When Money is God

Today I read two news stories of two very rich men. One is the legendary Warren Buffett and the other Madoff's associate Jeffry Picower who was found dead in his house's swimming pool.

Buffett at 79 years young is still active as a business investor. Living a very simple life with no hints of extravagant lifestyle, he is an example to emulate. He drives his own car to work in the same simple office of 50 years, a few miles from the same home he owned for same length of time in Omaha Nebraska. He loves having simple meals like sandwiches while keeping life simple without too many meetings and complicated deals. He has shown no arrogance and love for the limelight. He is not arrogant and is now the second richest man in the world. He never known to wield power to opress people.

This is what Buffett says about bankers that caused the Global Financial Crisis:

"It's infuriating for people to see their friends losing their jobs, their friends having their homes foreclosed on and no one going to jail. It was one thing in Enron, at least you had [Jeffery] Skilling and Ken Lay, or WorldCom or those things ... society at least felt there was a little bit of vengeance taking place. But here nobody's going to jail, in fact a lot of them are walking off with tons of money, which they got in many cases with preferential tax terms.

"So the American public's exasperation at this is very understandable."

Picower's reputation however is mired with shady deals in his association with Madoff, the ponzi scheme con-man who is serving 150 years in prison for cheating thousands of investors billions of dollars. The cause of Picower's death is still not known yet and police has not ruled out foul play.How much is a Billion?

Warren Buffett is said to have $40 billion while Picower is alleged to have profited at least $7 billion from the ponzi scheme of Madoff. I am sure they can own small countries in Africa and Asia with their wealth. Some countries have reserves of less than $1 billion.

Both men are very rich. Anyone with more than $1 billion is very rich. It is a figure I cannot understand or imagine. One billion dollars is one thousand million dollars. It is like having $12,500,000 to spend a year over 80 years of a normal life span of any person. It is $32,247 to spend everyday for 80 years. I cannot imagine someone with money like that will have any physical needs in life.What is money?

But having money does not solve all the problems in life as in the case of Picower. During the heights of Global Financial Crisis in 2008, many have seen their wealth dramatically reduced while a few have lost their fortune entirely. From these group of rich people, a few suicides were reported. Why?

I am of the opinion that when a person is imersed in greed, they will continue to desire for more money. Even for the very rich people, they continue to be beholden with money and they do not know when to stop. For them money is power. Once a person has a taste of the power that comes with having money, he will not stop at anything to get more money and therefore more power. When money is his number one priority, everything and anyone in his way must be removed. There are exceptions of course and I think people like Buffett are exemplary in keeping humble. It is those whose greed knows no bound and thereby use immoral means to accumulate I am aiming at. These are the people who created sub-prime financial instruments that created so much toxic assets that brought the world down on its knees financially. And some of these bankers still want to claim multi million bonuses despite almost bankrupting the banks they manage and being bailed out by governments.

People who cannot stop accumulating wealth in order to accumulate power can be said to worship money and the powers behind money. Money is their god. So what happens when money fails them? What happens when their reputation is tarred, when they are no longer in control, or when they are going to be declared a bankrupt? When the money is gone, when they have nothing and no one left to support them. They are now on your own. The lifestyle they have enjoyed is no longer there. The wealth and status is gone. The power is gone. His god has failed him. What is life now for such a person?

His whole support system has collapsed because during the years of accumulating wealth and power, he will most probably has made enemies of even his closest friends and family. What else can he do now? Where else can he go? Because there is nothing left on earth for him any more, he became an outcast. Is it any wonder some of these people take their own lives?