Before we begin, and to be clear, none of this essay intended to inspired hatred towards any group of people. We all: rich, poor, and in-between, are products of a highly flawed system, i.e, capitalism, which largely shapes us, and determines, our economic destinies.
With this in mind, the peak into the world of the rich, powerful, and famous, offered by the Epstein files, is illuminating.
One would hope that the people who run the world would daily be reading multiple newspapers, think tank papers, academic papers, and other sources of knowledge. Yet it appears, they spend much of their time networking, attending fancy dinners and fancy parties, while flying around the world in fancy jets.
We defer to these people because, due to their success, we assume they are smart. And while they may have well-functioning brains, this doesn’t imply they have well-read or well-informed brains. They have very often merely positioned themselves within networks of other powerful and rich people. These connections provide levels of success not solely dependent on merit, but rather dependent on associations with others, whose access and control of capital, ease the path towards wealth, prosperity, and apparently much leisure.
These same people who promote the ideological foundations upon which we operate, have merely put forward theories which have enabled lifestyles of over-consumption, and sometimes decadence, among a ruling elite, while significant portions of the working class struggle to maintain adequate levels of housing, heat, and food.
There appears to be little concern for a sense of service, which would require an intellectual commitment which extends beyond reliance on a worn-out capitalist theory which they picked-up during undergraduate studies–a theory which promotes the idea that when one seeks one’s own self-interests, all of society is advantaged.
It obviously does not work this way. The system does not promote leadership which is well-informed and concerned about the advancement of all of humankind. It promotes “leadership” which is merely concerned about its own lust for consumption, based on a worn-out theory that acting in one’s self-interests advances the interests of all. Even the founders of such notions, notably Adam Smith, recognized the shortcomings of such ideas:
“Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality. For one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many.” -Adam Smith, ‘Wealth of Nations’.
More to the point, overconsumption, requisite to the capitalist model, distracts from the intellectual effort require for achievement of a more just and equitable world.
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