Criticism of the rich is nothing new.

Bored, the generation of heirs lounges on their yachts, in their Porsches and private planes, unsure of what to do next with all their money.

Now the multi-millionaires have hijacked the island of Sylt, reports the "Spiegel" exclusively.

I'm curious to see what else these guys will come up with.

Rainer Hank

Freelance author in the business section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Criticism of the rich from the mouths of the rich is also not new.

This is considered particularly credible and morally exemplary.

Marlene Engelhorn (29), a descendant of BASF founder Friedrich Engelhorn, recently announced that she would forego the double-digit million inheritance that awaited her: "I'm concerned with the fact that I get so much money as a matter of course, although I don't have anything in return have done.

I had the luck of birth.”

From this, Ms. Engelhorn derives a general criticism of the billionaire society: The top five percent simply could not get enough of it.

The heiress finds this reprehensible and dangerous.

Because if you are wealthy, you can buy political power.

sorry for the parents

Everything is not new, as I said.

In the spring of 1207, Francis of Assisi, son of a rich Italian merchant, behaved in a similar way to Frau Engelhorn.

After Christ had appeared to him, he tore all his clothes off in Assisi's cathedral square, renounced his father and gave up the joy of his birth with a spectacular gesture: "Keep your money!"

Francis was canonized for living in poverty.

Ever since I first heard this story, I've felt sorry for his parents who get off badly in it.

Because the world would be poor if it hadn't had men and women like those wealthy cloth merchants Pietro and Giovanna di Bernardone from Assisi.

It was merchants like them who for centuries created the prosperity of nations and made sure that the poor were better off than before.

The mendicant monks of the Franciscan order can only beg what others have acquired or created and can give away.

And it was entrepreneurs like Marlene Engelhorn's ancestors who made the chemical and pharmaceutical industry big in Germany and gave many people secure jobs.

And who have earned their reward – called profit – for doing so.

Lower life expectancy

Engelhorn's granddaughter wants to introduce a "wealth limit" with the goal of an egalitarian society.

In a democracy, wealth and power should be distributed equally, she says.

That would be nothing more than a program for the collective impoverishment of humanity.

It would also mean that many people would have to die sooner.

People would die sooner?

That's the way it is.

I take the invention of the corona vaccine as evidence.

On January 24, 2020, when Corona was still considered a Chinese matter in this country, the Biontech founding couple Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci started developing a vaccine.

The competition and the hope of winning ensured that research on vaccines was carried out all over the world.

The vaccinations started on December 8, 2020 - a huge success when you consider how many clinical studies are required in the pharmaceutical industry before a vaccine can be launched on the market.