Billionaire explains why people hate the super-rich
The disparity of wealth between rich and poor creates worldwide “tension,” according to billionaire Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who believes that critics of the ultra-rich are “motivated by envy.”
“It is the nature of our species that we look around us at other people and are envious of them if they have more than we do,” the 98-year-old businessman told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday. “That envy has always been a big problem.”
Munger has a net worth of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes. Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett and Munger, owns over 60 companies, such as Geico and Dairy Queen, plus minority stakes in Apple and many other firms.
A study released last month by Oxfam, which works against global poverty and inequality, showed that the 10 wealthiest people in the world have more than doubled their fortunes since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Their collective wealth has increased from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion over that span.
Meanwhile, inequality contributes to the deaths of about 21,300 people each day, Oxfam estimates, pointing to the role that the wealth divide plays in dire threats faced by low-income people, such as a lack of healthcare or food.
Talking about the wealth gap, Munger said: “Of course, it will never go away, as long as you have human beings,” and added that, “In my personal life, I have banished envy and I recommend that banishment to everybody else.”
During the most recent Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in May, Munger projected that “The difference between the rich and the poor in the generation that’s rising is going to be a lot less.”
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