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Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

bloomberg.com

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Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#11

Post by rcarrigan87 »

Further down in the article, some interesting points about the motivations behind philanthropy.

"philanthropy is about more than just social responsibility—it’s about social stability."

So other than a genuine desire to do good or vanity seeking that can motivate philanthropy, you have a third element in China - preventing a revolt by the poor on the rich. If you give just enough, you'll keep the poor subdued.

I wonder if there are similar motivations for super rich American philanthropists. My guess is they're less worried about revolt and more motivated by vanity.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#12

Post by timwaagh »

blazespin wrote: post #10
lordnacho wrote: post #2

Well it sounds like they have the same problems other rich kids have. Mainly that it's hard to get away from from your parents' influence, and anything you achieve is credited to the family. Also there's a wariness about new people, and a feeling of being disconnected from ordinary society. I know a couple of heirs, and they've handled it differently. One kid works in the family office, investing the family fortune.…

TBH, if you can accept a lower standard of living, few people really need to work that much - at least in developed nations. Most people work for social pride and connection to the community. Which is a good reason. I just wish we could remake how to generate this social pride. Buying a nice car or nice house shouldn't be a reason to feel proud. Teaching, doing or learning something new and useful for your community…

most people i know do need to work if they dont want to sleep in the streets. i program others wait tables or clean out the garbage. you think somebody does that for 'pride'? it does not matter if the country is developed or not you still have to work because real estate is expensive even if food is not. if you dont well congrats but then you (and your buddies) are one of these second generation dandies.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#15

Post by vijayr »

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #11

Further down in the article, some interesting points about the motivations behind philanthropy. "philanthropy is about more than just social responsibility—it’s about social stability." So other than a genuine desire to do good or vanity seeking that can motivate philanthropy, you have a third element in China - preventing a revolt by the poor on the rich. If you give just enough, you'll keep the poor subdued. I wond…

If you give just enough, you'll keep the poor subdued.

One could say the same about salaried employees - give them enough to stay. Too little - they revolt or leave, too much - they save the money and still leave after they've saved enough

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#16

Post by EliRivers »

mrkickling wrote: post #14

"You deserve to be poor because you don’t work hard." I wonder how they can allow themselves to be rich if they don't work?

That's a bit out of context. The full quote radically changes the meaning:

"There are two groups of poor people. One is, you don’t work hard. You deserve to be poor because you don’t work hard. Second is, you work hard but can’t succeed. I think we should help the second group of people."

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#17

Post by vijayr »

timwaagh wrote: post #12
blazespin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH, if you can accept a lower standard of living, few people really need to work that much - at least in developed nations. Most people work for social pride and connection to the community. Which is a good reason. I just wish we could remake how to generate this social pride. Buying a nice car or nice house shouldn't be a reason to feel proud. Teaching, doing or learning something new and useful for your community…

most people i know do need to work if they dont want to sleep in the streets. i program others wait tables or clean out the garbage. you think somebody does that for 'pride'? it does not matter if the country is developed or not you still have to work because real estate is expensive even if food is not. if you dont well congrats but then you (and your buddies) are one of these second generation dandies.

even if food is not.

Good food is not cheap. In NYC, we pay 8$ for a decent sized watermelon - almost all fruits are expensive, and most vegetables too. Only shitty food like chips, soda, candy, fast food etc are cheap.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#18

Post by DasIch »

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #11

Further down in the article, some interesting points about the motivations behind philanthropy. "philanthropy is about more than just social responsibility—it’s about social stability." So other than a genuine desire to do good or vanity seeking that can motivate philanthropy, you have a third element in China - preventing a revolt by the poor on the rich. If you give just enough, you'll keep the poor subdued. I wond…

That's not an element specific to China. Wealth inequality is fairly well accepted to be a threat to social stability and the economy. People tend to see such inequality is unfair and at some point they are going to discover their revolutionary side.

It's therefore not merely in the interest of rich people to be philanthropists, it's also in the interest of governments to achieve a certain balance. I think the latter is a far bigger reason for philanthropy. It's hard to argue for taking money away from people who are already engaged in philanthropy.

That is also mirrored in the article. The government isn't entirely happy with this rich second generation, philanthropy helps with that.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#20

Post by blisterpeanuts »

I visited China in 1982, when the capitalist revolution was just getting started. Such wealth did not exist, but there was a deep, simmering anger among the people over Communist corruption and general unfairness and inequity. I witnessed it personally.

Now that there's a bit more prosperity and availability of material goods, but still no freedom and still a simmering resentment of government corruption, this fuerdai generation of spoiled children have put themselves out there with brash behavior and big targets painted on their foreheads.

An economic slowdown and a loss of jobs to cheaper locales in South Asia and to manufacturing technologies like 3D printing could be the catalyst to large scale social unrest. It's a worrisome situation.

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