We Need a ‘Hoarders’-Style Intervention for Billionaires
As the megarich continue to stockpile wealth, it’s helpful to think of their greed as a problematic affliction
Extreme wealth has become a modern obsession. The desire to achieve billionaire status permeates pop culture, from hip-hop lyrics to reality television to motivational Instagram posts, where the ultrarich are lauded. As ordinary people’s economic fortunes teeter, this paradigm is coming under increased scrutiny.
How many superyachts the size of apartment buildings can one person own? How many private jets? How many mansions? All that money creates an explosion of trinkets and possessions they can’t possibly use or consume, yet the megarich refuse to give them up. Perhaps a better way to think about this obsessive accumulation of wealth is to acknowledge what it really is: hoarding.
The behavior mirrors what I would see while spending hours watching a marathon of Hoarders, the reality TV series that explores hoarding disorder and homes that are so overcome with clutter that they are dangerous. Each episode focuses on an intervention led by the hoarders’ loved ones. Friends, family, and a team of professionals help clean up the clutter, and the hoarders start therapy.
