Why aren’t the super-rich braver?

A lot of people dream of having what is known as ‘screw you’ money. In my observation, this is not simply in order to be able to live in a castle or own Ferraris or Van Dycks, or whatever is your wont. It is in order to be able to say those fine, demotic words to whomever you like.

It should be noted that most people dream of saying the words to someone who is perceived to be above them: someone to whom they might once have been subservient in some way. A boss, for instance.

Yet one of the strangest things about the mega-rich is that they do not actually say ‘screw you’ when they ought to. A couple of years ago, I was being interviewed in front of an audience made up of the world’s mega-rich and I asked them: ‘What is the point of having “screw you” money if you never say “screw you”?’

I raised this question because in my observation many CEOs, high-net-worth individuals and others live in absolute fear – not least of their junior staff.

Perhaps some of them are in Jeffrey Epstein’s phone book. But I suspect there are other reasons. Social status and prestige are paramount – perhaps especially – for the mega-rich. Maybe there is also the feeling that the manners and morals of the era are shifting around everyone, and even the super-rich should do everything they can not to get on the wrong side of that shift.

Happily the occasional person comes along who uses their bucks to buck that trend. Elon Musk is the most obvious example. Until he bought Twitter, Musk was one of the most admired people on the planet.