Billionaires Have It Worse Than You: Y-Combinator Guy Explains Why That May Be True
Billionaires have it worse than you and me.
If someone like Mark Zuckerberg (pictured above) tried coming up to you and saying that, how long would it be before you thought about your bills versus your income and then gave in to the urge to punch them in the face?
While it may sound farfetched to feel sorry for billionaires like Facebook’s Zuck or Google CEO’s Larry Page, the co-founder of venture capitalist company Y-Combinator is suggesting that you reconsider.
Paul Graham, whose startup accelerator company is behind some of the biggest brands on the market today, recently made the case supporting the life of a rich guy and why you should save a little sympathy for them.
“Mark Zuckerberg will never get to bum around a foreign country,” Graham says in comments reported by Business Insider. “He can do other things most people can’t, like charter jets to fly him to foreign countries. But success has taken a lot of the serendipity out of his life.”
Graham also notes that Google’s Page has it pretty rough, too, noting that “there are aspects” of Page’s life that are unenviable.
“Basically at 25 he started running as fast as he could and it must seems to him that he hasn’t stopped to catch his breath since. Every day new s*** happens in the Google empire that only the CEO can deal with, and he, as CEO, has to deal with it…. If he goes on vacation for even a week, a whole week’s backlog of s*** accumulates. And he has to bear this uncomplainingly, partly because as the company’s daddy he can never show fear or weakness, and partly because billionaires get less than zero sympathy if they talk about having difficult lives. Which has the strange side effect that the difficulty of being a successful startup founder is concealed from almost everyone except those who’ve done it.”
Before picking up a stone to chunk at Graham’s head, it’s important to remember the story of King Midas. I won’t bore you with an extensive retelling, but basically, Midas loves riches so much and wants everything that he touches to turn to gold.
It’s a fine idea until you get ready to eat or hug your loved ones. You’d starve to death, but not before isolating yourself from the human experience and losing all those close to you.
While Zuckerberg and Page and all billionaires don’t have it THAT bad, they do live in a world where their enjoyment of those riches is extremely limited, and they’re always at work. Always. Put like that, readers, do you still think billionaires have it easier than the rest of us? Share your thoughts in our comments section.
[Image via foxnews]
