An old Yiddish saying: God doesn't favor the rich. Look who he gives money to. Another saying: The rich have heirs, not children.
Both back up the idea that money can't buy you happiness. And if the bitter, generational squabbles of the super-rich are any indication, lots and lots of money makes for a miserable existence indeed.
Pick up any celebrity magazine, any financial glossy, heck, even a history book. The rich and powerful have always fought amongst themselves. History is built on the stuff. The Windsors have been a mess for generations. On this side of the pond, the Astors have always made headlines, and the Vanderbilt's were suing each other and contesting wills 100 years ago. Shelves of books have been written about the Onassis dynasty. The nasty in-fighting of the wealthy continue today: The Pritzgers,The Murdochs, The Redstones.
Little wonder these kinds of stories have provided rich fodder for Hollywood over the years. Who wasn't glued to Dynasty 20 years ago? Now it's Dirty Sexy Money and Cane. Even the foibles of Britney Spears and her ex-husband, battling in court over custody of their two sons and their attendant child support fortune, sells millions of copies of People Magazine every week.
Clearly the public can't get enough. Why? Probably because watching people who don't have the faintest idea what a gallon of milk costs is cheap and lurid entertainment for those of us who do (and who painfully note that it's gone up a dollar in the last year). We're repulsed, yet unable to turn off the TV when details of $320,000-a-month child support payments (as blond trophy wife/tennis pro Lisa Bonder demanded from financier Kirk Kerkorian in the late '90s, for a baby that wasn't even his) or dueling moguls within the same clan -- like the Sumner/Shari Redstone flap this summer -- appear on the screen.
So, as the rest of us Hoi-Polloi struggle with home foreclosures, $5 gasoline and obscene medical insurance premiums, at least we know we can engage in that time-tested (and relatively cheap, compared to a $12 movie ticket) entertainment of the masses: watching the aristocracy bicker.
Check out AOL's Top Ten Billionaire Family Feuds for battles more entertaining than World Federation Wrestling. And better costumes, too!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-02-2007 @ 8:04AM
amey said...
you're right, Julie. These people are so rich and seem so miserable.
11-02-2007 @ 3:29PM
Fred Thomas said...
If I could trade problems, I would certainly trade my everyday problems for money. With money, I can have some effect on, and endeavor to change my circumstnce. Without money, It is a constant struggle with rent, food, clothing, federal, state and local taxes. I cannot win. At least, Pres. Bush has determined the rich don't have to worry about taxes, and they can change their circumstancds at will.