I didn't get the impression that the article was a celebration of the man, it was more like a deep dive into the oddity of the whole thing.
I think you're assigning an agenda where there is none. The author isn't trying to glorify the guy. The story is an interesting story because the circumstances are so unusual.
I realize the scale of wealth skewed far upward from the typical working class person, but I will also point out that you don't really have to be very wealthy to afford to do nothing all day and buy meals at a hotel pool and not work. It sounds like the hotel was really just charging him money for his meals, it's not like he was staying overnight at the hotel.
That's not really Elon Musk territory, that's attainable via the 4% rule [1] if you've got single digits of million dollars saved up (in 2025 dollars).
Even less money is needed to live this kind of lifestyle if we are talking about low cost of living countries with beachy vibes like Thailand/Cambodia/Laos.
Weird take, it seems to me like his success was driven by being a net value-add for his community. Going to his same barber everyday is less "being waited upon by legions of servants" and a lot more sharing your success with the community.
He helped the hotels he hung out at earn lots of money by getting rich people to come often and spend money. If he got paid in dollars instead of free cabana time when it's empty it'd be called sales. Everyone seems to enjoy his presence, and talking to the staff and giving them yearly presents definitely seems worth letting a guy stay a couple hours after they've finished their purchased meal.
If living alone in a small one bedroom flat with no car after retirement constitutes "excesses and inequalities of capitalism", then I can only assume you are anti-elderly and would rather they produced value for you until death.
