How to ruin a person: give her five million dollars

From 2005, a remarkable story of what happens to people (in this case, a 9/11 widow) when you shower them with riches they haven’t earned.

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James P. writes:

You would think the wife of a bond trader would know how to handle money better than she did. She’s acting like a prole who won the lottery, not the wife of someone already very well off.

Indian living in the West writes:

It happens to lottery winners and they “get” many multiples of $5 million.

Some say that this is what happens to people who haven’t earned it and so they do not recognise the value of it.

I think their IQs should be tested. My own feeling is that this is often a reflection of low IQ impulsiveness. In Europe, some footballers that have earned millions over the years file for bankruptcy.

I think intelligence plays a part in controlling people’s instincts. Often it comes down to things like simply being able to do the sums in the head. Most people have so little mathematical ability that they cannot simply calculate fractions of their wealth to see what they can and cannot afford.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 21, 2012 11:16 AM | Send