site! :)

[charlesdm]

The same reason people just don't care about everyone in the world and everything that happens around them.

For example: as a European, I am aware that both poverty in Africa and the war in Syria is an issue, but frankly and like many other people, it's not something I lose much sleep over. That doesn't mean I wouldn't help if I could (e.g. by donating money), but given these things are happening not that close to home, I accept them as a fact of life. The west isn't in a position to solve many of the issues in developing nations.

Also, just because someone is wealthy doesn't necessarily make them happy. There are plenty of unhappy wealthy people. Wealth often makes you lose your way in life, and for some it can be more of a curse than a blessing. Wealth aside, some people just don't care much for others. But on the flipside there are also plenty of amazing wealthy (and less wealthy) people that will go out of their way to help others.

Wealth accumulation doesn't come with a social contract that you have to try and fix social issues in society. Some people will, others won't. I don't see any issues with that.

This all said, obviously stealing is never acceptable. But I could understand how someone would own 4000 pairs of shoes, if they're compensating for say a loveless marriage, or some sort of emptiness in life.