Doubtless your immunity was gained from one of the many vaccines taken as a child — perhaps the MMR one also vaccinates against EWD? That would explain my immunity as well.
It may be that certain behaviours serve as prophylaxis. Did you attend an Ivy League institution? Intern for a member of Congress? Hang out with the Getty's? Avoiding high concentrations of EWD should reduce the chance of contagion. If you also picked your friends, education, clothes, and work based on comfort and aesthetics rather than popularity or price, you are at low risk. It is important to recognize that the disorder is not caused by wealth. Instead, as the EWDI correctly observes, persons of any wealth can sffer from this syndrome. In times past, we recognized this under different names. The sins of greed and envy combine in this disorder.
I want to do my part to ease the suffering of people with Excessive Wealth Disorder, and I am willing to step up personally to do it:
Anyone with Excessive Wealth Disorder should feel free to send their excess of wealth to me. I will bear their burden. PayPal, Venmo, and Bitcoin are all accepted.
I have wondered the same thing. Thanks for giving us a simple explanation. However, I still don't get what's with the super-rich siding with folks who would hang them if they could.
Again simple : I will love you as long as you stay in your lane. Think illegal aliens going to Martha's vineyard : I love you , will give you an expensive non leather jacket and will ship to Boston or NYC and get out of my hood.
Not mutually exclusive (see Elon Musk and Donald Trump) but quite uncommon. I do think it's a self-esteem problem, that these people in their heart-of-hearts don't believe they are "worthy" of their riches, and so feel guilty. But for many endeavors "worthy" has no relevance. Being in the right place at the right time (especially in the entertainment fields) is as much a matter of luck as skill and can pay off handsomely. "Why me?" has corroded many a soul. If you are religious you accept it as God's will and don't feel guilty, even if in humility you feel undeserving. These guilt-ridden people are singularly lacking in gratitude.
To clinical trial organizers, I am willing to undercut Mr Hayward's bid to be accepted; I would only require one: "at least two-private-planes-wealth to test the effectiveness of any cure."
And who knew that Sandy Cortez actually took an economics course! I only wish that WFB could have had Sandy as a guest on Firing Line sitting next to Milton Friedman. Now THAT would have been an episode worth watching!
Not really. She would have stared at Milton blankly and congratulated him for still being alive, unlike his buddy Shakespeare. And Milton would just be mesmerized by AOC's significant assets, being an economist, after all.
Over a hundred years of working to make businessmen villains in articles, short stories, novels, TV, and movies, and they’re still not done. EWD is yet another attempt to formalize hatred for the rich, no matter how their $$ are obtained (unless through many terms in Congress, then I guess it’s OK) as part of their continuing effort to remove individual reward from the culture.
Good job (as usual) Professor Hayward — lots of good thoughts and laughs in this one.
I learned just today that Elon Musk's 'net' worth is now $500 billion. That is billion, with a B, or .5 trillion with a T. And to think some would envy him. Now we know he is just a sad case. Breaks my heart really.
Several years ago, the new thing was "affluenza". The below happened in Texas of all places.
From Duck.ai, "Ethan Couch, known as the "affluenza kid," gained notoriety after causing a fatal car crash while driving drunk at the age of 16, killing four people. His defense claimed he suffered from "affluenza," arguing that his wealthy upbringing prevented him from understanding the consequences of his actions, which sparked widespread outrage."
That's a bit incomplete. He ran into a group of people who were assisting another broken down car. He killed 4 and injured 9, including 2 of his own passengers, 1 of whom was left completely paralyzed. He was initially sentenced to only 10 years probation, but 2 years later a video surfaced of him drinking at a party while still on probation. His parole officer couldn't contact him. As I recall, his momma took him to Puerta Vallarta after the video surfaced and he had to be extradited to face the music. At that point, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Apparently, he was too rich to have to actually pay for his actions that led to the death of 4 people and life altering injuries for 9 others.
IMHO, his parents should have also faced some time in prison. A year before the wreck, when he was 15, Couch was cited for "minor in consumption of alcohol" and "minor in possession of alcohol", after he was found in a parked pickup truck with a naked, unconscious 14-year-old girl. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation, a compulsory alcohol awareness class, and 12 hours of community service. I guess since he was 15 and the girl was 14, there weren't any sexual offenses that could be charged? A year later, his parents apparently allowed him to drive Dad's pickup, whereupon he went to Walmart and stole 2 cases of beer. Later that night, he was driving 70 in a 40 when he caused the aforementioned wreck.
“Socialism” is not the only word that makes the Left uncomfortable. This afternoon I was listening to the radio out of Portland, Maine, and I heard Zohran Mamdani say that he wasn’t a “communist”, but he thought we should have a new system of wealth distribution in this country.
I thought we have a word for that.
OT, I used to write “Sane Portland” because it saves on typing, but Portland is no longer sane – a statement true on both coasts.
They begin by hating human nature - working hard to provide for yourself and your family. They mal-educate themselves by only reading Marx. Then they fail to learn from history, in that the policies they promote have failed to produce the results they want.
Boston University should be proud of the fruit they've born. Perhaps BU is showcasing EWDI as one of their success stories.
I have tried my whole life to contract Excessive Wealth Disorder, but to no avail. I seem to be immune.
Doubtless your immunity was gained from one of the many vaccines taken as a child — perhaps the MMR one also vaccinates against EWD? That would explain my immunity as well.
It may be that certain behaviours serve as prophylaxis. Did you attend an Ivy League institution? Intern for a member of Congress? Hang out with the Getty's? Avoiding high concentrations of EWD should reduce the chance of contagion. If you also picked your friends, education, clothes, and work based on comfort and aesthetics rather than popularity or price, you are at low risk. It is important to recognize that the disorder is not caused by wealth. Instead, as the EWDI correctly observes, persons of any wealth can sffer from this syndrome. In times past, we recognized this under different names. The sins of greed and envy combine in this disorder.
suffer not sffer
Is this a true story, Prof. Steve? I think it might not be but it's a creidtable attempt at busting into AHM's turf!
Apologies to everybody for th
My fingers are gone today. Apologies for the typo & incomplete previous attempt at correcting it
I want to do my part to ease the suffering of people with Excessive Wealth Disorder, and I am willing to step up personally to do it:
Anyone with Excessive Wealth Disorder should feel free to send their excess of wealth to me. I will bear their burden. PayPal, Venmo, and Bitcoin are all accepted.
I have been talking about this for 20 or more years. Simple false guilt for your success drives the wealthy to think twisted and do stupid things.
I have wondered the same thing. Thanks for giving us a simple explanation. However, I still don't get what's with the super-rich siding with folks who would hang them if they could.
Again simple : I will love you as long as you stay in your lane. Think illegal aliens going to Martha's vineyard : I love you , will give you an expensive non leather jacket and will ship to Boston or NYC and get out of my hood.
Having the skills or luck to become super wealthy and having common sense are mutually exclusive.
Not mutually exclusive (see Elon Musk and Donald Trump) but quite uncommon. I do think it's a self-esteem problem, that these people in their heart-of-hearts don't believe they are "worthy" of their riches, and so feel guilty. But for many endeavors "worthy" has no relevance. Being in the right place at the right time (especially in the entertainment fields) is as much a matter of luck as skill and can pay off handsomely. "Why me?" has corroded many a soul. If you are religious you accept it as God's will and don't feel guilty, even if in humility you feel undeserving. These guilt-ridden people are singularly lacking in gratitude.
To clinical trial organizers, I am willing to undercut Mr Hayward's bid to be accepted; I would only require one: "at least two-private-planes-wealth to test the effectiveness of any cure."
How about a study for lack of wealth disorder?
I must have gotten a vaccine for this disorder when I was a child. No informed consent!
Edit: I see several others thought of this joke🤷🏼♂️
"Hibba Meraay"?? Fake name alert!
And who knew that Sandy Cortez actually took an economics course! I only wish that WFB could have had Sandy as a guest on Firing Line sitting next to Milton Friedman. Now THAT would have been an episode worth watching!
Not really. She would have stared at Milton blankly and congratulated him for still being alive, unlike his buddy Shakespeare. And Milton would just be mesmerized by AOC's significant assets, being an economist, after all.
She has no idea there was ever a previous Milton. She's quite incredibly ignorant.
If she is at least aware of the great Milton from “Office Space”, I’ll cut her some minimal slack.
You got me. I gave her too much credit.
Over a hundred years of working to make businessmen villains in articles, short stories, novels, TV, and movies, and they’re still not done. EWD is yet another attempt to formalize hatred for the rich, no matter how their $$ are obtained (unless through many terms in Congress, then I guess it’s OK) as part of their continuing effort to remove individual reward from the culture.
Good job (as usual) Professor Hayward — lots of good thoughts and laughs in this one.
I learned just today that Elon Musk's 'net' worth is now $500 billion. That is billion, with a B, or .5 trillion with a T. And to think some would envy him. Now we know he is just a sad case. Breaks my heart really.
Several years ago, the new thing was "affluenza". The below happened in Texas of all places.
From Duck.ai, "Ethan Couch, known as the "affluenza kid," gained notoriety after causing a fatal car crash while driving drunk at the age of 16, killing four people. His defense claimed he suffered from "affluenza," arguing that his wealthy upbringing prevented him from understanding the consequences of his actions, which sparked widespread outrage."
That's a bit incomplete. He ran into a group of people who were assisting another broken down car. He killed 4 and injured 9, including 2 of his own passengers, 1 of whom was left completely paralyzed. He was initially sentenced to only 10 years probation, but 2 years later a video surfaced of him drinking at a party while still on probation. His parole officer couldn't contact him. As I recall, his momma took him to Puerta Vallarta after the video surfaced and he had to be extradited to face the music. At that point, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Apparently, he was too rich to have to actually pay for his actions that led to the death of 4 people and life altering injuries for 9 others.
IMHO, his parents should have also faced some time in prison. A year before the wreck, when he was 15, Couch was cited for "minor in consumption of alcohol" and "minor in possession of alcohol", after he was found in a parked pickup truck with a naked, unconscious 14-year-old girl. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation, a compulsory alcohol awareness class, and 12 hours of community service. I guess since he was 15 and the girl was 14, there weren't any sexual offenses that could be charged? A year later, his parents apparently allowed him to drive Dad's pickup, whereupon he went to Walmart and stole 2 cases of beer. Later that night, he was driving 70 in a 40 when he caused the aforementioned wreck.
Every single issue is always solved with more taxes.
“Socialism” is not the only word that makes the Left uncomfortable. This afternoon I was listening to the radio out of Portland, Maine, and I heard Zohran Mamdani say that he wasn’t a “communist”, but he thought we should have a new system of wealth distribution in this country.
I thought we have a word for that.
OT, I used to write “Sane Portland” because it saves on typing, but Portland is no longer sane – a statement true on both coasts.
As the professor is too discreet to state bluntly, EWD is a soft science.
Substack really needs a laugh emoji for comments like yours. Very funny!
Thank you for the appreciation. Unfortunately, it will only encourage me.
"Stifle your giggles and guffaws over the latest clinical nonsense from the left" - I can't.
EWDI: A Covetousness Institute.
They begin by hating human nature - working hard to provide for yourself and your family. They mal-educate themselves by only reading Marx. Then they fail to learn from history, in that the policies they promote have failed to produce the results they want.
Boston University should be proud of the fruit they've born. Perhaps BU is showcasing EWDI as one of their success stories.