[paulpauper]

It's understandable why the rich, at least, don't want to retire. The returns to status and capital are greater than ever. Zuck made $25 billion today. Who wouldn't want to keep this up for the rest of hir or her life. People in the highest positions of society enjoy prestige and wealth creation of the likes never before seen.

[spencerflem]

I would retire. I don't think I'd ever possibly be able to spend more than single digit millions if I tried. Wanting to hoard hundreds of billions is just baffling.

[paulpauper]

Michael Bloomberg spent $500 million of his own money in only 5 months for his 2020 presidential campaign. It's not that hard if you are not just limited to physical stuff but instead try to buy influence.

[spencerflem]

I'd also rather not be president. Seems like a lot of work

[robocat]

Plenty of counter-examples of rich people that have retired.

They pursue other interests or find another outlet for their competitive urges.

[glitchc]

It was ever thus, and probably not the fastest in history either. For instance, the wealth of the British empire, and by extension that of the Royal Family, grew at a rate far higher than what is presently seen. Earlier empires controlled even greater portions of the total wealth.

[paulpauper]

which proves my point as monarchs do not retire

[glitchc]

Not disagreeing, only nitpicking on this being the most egregious divide between rich and poor. It's been worse before. Rather, one could argue it's the best its ever been in human history. Progress is slow.

[rgmerk]

When you’ve got however many billions Zuck has, an extra 25 billion in paper wealth is going to make no difference whatsoever to his life. None.

The problems he faces at work are the same. He will be treated the same by the people he interacts with (and by all reports this can be one of the least fun things about being a billionaire). There aren’t any new toys he can buy with his extra paper billions. His wife and kids - one of the most normal things about Zuckerberg - aren’t going to care.

Taking a broader perspective, at least some of the ultra wealthy don’t seem to be terribly happy people. Would you like Elon Musk’s life as of 2024? What about Jeff Bezos? Or, for that matter, Vladimir Putin?

[OldGuyInTheClub]

> Would you like Elon Musk’s life as of 2024? What about Jeff Bezos? Or, for that matter, Vladimir Putin?

They seem to be enjoying it. There's a stratum that believes in their right to do whatever they wish and all of them are in it.

[glitchc]

Still can't get away with murder. Kings and lords could :)

[OldGuyInTheClub]

rgmerk beat me to it. Putin is disposing of all who displease him and will get away with it. Don't know if Musk or Bezos are doing likewise.

[rgmerk]

Putin spends his life looking over his shoulder waiting for somebody to put the knife in his back.

I wouldn’t swap his life for mine.

[OldGuyInTheClub]

I didn't read the question as a swap proposition but whether the guys are happy within themselves. Should have excerpted more for the quote.

I've been reading about Putin being offed for quite some time now. Anything could happen but a lot of predictions have been wrong.

[rgmerk]

That’s why I threw Putin into the mix. As well as spending the resources of the Russian state to fund houses and whatnot as elaborate as American billionaires, he has his enemies murdered in fairly spectacular fashion (polonium, nerve agent, blowing up their plane, as well as a spate of falling out of high-rise windows).