George Monbiot has a go at tackling the ‘what motivates the very rich?’ issue. His thoughts are not a million miles from mine. What I have noticed about the billionaires I spent time with for research is that their reading matter consists largely of copies of Forbes, that they are engaged in ‘a game’ against their peer group in which they have little perspective on the challenges facing a wider society, and that therefore their activities need to be framed by rules made by politicians.
How four tourists were charged Euro64 for four ice creams in Rome and how the bar says it is fair.
Meanwhile Sir Michael Jagger and Keith Richards, well-known anti-Establishment radicals, wax lyrical on the price function, the price of tickets for their US gigs, and why US$65 million is a fair return on a short tour. It’s very like the defence put up by the Roman ice cream sellers, except with more ‘you know, man’ and ‘some cat said’ thrown in.
I was once hitchhiking through Ireland and saw the most arresting biblical words I have come across written on a wall in huge letters. It didn’t seem like much at the time because Ireland was still pisspoor back then. But the words have gained resonance since: ‘What shall it profit a man that he should gain the world and thereby lose his soul?’ Let me know the answer when you have a moment Roman, or Mario, or Sir Mick.
If this isn’t enough about the trouble that money can cause, I am informed there will be in interview with Stanley Ho’s daughter Pansy in tomorrow’s UK Sunday Times. Here’s the background from this blog if you don’t know it.
Otherwise:
Here is a review of Amanda Knox’s biography. Here is another one by the co-writer of Sollecito’s book. And here is a typically snooty, but also useful, review by the Grey Matriarch of Manhattan.
I would recommend reading this book even though I have not done so yet. However you will have to buy an import if you are in the UK or get an electronic download (as I will). This is because British libel law and publisher spinelessness mean that Knox’s book has not been published in Britain.
Finally, here is a link to The Economist blogging on the subject of China Dreams. I post this for no better reason than that I wrote a book called The China Dream in 2002 and I think this was the first use of the term in this recent period. However I seem to recall finding one or more older books in the British library that referenced China dreams. Mind too befuddled to remember clearly and no time to check. (Later: for some reason The Economist then publishes a letter saying what the blog already pointed out in the print edition.)
Tags: Italian legal system, Italian police, Sollecito and Knox, tycoons, Wealth