by Patrick Appel
A reader writes:
Will Wilkinson is on my very short “daily read” list, but he gets the “resenting wealth” thing completely wrong. I think very few (completely misguided) people resent “wealth” per se. I don’t remember anyone ever begrudging Bill Gates’ wealth, either. When people resent wealth, more often than not the resentment is directed at how the wealth is accrued rather than at who has accrued it. In certain instances, the how and the who become one and the resentment oozes toward the individual. I’m thinking of the Paris Hilton’s of the world in this instance. Here’s somebody who has done nothing of substance whatsoever; her wealth was accrued by virtue of genetic lottery. But those instances where people resent a particular person for their wealth are, I think, rather rare.
Both Jobs and Gates (along with Zuckerberg, Arthur Blank, Sam Walton, etc.) made their money by making things that tangibly and obviously make our lives better or at least more interesting. Their sparks of genius led us to new technologies, new ways of staying in touch with those we cherish, and new, easier, and more efficient ways to build our homes and lives. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any person begrudge the wealth of that type of entrepreneur.
But is there resentment of those who have made tens and hundreds of millions by coming up with exotic financial products that, when poorly regulated, led to a financial melt-down that seemed to affect everyone in the world *except for* those who brought on the crisis? Hells yeah, there is. These guys made money for themselves (that they never had to return) by engaging in risky behavior with other people’s money. I think some resentment there is natural. And the difference between people who have made their money that way and people who have made their money the way Steve Jobs has couldn’t be more stark.
Lastly, I think Wilkinson’s example of the “the guys who get rich digging oil out of the ground” is misplaced. I think what people resent about the oil industry is that their business is wildly over-subsidized with tax-payer dollars. Any company that can make billions upon billions of profits every quarter and still suckle the government teat for a little more is unseemly, and people notice. But that isn’t resentment of the guy who digs oil out of the ground, it’s resentment of the way in which some of their marginal dollars are “earned.”
The Dish 