The Coming End of Billionaire Rule - That Kicked in with Jeffrey Epstein, Streaming Is Doing the Rest

 

“… a billionaire class anxious it no longer rules the world.”

New York Magazine, February 27, 2024.

The focus of the New York Magazine article is hedge funder-activist Bill Ackman. But it could be any rich man or woman, ranging from Leon Black to Shari Redstone. Here we are, feeling foolish that we once assumed that we should be striving to be like them, yeah, get where they are.

WHAT DO YOU THINK, THAT YOU ARE A ROCKEFELLER

At one time those with “real money” oversaw a gilded-age dimension. We who were excluded from it were easily made to size up ourselves as “less than.” 

There was that old outburst from an angry parent about an offspring’s behavior, “What do you think, that you are a Rockefeller.” My own mother’s version was, “What do you think, you are Jackie O.” Actually, the parent was well-meaning in introducing the child to the assumed reality of “knowing your place.” That place had no opening for risk-taking. Be cautious. Only the rich had a margin for error. 

STREAMING JEFFREY EPSTEIN

The end of billionaire rule might have kicked in with the long half-life of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Streaming such as Hulu’s “Secrets of Prince Andrew” keeps eroding the illusion of that as a wonderful life.

After all, now it has consequences. Prince Andrew may never come back, especially since the royals are reconfiguring for survival. Black, after such a long long time in the penalty box, might only be starting to receive absolution. And the guy is worth about $10 billion.

THE WASTELAND

Something else is also going on. In addition, there is a drilling down into the wealthy from another gilded age – that is, the time when Truman Capote and those he networked with dominated culture. That has been featured, again in streaming, in “The Capote Tapes” and “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.”

The Capote tribal members are depicted as insecure, self-absorbed, incapable of real relationships, alcoholic, spiteful, lousy parents and easily duped.

“THEY ARE CARELESS PEOPLE” The Great Gatsby

A sign of the disenchantment with extreme wealth is the focus on nepo babies. Instead of envy about those in "the lucky sperm club," there is either 1) growing media focus at the unfairness embedded in that professional game and/or 2) joy when they screw up as with substance abuse or simply not paying attention. Remember how the narrator of “The Great Gatsby” observed, “They are careless people.”

CONSTRICTED PATHS

Also, there is the real possibility that fewer of us, if we want to head that way, will have a real shot at being even a millionaire. Knowledge fields where there can be big bucks such as management consulting, media and tech are being decimated by the cost-efficiency obsession and AI. Read professional anonymous networks such as Blind, Fishbowl and Reddit and you will bear witness to how the strivers are being stopped dead in their climb. If they are knocked out of the box, there could be no getting back.

PRIDE IN NOT EATING CEREAL FOR DINNER

Meanwhile, like how it was before post-WWII affluence took over, it is becoming okay to be not upper middle class. There are so many of us. We are even allowed to use in polite company the vulgar term “cheap,” as in, “I have cheap rent, so I don’t have to eat cereal for dinner, like that Kellogg bozo tells us to.”

The oldest of the boomers recall the sense of community in the old neighborhood. Nobody had much and everyone shared what they had. The same ethos was when we boomers went off to advanced degrees, which were cheap then, and lived splendidly in genteel poverty. No one sneered at cheap wine.

THE JOKE ON THEM

Of course, the billionaires not only no longer rule the world. They are targets. It is not difficult to make the whole bunch of them seem cartoonish. Brit comic John Oliver is already at that with his work on Elon Musk.

 

2024. You can transform the craziness of this time into unique opportunity. Jane Genova provides you with intuitive career coaching, Tarot readings and related communications. Complimentary confidential consultation. (For appointment text/phone 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

Meanwhile, please get to know me:

https://tarotreadingsforcareers.blogspot.com/

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