How the Rich Live

Sex, money, power and the false god of equality...

(Taormina seen from the Greek theater. Photo Credit: Bill)

Bill Bonner, reckoning today from Taormina,  Sicily...

This is how the rich live.

We look out over the Ionian Sea…at the yachts…and the sun glistening on the water. We ask the waiter for another ‘macchiato.’ We are beside the pool. Young women wear such skimpy bikinis, we can scarcely believe our eyes. We have to get closer to verify it; we don’t want to pass along misinformation. We’ll come back tomorrow for confirmation.

Our hotel, the San Domenico Palace, sits on a cliff, with a stunning view of the Ionian Sea, looking out towards Calabria in Italy. It was one of the sets for the TV show, The White Lotus. We see why it would be. It is full of rich people in a rich setting seeking to distract themselves by acting like rich people.   

It’s nature’s way. People get a lot of money; they must get rid of it somehow.  Some buy the latest tech stocks. Some open their own hotels or restaurants. And some are content to take advantage of the amenities at the Four Seasons in Taormina…and cavort with other rich people.

Oscar, Eddie and Audrey

Here’s what the hotel says about itself:

One of the world’s most legendary hotels, San Domenico Palace invites you to embark on an epic journey into history. With origins dating back to 1374, this classic Dominican convent was expanded in 1896 to become a hotel, featuring a new building designed in liberty style. For more than a century, San Domenico Palace has welcomed the world’s most illustrious guests – from Oscar Wilde and King Edward VIII to Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren. 

At breakfast yesterday, we saw no sign of Oscar, Edward or Audrey. Instead, there were people who might have been Mustafa, Rahul or Omar.  

A young couple sat near us. The man was heavy, unattractive, wearing brightly colored shorts and a tee-shirt. The woman, dark haired, was his opposite. Slender.  Pretty. The two seemed bored with each other. He ate his breakfast, ignoring her.  She tried to make conversation, but got only a grunt in return. She made a pouty face and turned to her phone.

Rich people having fun!

(Room with a view. Photo Credit: Bill)

The Peacock Walk

The most fundamental drive of humans is survival. The next is procreation. This second one is the interesting one; it takes an infinite number of sizes, shapes, and disguises. It is why we have wars, Swiss watches and the San Domenico Palace hotel.  

Heads swivel towards wealth or fame. Eyes are easily blinded by the pixie dust of power…and bulge at the swimming pool. But for the sake of Dear Readers, your editor tries to keep his wits about him…recording the human comedy faithfully, rather than acting like one of the comic characters himself.

It is a romantic comedy…a ‘rom com,’ as they say in Hollywood. Boy meets girl. Girl rejects boy. Boy goes to Wall Street, makes a pile of money. Boy invites girl for a weekend at the San Domenico Palace. Boy gets girl. Girl later divorces him.; takes half his money…and the family dog.

How boys and girls…or boys and boys…girls who used to boys…boys pretending to be girls…and non-binary people with piercings and green hair…get together is not only the subject of countless movies, it is the sotto voce story of our lives…and all the world’s vanities, power struggles and quests for wealth.

We men need to show ourselves and others that we have the brightest feathers on the peacock walk. We do so in endless iterations, many of them contradictory, senseless, and futile. We play chess to win the game. We wear the latest styles…or dismiss them as fads. We spend our money to show off…or hoard it to show how prudent we are. One man feels superior because he lifts weights. Another knows he has a leg up because he reads books. And yet another does neither – and regards it as an emblem of superiority.   

False Gods

It’s why ‘equality’ is a false god. Nobody really wants to be equal…we all want to be superior. We want to stand out. That’s the way the animal kingdom (including us) works…by discriminating, good from bad, better from worse, winners from losers. In the end, we all want to ‘get the girl’ (the prize…the recognition…the love…the money).    

All of it, from the most petty insult to the conquest of Gaulle, is rooted in the fertile soil of sex.

At least, that is our view, which we share (perhaps) with Lucretius and Epicurus. The desire to be better…superior…Numero Uno...is the motor force of progress…the real success secret of the human race. We innovate to impress; we impress to reproduce. Even monks, who live in a cloister, and have taken a vow of chastity, do so because it makes them feel better about themselves, (so they would be better mates…if they were into that sort of thing.)

In the world of money, some make it by inventing new computer chips. Others take it from them by producing fine wines and building elegant hotels. This insight, if it is one, has little practical application. But at least it gives us a hard surface from which to launch our ruminations.  

Note that this view emphasizes the relative nature of wealth. While some people innovate to get ahead…others get ahead by trying to force others behind. Even the campaign for ‘equality’ is just another way for some people to feel better about themselves. First, they feel superior simply because they have fashionable opinions – showing the proper concern for the poor. Second, wealth equality can only be achieved by leveling down…reducing the wealth of the rich and thereby making the non-rich relatively richer. This helps us understand why so much of politics seems so stupid; the real goal of it is not to increase human progress, happiness or wealth, but to take it away from some (those who create it) and give it to others (those favored by the elite who control the government).    

The math is easy to understand. You and your neighbor each have $100. If you earn another 50 dollars, you’re $50…or a third…richer than he is. If he could prevent you from earning more money, he would remain – relatively – rich. And if he could take away $50 from you, you’d have only $50 left, while he’d have $150 – three times richer! 

He can go to the San Domenico Palace…you’ll have to stay at home.

Regards,

Bill Bonner