When people that wealthy are that delusional... With few checks or balances from politics, media, or even social media... I don't think humanity as a whole is in for a great time.

They are roughly as delusional as everyone else. There is an image human bias to convince yourself that what benefits you is also best for everyone else.

It’s just that their biases have much more capacity to cause damage as their wealth gives them so much power.

I disagree with this. I think there's probably a baseline "capacity for delusion" we all share, but the very wealthy are insulated from the negative repercussions of their actions in a way everyday folks are not. They also hold so much power by virtue of their wealth that they end up surrounded by sycophants, creating the conditions for a level of self-belief that is deeply delusional, and that only the most narcissistic among the rest of us could ever dream of attaining.

Yes, people are generally delusional; importantly though, some people are much less so (and some more so). Being connected to reality, being grounded, are learnable traits (but not very valuable to CEOs and narcissists).

> They are roughly as delusional as everyone else.

I would bet serious money that people who believe in Ayn Rand are generally more delusional than others, and the same goes for the ultra-wealthy living in a bubble of sycophants.

And their wealth gives them much more capacity - and motive - to cause damage.

It got you the 20th century

The problem with that mindset is that money is a proxy for the Marxist idea of inherent value. The distinction does not matter when you are just an average dude, doubling your money doubles the amount of material wealth you have access to.

But once you control a significant enough chunk of money, it becomes clear the pie doesn't get any bigger the more shiny coins you have, you only have more relative purchasing power, automatically making everyone else poorer.

Which Ayn Rand book says that?