Off the Clock w/Jon Eks
My name is Jon Eks and I spent more than a decade talking to people about work on the award-winning Jon of All Trades Podcast. I’m sick of talking about work. I want to talk about everything else in our lives. Men are traditionally not good at this. So, I’m talking to people I love, respect, and admire. I’m trying to embody the axiom “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Expect candor, vulnerability, profanity, and a wide range of topics.
Off the Clock w/Jon Eks
#OTCQuickie: The Ugliness of Ultrawealth
#OTCQuickies are mini solo episodes where I address a question or a topic in service of trying to be a good dude in the world. Today's topic is:
The Ugliness of Ultrawealth
Fueled by two things I read this morning, and in stark contrast to a "Great Guys Lunch" I recently attended, I weigh in on why I find ultrawealth (a.k.a. billionaires) so distasteful and detrimental to society.
1. Today's New York Times Morning Newsletter has a small capsule article a little more than halfway down about how venture capitalists are squeezing volunteer fire departments for more money after acquiring the software they use to track incidents. You can find that newsletter here.
2. On Hamilton Nolan's Substack "How Things Work," he has a piece called "Abominations of Capital: Forcing a price on priceless things." It is ostensibly about a piece of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat that is owned by a billionaire named Ken Griffin, but cuts at extreme wealth in an interesting way.
Ultrawealth, in my opinion, should not be viewed aspirationally, but as a malignant mental disorder that deserves to be ridiculed, scorned, and legislated out of existence. Find out why in this edition of the #OTCQuickie.
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