Is it time for a Billionaires Anonymous?

I've been reading this, http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/therapist-class-warfare-tom-perkins

These people act like they are victimized by their privilege, that their money is glued to their hand and it is a mark of stigma, and that the fact that it is lonely at the top isn't what's wrong, it's that the people who aren't at the top are actually looking up at them with disdain.

Well, what if it isn't an act?

What if there are millionaires and billionaires who truly are addicted to their wealth in some sort of bizarre pathological way?

There are some common symptoms of being addicted to something, let's go through them...

* Unable to stop - Merely being rich is not being addicted to wealth just like smoking a lot is not an addiction. But when it gives you tunnel vision and it becomes your goal, then yes, there is a problem. Look at Walmart, the Walton family is getting richer and richer, yet more and more of their own employees qualify for food stamps and government assistance, with Walmart actually showing employees how to apply for food stamps. There is something wrong here.

* Withdrawal - When you take an addictive thing away from an addict, they are known to get mood changes and become irrational. Now what happens when you even suggest separating a wealth addict from their money? Cries of "SOCIALIST!", "CLASS WARFARE!" "37% tax rate? IT'S JUST LIKE STALIN!", "WHY DON'T YOU JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY THROUGH THE DEATH TAX THEN? I'LL HAVE NOTHING LEFT FOR MY KIDS!" become common. Just recently, a one Tom Perkins complained of supposed Progressive persecution and how everything is like Kristallnacht now. Saying a wealth addict gets defensive when you suggest reforms for them is an understatement to say the least.

* Another problem related to this is the role Fox News, the Republicans, the Tea Party, etc. play. They are often the ones talking about the withdrawal cries and making excuses. Tea Partiers, a lot of whom are on government assistance programs, defend the addicts who scam them and legally rob them. This is what we call enabling. The enablers need to be sat down and asked to stop. (Also note, from here on out, these groups mentioned above will be referred to as enablers, as they do unfortunately make more appearances)

* Social withdrawal and sacrifice - If an alcoholic wants to go out but his friends all want to go to a place where there is no alcohol, then he'll change his mind and drink at home by himself instead. Likewise, if there is no potential for more wealth for a wealth addict, then he or she will give up pretty quickly. We saw this with the bailouts in 2008, they and their enablers started to complain when their executive bonuses were threatened, saying they would not be rewarded for their 'talent' (Mind you, their 'talent' ran these companies into the ground in the first place), and then they would not invest in anything anymore. We are also told to be constantly nice to them, or they will flee the US in tears. There is very little in terms of altruism for a wealth addict.

* Maintaining an extreme supply - An addict wants to have a supply to get their high off of. And this means a wealth addict always wants to have a very high surplus of wealth. Now this isn't about rainy day funds, oh no, a wealth addict makes money just to make more money. This can be seen with the fact that the rich are getting richer and with an ever growing CEO pay difference with what their employees make. It's now several hundred times. Why? What is the purpose in that? It's tunnel vision, a wealth addict doesn't see a new product or a valuable service to the community, all they see is a stack of money at the end of the journey. And on the enabler side, we see trickle down economics helping them get more of their precious supply.

* Denial - Addicts are often stating that there is absolutely no problem. Wealth addicts and their enablers sometimes state that they aren't wealthy at all and they try to pretend to be the common man while everyone against them is the liberal elitist enemy (An almost exaggerated case of this was seen with George W Bush who was born to a president himself and was Ivy League educated, but pretended to be just like some Average Joe, and his supporters bought it). One congressman even stated that his 173,000 dollar salary was nothing. Another thing they try to do is redirect discussion of their addiction away from them, a common tactic is to say 'well, poor people have refrigerators, so there can't be that much of a gap between us!' When a wealth addict or enabler tries to put the focus on poor people, remember to keep them on topic.

* Secret stashes - Addicts often have hiding spots for their substances, boxes of cigarettes behind boxes in the closet or a concealable flask for booze in one's coat. Wealth addicts have the biggest secret stashes of all, in fact, they have countries that have governments and economies dedicated to keeping their wealth secret. Just ask the Cayman Islands and Switzerland about this, although you have to do it very discretely.

The signs are evident, it's time for our us to host a much needed intervention for wealth addicts and their enablers, tell them to stop hurting themselves, and get help. This is far from exhaustive, but that means stopping the expanding of the rich-poor gap, stopping with the crazy bonuses and CEO wages, coming to an agreement that a progressive tax rate does not equal the Holocaust, having them admit that just because the poor don't have to rent mud huts from them then everything is OK, restrict and tax their secret stash tax shelters, and find smart and creative ways for them to part with their money that is causing them so much pain.