Uttara was at her MBA school alum meet (Tuck at Dartmouth) in Verbier, Switzerland recently. There were alum from the 70s to the present day, but a relatively small group. Most were super rich, white and mostly male. The exception being the three of them from her class. Being at the bottom of the totem pole and of modest means, they were hosted at the home of one of the alum who just happened to be a billionaire. His was an opulent 14 bedroom chalet with 3 elevators, pools and jacuzzis, liveried help and ski off and on in the famous and tony Verbier ski resort, the residence and training ground of the world's premier skiers. Uttara was surprised at how her group members were all super athletic, skiing down 3000 metre glaciers and even attempting ski jumps. She said to me "mom I was the worst of the lot, but with their pedigree they must have been skiing since they were toddlers". When I asked her about her host, she relayed that his grandfather had made his money in insurance which the grandson had then parlayed into business ventures and real estate investments in the coolest places around the world. Having put their four kids in the world's premier boarding schools, he and his wife divided their time between their homes on islands and cities worldwide, besides sojourning at the homes of Buffet (which they said was "comfortable") and Gates ( which they said was "magnificent"). Uttara made particular mention of the wife's 16 carat diamond ring. "However", she remarked, "they are pretty disconnected from how you and I live", and then she asked me "do you think they really happier than us?" and she added "it did not appear to me that they were? " "Well" I said "I have not really met anyone face to face who is that wealthy, but do believe it is all about finding that sweet spot where you actually know what you want, and have the financial ability to exercise that choice?”.
After that conversation I read an article in Bloomberg on the movement to increase the minimum wage in America from $7.25 per hour. Obama has suggested the magic number of $10.10. The libertarians who believe in doing away with minimum wage altogether are arguing that businesses will do better and employment numbers will be higher if wages are lower and people get paid what they are worth. They go so far as to say that in such a regime, people with low intellectual ability will also find work at $2.00 an hour. What this does not take into account is how much money one needs, to live. According to an MIT study the living wage in San Francisco is an ideal $26 per hour. A cleaning woman who makes $8 per hour is at about a third of that wage. She needs two full time jobs to eat and have a roof over her head, albeit under unsafe conditions. She cannot afford to fall sick and has to live in a perpetual state of anxiety about paying bills and staying afloat, while ensuring her kids, if she has them, stay out of trouble. This woman, I thought, will have greater difficulty finding that sweet spot provided by the choice that money can engender.
As for me, a conflicted middle class entity, I secretly covet wealth but am burdened with guilt over my secret desire when I know that a lot of it will come out of perpetuating the disparity between the super- rich and the desperate. So where is my sweet spot? From a sense of superiority over the thought that wealth is morally suspect, comes at the cost of exploitation and will get us into a state of depravity and apathy? Just saying..
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