In sociology, a recurring methodological problem encountered by those trying to study the very rich is that their domains of existence are so far removed from the experiences of ordinary people that the researchers, before they even start, have to fundamentally reshape their social ontologies
When we talk about "taxing rich people" there's folks who think we're talking about Aunt Edna who has the second summer home. The astronomical levels of "rich" that now exist are almost unfathomable to people. It's the stuff of vast empirical dynasties. We're talking about taxing emperors.
Very rich people are not characterized by being able to afford things from the expensive shelves of the store. The very rich have literally never even once in their lives visited the kinds of stores you frequent. They do not clothes shop. They have tailors that charge your yearly rent per week
You know what a yacht is. I now need you to look into what a superyacht is. I need you to understand that the very rich can employ literally hundreds of people for a hobby they may or may not engage in once or twice a year
These people are off the charts. Even if you continuously adjust the charts
An illustration: there are expensive sunglasses. Just outrageously "how even did they manage to cram that much money into something this small" expensive. You can own a pair of those
And then there is a family that owns sunglasses. As in, the whole category as a commercial activity. All of it
I forget if the actually existing sunglasses monopoly is a family thing or some sort of corporate conglomerate shenanigans. It could go either way. Neverdeleuze. This is the kind of scale the very rich have to be understood on. Whatever your notion of a rich person is - order of magnitude it
For a lot of those guys superyachts are a form of portable wealth. When Russia invaded Ukraine and international sanctions came down a number of yachts owned by Russian oligarchs were scattered across the world, ownership obscured through layers and layer of shell companies
vast amounts of concentrated wealth becomes a gravity well, where reality is warped around it; whatever needs doing can be done by simply throwing money at it. need to hide something? hire someone to hire someone to deal with it
