Neo, here's Gore's clinical diagnosis "Narcissistic Personality Disorder". Check out how this problem relates to his wanting to take and spend all our money. First the symptoms...
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Grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
grandiose sense of self-importance
preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, or ideal love
believes he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people
requires excessive admiration
has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with expectations
is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve own ends
lacks empathy; is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings of others
envies others or believes others are envious of him or her
shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
Money stands for love in the narcissist's emotional vocabulary. Having been deprived of love early on in his childhood, the narcissist constantly seeks for love substitutes. to him, money is THE love substitute. All the qualities of the Narcissist are manifest in his relationship with money and attitude towards it. Due to his sense of entitlement - he feels that he is entitled to other people's money. His grandiosity leads him to feel that he should have or does have more money than he actually has. This leads to reckless spending, to gambling and to addictive shopping. Their magical thinking leads narcissists to irresponsible and short-sighted behavior the results of which they believe themselves to be immune from. So, they descend to debt, they commit financial crimes, they hassle people, including their closest relatives. Their fantasies lead them to believe in financial (fabricated) "facts" incommensurate with their talents, qualifications, jobs and resources. They pretend to be richer than they are or capable of becoming rich if they so resolve. They have a love-hate ambivalent realtionship with money. They are mean, stingy and calculating with their own money - and spendthrift with OPM (other people's money). They live lavishly, well above their means. The often go bankrupt and ruin their businesses. Reality very rarely matches their grandiose fantasies. Nowhere is the grandiosity gap more evident than where money is involved. |
