Accepting an argument to be true because the person who makes it is wealthy. Also known as argumentum ad crumenam or an argument to the purse. The fallacy got its name because of the introduction of financial status in an argument. “Crumenam” is Latin for wallet.
The appeal to wealth is an informal, red herring fallacy. The error occurs with the content of the argument. Irrelevancies are used in order to divert the argument from progressing forward. This fallacy has its counterpart called an appeal to poverty or argumentum ad lazarum.
Example 1:
“Jeff Bezos said that the world will end in 2030. Make sure you finish your bucket list until then. You know a rich person like him can’t be wrong.”
Example 2:
“I will not believe in aliens until the rich people start saying that aliens exist.”
Example 3:
Person A: “I don’t think that communist countries are any threat to us.”
Person B: “Bill Gates says they are.”
Person A: “So what?”
Person B: “What do you mean, so what? He’s the richest man on the planet.”
The main problem with this fallacy is that the person who commits it considers the financial status of someone validates the claim. We all know how absurd this is. We also know how many crazy things wealthy people have said and believe in. Some wealthy people may have expertise in the field that is being discussed. However, the person should appeal to that expertise and not to wealth.
Because this is an informal fallacy, the argument may just as well be true regardless of how the speaker presented it. Nonetheless, this kind of fallacious argument should be ignored. We don’t want an argument to be true from accident. Supporting evidence and co