Abstracted Wealth Is Social Poison
Abstracted Wealth Is Social Poison Aristocracy, Plutocracy, and Social Woes The American Tribune I recently had the opportunity to speak with The Black Horse on his podcast to promote my show The Old World, and one very interesting thing that came up is wealth in the context of virtue. What was it about the Old World and the sorts who characterized it in its heyday, whether the gentry of Virginia or Sir James Brooke-type explorer-adventurers , that kept them from falling into a pit of torpor, degeneracy, and inconsequence that their lives could have been, given the leisure their wealth allowed? A few bad sorts were, of course. The Dukes of Manchester have always been disasters, and the present one is a criminal, for example. Still, there were remarkably few scoundrels and wastrels compared to the wealthy of our day. It used to be seen as remarkable and a shame if a gentleman turned into a ne’er-do-well. Now it is expected that trust fund kids will be walking dis...