[TheForge] Wealth is wasted on the rich

[Ries Niemi]

On Aug 11, 2005, at 12:56 PM, Kevin Donahoe wrote:

> Justin wrote "Ah well. Wouldn't it be nice to be filthy rich? THink of 
> all
> the silly
> things you could have...."
>
> But then, how would we know what's important :)?
>
> KD
>
>

Its always dissapointing to me what lousy toys the super rich spend 
their money on.
I went to high school with 5 guys who are now billionaires, and a while 
ago we had our 25th reunion at the playhouse of one of them- and it was 
very expensive- this was just the weekend house- it had its own 18 hole 
golf course, helicopter pad, go cart racing track with 4 or 5 cars, 
minature train that you could ride on with a 2 mile track, big house 
with pool, game room, tennis courts,etc.
But the whole thing was the most impersonal place you have ever seen- 
it was as if it was ordered from a catalog- please send one rich guy's 
fantasy retreat.
Nothing personal anywhere in the place. Nothing that showed love, even 
mild interest in anything in the world.
I have worked on the homes of a lot of rich people over the years, and 
this is often the case- they feel obligated to buy status symbols to 
show the world how rich they are, but they seldom have any feeling for 
the stuff. They hire people to tell them what to buy.

I much prefer the obsession of good old poor collectors of junk.
Jay Leno is an exception- he obviously loves and cares about the cars 
and motorcycles he collects, and spends a lot of time in his auto shop, 
with the guys he employs to work on them.
But tool collecting seems to be off the radar of most rich people.
The best tool collectors are just barely able to support their habits.

And there is nothing like a collection to show you the slightly 
twisted, but ultimately great ways in which the human mind can run to 
excess...

ries