The Moneyed Class: The Hidden Price of Being Rich

 **July 2006**

There are rich people, and there are super-rich ones also.

The latter might have their own phenomena which we might not find too easy to explain, for an almost insurpassable gulf exists between them and we commoners.

So our talk must primarily concern the former ones—the rich people whose paths periodically run close to ours; who, in the process of making a sufficient amount of money, aren't, due to the nature of their occupations, capable of shutting their lives completely from passing through the busy, buzzing thoroughfare of petty struggles, huge pains and almost no gains, of hope, strife, etc., witnessed by we the commoners.

And enviously, the people at the lowest rung stare at them, hate them for their miserly treatment when it comes to paying for the labour done for them by the labouring class, their scornful and haggling ways in criticising the poor ones, etc.

Very often, the poorer ones estimate the incomes of those local moneywalas, minus the apparent costs of living, and then arrive at a huge sum as the balance.

They wonder why this constant nagging and haggling is done by them even though they have so much surplus in their accounts.

To some measure, they are justified in this, but not completely.

Why?

Because a great source of outflow from their coffers remains unaccounted for in the process.

It is the price they have to pay for earning big bucks while rubbing so close a scornful shoulder against poverty, destitution, misery, unemployment, crime, corruption, frustrated crowds and much more.

Their trophies shine too brightly in this melee.

And mind it, they don't live almost fortified like the super-rich, who have their similar problems at the super level.

So they pay, and a considerable sum, for enjoying their status.

They pay to the bureaucracy, to the politicians, to the police for protection and to keep their wheels running.

Then these rich scions from towns, small cities and posh localities in big cities pay to the extortionists who threaten them with murder and kidnappings if they deny the amount demanded by them.

It is a big sum.

So the cost of enjoying their status is far, far higher than we think it to be.

If we arrive at the exact figure, we won't be too jealous of them.