It’s an addiction in the most literal sense of the word. Going after money is the most default of all possible goals, so it’s a way to avoid facing choices in life.
Money’s numerical, which means you can always in theory make a decision without having to think or feel. Bigger number = better choice.
Just like cocaine or video games or jerking off, it’s a way to get dopamine flowing without figuring anything out.
I’ve found that any time I actually emerge from poverty, I encounter a deep existential dread that’s basically covered up by the struggle. Because I don’t know what my next goal is after getting out of the pit.
So my subconscious finds a way to just fall back into the pit.
One solution to this is to view “more money” with the same urgency no matter how financially secure I am.
I don’t seem to be capable of that. I know it would be handy in some ways to be driven to always rise on the money ladder, but the thought of trying to awaken and cultivate that pattern in myself feels like more of a cost than a benefit.
Virtually every single thing I stress about in my life is in one way or another related to money. It's not spending money I'm into - it's having it. I have way more money saved up than anyone else I know but I still want more. You can call it an addiction but it's what gives me the peace of mind. 1 million euros is the number I have in mind about how much I'd need to have money saved up untill I would consider it enough. I'm nowhere even close that amount so it's safe to assume that money is going to remain among the top priorities for the rest of my life.
And then what? If you have bought everything you will ever need, what else would you want the money for? They have enough money for their great great great children.
Control and awe. Many of those guys have antisocial personality disorders. Their brains work different to ours. One can always control more people/processes or inspire more fear&awe.
Mansions, supercars, yachts, maids, private chefs, expensive trips in their private airplanes. Those are the things that at least make sense. But then they start doing really stupid stuff like spending $45,000 for a light fixture in their house when most people have light fixtures that cost a hundred bucks. They buy T-shirts that cost $1200 just because of the label. They literally eat gold on $20,000 deserts that are powdered with gold dust and gold flake. They get bored of having everything they could ever want and start acting like fucking idiots. A normal person that has already had every single desire they've ever had met would start looking to benefit the less fortunate. Not these fucks. Instead they put diamonds on the soles of their shoes and pursue even more money that they'll never be able to spend.
So I gotta ask, because I've always noticed this about the song:
In the first chorus, is the electric guitar that plays between the brass lines, two chords, tuned slightly higher than the rest of the band? It sounds different than the second chorus.
George Krikes does my favorite cover of that one, on the "stories" yt channel (run by the guitarist from Scary Pockets, same studio). Great channel overall.
And then you've got Warren Buffet who just was really into it as a high score competition living in a house he bought 40 years ago driving a 8 year old car
I always thought Buffett was a pretty cool guy until I found out that he disowned his grand daughter for speaking in a documentary film after he told her not to. She doesn't even really say anything particularly bad. He's a psychopath.
Best explanation for the difference between a million and a billion: a million seconds is 12 days, a billion seconds is 31 years.
While we are angry at the guys who maybe stole a few months, there are people who have stolen centuries and millenias. The warner CEO is closer to being homeless, than being a billionaire (though neither is realistic).
Brag about it and use it as leverage for power. The money doesn't actually exist, it's stock mostly that gets instantly created from nothing. But they can use the idea of its existence to take other people's real money for the things they want and the rest is just other people agreeing to do what they want because of the idea of power that having it conveys.