Nitro
Just a question for you.
Is there any way someone can become very wealthy without being corrupt?
Great question!
That would depend on the individuals moral compass, how they view the world, and how they perceive or question their own actions, I guess.
And, how others may judge them. How did they get to their position in life? How were they assisted, who assisted them.
What are/were the motivations for their path in life?
Why is the "core" motivation for human society, based on our political and social structures, always been to accrue financial or material wealth, that's the general 'end game' is it not?
Why MUST we strive for perpetual
ever expanding economic growth and consumption, at any cost?... because money is the center of gravity?
When inevitably, as proven time and again through history, perpetual economic growth is unnatural and flawed ideology because it only seems to create boom / bust cycles.
Our bankers have broken the law and regulations thousands of times, yet Australia accepts that they are just "misbehaving" if we throw a few new regulations at them, pretend to enforce them, because apparently the existing laws were not enforceable and if they promise to be good, they can get on with screwing us over?
When I talk about corruption it is always in the context of ethics, morals, integrity.
So maybe there are varying degrees of corruption.
The wealthier one becomes, the more they have to lose, losing wealth is not an enjoyable past-time in our world, the wealthier one becomes the more they feel the need to protect that wealth or increase it, fear of losing what you believed you worked hard for would cause a moral dilemma, allowing one to justify shifting their ethical goal posts....
How much wealth is enough? How many houses, cars, yachts, or gold plated possessions does one person need?
When you're wealthy you have more social power, more options, more opportunities.
We have allowed our societies to evolve this way.
Social stratification has increased over the last 40 years, and the 'wealth gap' has widened.
The middle class/working class/ and even the poor are pushed into ever increasing financial debt to create the illusion of wealth.
Why don't you ask the PM, the Treasurer, the RBA chief and past CommBank CEO's the same question?
The most direct answer I could give you at this point is, probably not.
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