Gazette-Mail editorial: The problem with the ultra-rich in WV, beyond

Wealth and connections aren't an inherent evil. But there's a noted disconnect between the people who represent West Virginia and ordinary West Virginians and money is part of it.

It's hard for a billionaire or millionaire to relate to someone who works a minimum-wage job, relies on Medicaid and other assistance and doesn't have reliable, safe drinking water in their home, let alone a hospital or grocery store that's less than an hour's drive away. It can also be difficult to make policy decisions that benefit ordinary people when it goes against a source of high income or the income of wealthy political backers. 

Money complicates everything, not the least bit by muddying waters and having an outsized influence over decisions that can impact hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of regular people. And the people who choose their representation are at a disadvantage because it's sometimes hard to determine where the money comes from and how it aligns with motivations. 

Even those in power sometimes fail to ask the right questions about those who might influence them. 

For instance, in all of the talk over President Donald Trump's former friendship and frequent dealings with sex-trafficker and accused child sex-abuser Jeffrey Epstein, nearly everyone is stumped as to how Epstein, who reportedly committed suicide in a New York jail in 2019, got so wealthy. He was somehow able to afford lavish properties all over the country (including his own island) and a private jet. His wealth and the connections that brought seem to have allowed him to get away with what appear to be absolutely staggering and abhorrent crimes for decades. 

Epstein called himself a financier, but it's hard to tell what financial work he did for whom, let alone how that could lead to an estimated net worth of somewhere between $560 million to $640 million. Public records show he started out as a teacher, and apparently not a very good one, as he was fired from a prep school in the 1970s. He then began doing some money-management work, apparently making millions of dollars by managing the finances of billionaires, according to CBS News. But the money he made from that is nowhere near his estimated net worth. CBS reported that Epstein also took out large loans and borrowed cash from JP Morgan Chase, over the course of more than a decade, and had some financial dealings with Deutsche Bank, as well. 

It's still a very murky picture. But ungodly wealth has a way of keeping people from asking pertinent questions. In the case of a bad actor, those questions often don't come until it is far too late. 

Wealth also sometimes gives a false sense of expertise. Most West Virginians assumed Jim Justice would be a competent governor in no small part due to the fact that he had saved The Greenbrier resort and, when he entered politics, had a net worth of about $1.3 billion. That estimate has dropped substantially as Justice has been mired in very public financial problems for the better part of a decade now, though it hasn't slowed his political career. 

Some assumed Elon Musk, the world's richest man, was the guy for the job when it came to cutting federal government waste. Musk's brief stint as head of the Department of Government Efficiency was an unmitigated disaster that has cost West Virginia and the nation in terms of jobs and safety as Musk gutted critical federal agencies. Of course, Musk had his own financial motives as he torched agencies that had regulatory responsibilities over his companies (Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, etc.) while keeping his billions of dollars in government subsidies intact. 

It's never been more obvious that wealth does not equal expertise, experience, compassion or even common sense, let alone morality or some sense of benevolence or greater purpose. The rich often didn't get there by making the world a better place. More skepticism toward such individuals who come offering some form of salvation in exchange for the will of the people should be applied.