So he died a multi-billionaire, and spent a portion of his wealth doing his best to keep other people from prospering or receiving equitable education and medical care. What good did that money do him now? And what did it gain him to do so much harm?
I just don't get it.
As the child of a rich, white, male Republican I think I get a good window into how they think. They believe that private investment is so much better at growing the economy than public programs, that every dollar taxed is inherently a dollar wasted. Most of them admit that roads and bridges should be handled by government, but they can always find an excuse for not wanting to fund a particular project.
And honestly, their reasoning would ALMOST work if not for the fact that trickle down economics doesn't work. If it was true that hard work was always enough, they would mostly be right. The fact that wealth gets far too concentrated at the very top creates a lot of problems for the economy and rich people, even if you don't care about the poor people. Money needs to circulate to have a healthy economy.
That's what I keep trying to tell my dad, hordes of desperate poor people are actually very dangerous for relatively rich fuckers like us...