Joe Rogan - The Pursuit of Wealth is Hollow

Hello, freak bitches. And I also have met a lot of rich people in my time, and they're miserable as hell. There certainly can be. Chasing that. Yeah, very isolated. And I know I could count on my hands the amount of really rich people I know who live happy lives, who seem like they know what to do with their money. And these people definitely are out there. They have all their happy marriages, happy kids, balanced kids. They know when to have fun. They know how to work hard, blah, blah, blah, blah. But they're the exception to the rule. Yeah, it's super rare. It's, well, the pursuit is such a strange pursuit because, you know, oftentimes when you're pursuing wealth, you're pursuing wealth at all costs. I mean, that is the ultimate goal is the score that you put on the board. I mean, that's the Gordon Gekko philosophy. Greed is good, right? Or greed will protect me. I mean, I understand it why people feel, and they're not always wrong either, where money can protect you from a lot of difficulties. Our president. That's our president. I mean, our president is essentially the greed is good guy. I mean, that is who he is. I mean, that's what he's done. I mean, he has pursued wealth at all costs. But he was also born into wealth. A little bit, yeah. I don't think it was a little bit. I think it was a substantial amount of money he inherited. Well, he was given $2 million to start his business, his first business. And he talks about it as a small loan, small loan of $2 million. Small loan of $2 million. Yeah, I mean, he certainly has inherited quite a bit of it. No doubt about it. But my point is that his philosophy and like what he's always pursued is extravagance, like the big gold letters on the side of the skyscrapers. That's his thing. Yeah. And it's a state. It's in a lot of ways. It's a dangerous ideology for a country to aspire to. Because everybody can't attain that. So what are you then saying to people who have that, who will never have that? That's kind of what leaves me in great dismay. I understand the pursuit of money and economic well-being. But I feel like what do we then say to the people that don't have that and never will have that? There has to be something else other than the worshipping of money. Yeah, it's a hollow pursuit. And it's a pursuit that's like it's not examined closely enough for its hollowness, if that's a word. I was having a conversation once with this friend of mine who is a pretty radical black guy, he's a pretty radical African-American and just very proud of African-American heritage. And he went on this thing about how black people used to be kings. He's like, we were kings. Do you understand that? I go, stop. I go, everybody can't be a king. Because if you have a bunch of kings, to be a king is to be a dictator. That means you're dominating people who aren't kings. That's not a proud thing. You've got to stop saying that. It's the wrong thought process. But it's the thought processes. In his eye, he hadn't examined it. In his ideas, at one point in time, we were Africans, we were kings. We were on top and then slavery and all this other stuff. So his thought process was convoluted by saying we were kings. You don't want to be a fucking king, man. Nobody should be a fucking king. You should be zero kings. You definitely don't want to see we were kings. We can be kings again. Don't be a king. Yeah, I don't want to be king. I don't want to be a queen. Well, it's a big thing with fighters. Some fighters call themselves king this or king that. They're like part of their name. It's a weird... It's only African American guys. I don't know any white guys call themselves king. Oh, come on. I don't. Oh, please. White fighters? Oh, you would know about that world. Yeah, like King Bobby Green, King Moe. I know five or six. King Kevin Casey. Sometimes when you feel that you're at a disadvantage in society, words are powerful. The words we tell ourselves are really powerful. Perhaps you can manifest a power that you need sometimes. We all need it sometimes. I know I need it myself, where you think to yourself, okay, you need to remember what you have done, what you've accomplished, who you are, who your mother is. I think that there's a lot to be said, I guess, for the casual use of certain words. But you're right. I mean, as we continue to use these words, we have to examine their meaning. Yeah, I definitely think that's the case. I think that the wealth at all costs is a foolish pursuit that people look at when they don't have the wealth. I mean, that's when it becomes an attractive thing. It's the idea that you just got to get that paper. Or when you've got the wealth. I think the greediest people are the people who have got shitloads of money. That's why we see a lot of these people with money wanting to have their taxes cut rather than inject some taxes into the community. I mean, I'd much rather live in a more pleasant community than sit in my golden tower by myself with riots going on on the street. You know what I mean? I feel like if you make everybody happy here, you can still be rich, but you're going to have a nicer garden to walk out into. That's a very good attitude. It's a very good attitude. I think it's a weird game that people play where it becomes just about getting those points up on the board and the numbers become meaningless. Like you don't think, I have $30 million. I can't spend this. If I live a normal life, I'm good. They don't think that. They think, I need $50 million. I need an island. I want a jet. Well, there's that question, how much is enough, babe? How much is enough? And of course, the more you accumulate, the more your expenses are and the more you want. So it just goes on and on and on and on. There's an amazing Radiolab podcast that's out now about Bernie Madoff. Oh, there's a show coming out too, right? Robert De Niro is playing Bernie Madoff. She's still hot as fuck. She's so hot. She's got to be 80, 90 years old now. She is still so beautiful. She's so hot. It's crazy. Underutilized actress. I'm looking forward to that, but sorry I interrupted, Katya. No worries. But it's just the interview him and you get to hear him talk and the reporter called him in jail. And it's a really fascinating way they have to communicate because they're only allowed to communicate for 15 minutes. Then they have to, the phone is disconnected and then they have to wait 15 minutes before they can reconnect. So he's doing this, yeah, that's just the rules of the prison. So they're doing, I mean, he's in there forever. He's never getting out of that fucking cage. Yeah. But it's fascinating when you hear him. He has zero empathy. I mean, none. It's weird. It's weird hearing him talk about these people that he ripped off and finding these like, oh, they're fine. These people, they had money. It's like, it's no big deal. You're listening to the way this guy is sort of rationalized, but he is essentially the poster boy for that greed at all costs because he was just, he was running a Ponzi scheme, stealing money from people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.