The power of money

[Étoile]

This guy at my school has an insane amount of money. His friend is also quite wealthy. They're both loud, obnoxious jerks. Whenever they do something stupid or wrong, I think to myself, "Karma will punish them someday."

I then stop to think, "Well, can't they bail themselves out with their money or the connections and status they have because of their money? Will they ever suffer the consequences of their behavior?" This made me go into a very philisophical, serious mind frame. I wondered why is the bad or mean-spirited rewarded while the good or warm-hearted suffer, why real life wasn't holding up to what I learned in Kindergarten (LOL).

I then started to think of the power money has in our society. Wealthy people can do and say things that the average Joe/plain Jane could never dream of or get away with. Their moral compass can be dented or skewed without apparent repercussions, or at least for some they it be. I mean, are the sayings, 'Treat people the way you want to be treated.' and 'Good things come to those who wait.' overruled by money?

I'm sorry if all of this is obvious but this subject has made me question life and everyone's role, past, present, and future, in it aka really mucking up my brain.

[Astaroth]

Being that I don't believe in fate or destiny, the only thing I can suggest to this question is that sometimes life is simply unfair. There are people who can get away with crimes their entire life and never pay a price, and there are people who live wholesome lives but are visited by numerous tragedies and hardships. Do I believe that people with large amounts of money will eventually meet their comeupance? Not necessarily. In fact, if the last decade has taught us anything, it's that the rich can get away with murder. How many trials do we have to see or disgraced celebrities and politicians that bounce right back because of money and the shortsightedness of memory? I think that the scales are heavily weighted in favor of the rich as long as they are not already hated. But if the general public has a vendetta against a rich person, then the money can be a massive detriment.

"Treat people as you want to be treated" is not overruled by money, in my experience. Even the poorest person can (and often does) find ways to bring a little revenge back on rich egoists. That's basically the case with any scandal throughout history. And "good things come to those who wait" is just a silly phrase to me. The only thing that comes to those who wait is age and wasted time. Good things actually come to those who work for those good things.

so they're not going to get into trouble with the law?

i was talking to a friend the other night, the girl he thought he was in love with led him on and broke his heart. and he told me he's been in fights, been punched, been knocked out and been broken, but the pain he was feeling from her was worse than anything else. its a fake hurt vs real hurt situation.

so, maybe they will buy their way out of whatever trouble they get into. they're still buying their happiness. its only real happiness if its...well, real. odds are they'll notice that one day in the future, but by that time it will be too late to do anything about it, and the bigger you've built yourself up, the harder you'll fall. this is a fake happiness vs real happiness situation.

[Owen]

As an absurdest and an atheist, I can't tell you that people who use money to get away with things will get theirs in the end. The fact is that money does a lot of things, but it has been proved that it won't make you happy. In fact, it does the opposite. They once did a survey comparing income and happiness, and the ideal income in terms of how much happiness it brings you (I'm not sure what this is adjusted for inflation, but whatever) is $40,000 a year. Hardly upper class.

What does that mean for you and these rich people? It means that you are likely happier than them. They may get away with all sorts of things, but even if they put up the façade of being happy, they likely are not.

This may also help. Skip down to number four.
http://www.cracked.com/article_17061...-but-wont.html

[UserName]

I'm pretty wealthy...my dad makes a few million a year, even more when the recession finally ends >_> and my step-mom makes about $350,000 a year. On the flip side, I treat people really well and usually share the wealth with my friends (occasional meal, sharing alcohol, cigarettes, etc.). I don't let money get to my head and make it change who J am as a person because I dunno thats just me...so not everyone who has money is a d-bag; and check it there are ballin' gay people too, sweet! And as far as happiness is concerned, I would say that usually I am pretty happy; however, when I am out of money I do notice my mood kinda goes down, but thats when I just call my parents. Moreover, I have had two misdemeanors (hit and run and malicious damage) but both of them were dismissed after I completed a program that we have called "Pre Trial Intervention" one was spray painting my highschool with friends when I was in high school (stupid) and the other was when I was really inebriated and barely hit a car and then hit a tree (also very stupid) but I've learned from these mistakes and this program is very common, nothing to do with how much money you have. I just believe if you are a good person and you treat people well then everything will work out, and in my case it seems to work that way - although sometimes I have the shittiest luck ever, so I don't know just throwing my 2 cents in this post, sorry if this is all irrelevant and useless lol.