So, if I was Making $28 Million a Year...

This morning, I ended up being part of a somewhat odd discussion, as part of a web group I belong to.

Some off the cuff comments about executive pay in the US led to a lengthy philosophical discussion after someone pointed out that the CEO of (an unnamed company) was being paid US $28 million a year.

As expected, two "camps" quickly developed, one being all in favor of people being free to make "however much they can," regardless of consequences... the other perspective revolving around whether it is "right" and "just" for any one person to be compensated that much, especially in a world filled with homelessness and starvation.

As is typical of such debates, those arguing on the "freedom" side of the equation repeatedly stressed that whether you "need" $28 million or not has nothing to do with anything... you have the right to make it.

On the opposite side of the coin, the reasonings and rationalizations were all over the map, ranging from ethics to social justice.

Need vs Want vs Greed

I suppose I fall on the more "moderate" side of the debate-- in the sense that I believe "needs" vs. "wants" IS an important factor, in terms of how your moral and ethical compass is aligned in life.

Of course, "need" can be a pretty nebulous thing... and it takes a certain amount of self-awareness to be able to determine where your need ends and wants begin, in the first place.

We need to eat, and maybe we need to have shelter, and maybe we need to have transportation, but we probably don't need a 60-foot luxury yacht, unless we're planning to start a ferry service or something.

For me the line is fairly easy to draw... metaphorically speaking, as soon as something is more about philosophically feeding my ego than functionally feeding my stomach, it becomes open season for debate.

There's a somewhat famous study carried out at Princeton University in 2010-- it looked at the relationship between money and happiness and determined that once someone is making about $75,000 a year, they don't report additional life satisfaction as income increases further.

It's probably a little bit higher today, since seven years have passed since then.

The Exercise

So what would you do, if your income was suddenly $28 million a year?

I know a lot of people who would go on an insane spending spree through any number of luxury goods and services... but what do you actually have, when you have or do those things?

My personal truth is that I probably wouldn't do a whole lot of stuff differently.

We already own our house outright. Sure, we would be assured our bills were always paid on time, and we could finally afford really good health insurance. Sure, we'd have newer more reliable cars... but I've never had any desire to own a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari. We'd probably travel more and be able to help our adult kids if they hit rough patches.

We might buy a place in a warmer location and spend winters there, and spend summers where we currently live. Might hire someone to mow the lawn in summer because-- quite frankly-- I'm tired of mowing.

I'd probably write and work with my art full time... simply because I wanted to, not because I depended on it for income. That would be nice. 

Realistically speaking, that probably leaves $27,800,000 a year which (after taxes) I would plow into some kind educational foundation dedicated to support those who sincerely wanted to either pursue an education towards the greater betterment of the planet, or to give grants to those working directly towards creating a better world-- more freedom, less hunger, less disease, less poverty. 

Now before anyone gets all fired up, I'm merely saying that's what I would do... not that it's what people "should" do. Your choices are your choices... and so the story you tell is uniquely yours.

The Greed Factor... and Mental Illness

I want to touch on greed, for a moment... as I feel it applies to accumulating wealth.

"Accumulating" is an interesting beast, but consider the following, for a moment:

When someone collects a house full of old newspapers, or 50,000 record albums, or a yard full of wheelbarrows, we declare them "hoarders" and the world more or less agrees that they have a mental illness and need psychiatric help so they can become more balanced. We try to find a happy medium by explaining to them that nobody NEEDS 700 wheelbarrows. 

On the other hand, when someone relentlessly "hoards" money and assets we somehow declare something that's very close to the same behavior "success" and hold it up as an example for others to emulate. 

From where I am sitting, there is something slightly disturbing about that dichotomy. Somehow it's OK-- and even encouraged-- to hoard money, but it's not OK to hoard old comic books? 

Economic Reality and Myths About Extreme Wealth

One more thing before I bring this to a close... There's a school of thought that people should be left alone in their efforts to become extremely rich, because the extremely rich are-- ultimately-- the "job creators" that keep the economic machine rolling.

Having lived among "the extremely rich" for part of my life, that argument has limited economic viability in the real world... looks nice "in theory," though. 

For the most part, the very wealthy don't go out and "start projects" because they are extremely rich... they go out and start projects because there is DEMAND... people are buying stuff. And if people don't have any money to buy stuff, there aren't going to be very many new jobs... because really rich people didn't get really rich by making a bunch of stuff people aren't buying. 

That's grossly oversimplified, but ultimately "demand" is the leading indicator, not "job creation."

I don't say that so much as a proponent of a higher minimum wage as I say it as a simple reality... it's the people in the lower 95%-- buying flat screen TVs, fancy sneakers and dinners out-- who oil the gears that keep super rich people their mansions. 

I mention this because it's a popular argument of fiscal conservatives to say that we should give the uber wealthy lots of breaks and freedoms... so they'll "create jobs." Alas, they don't create anything unless they have a good reason to... 

How about YOU? What would YOU be doing if you were suddenly making $28 million a year? Spend? Invest? Do something philanthropic or altruistic? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

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Created at 171105 22:02 PDT