Rich Man's Game?

I just started reading "Comes a Horseman" by Robert Liparulo. It's a thriller about two FBI agents chasing a killer who is working for a secret underground society of the world's elite bent on taking over the world. Hmm. Reminds me of someone. Who could it be?

The author, describing the secret society of twelve who are awaiting the arrival of the much prophecied anti-christ, has an interesting take on the mindset of someone raised to a life of privilege and pedigree versus the average Joe or Josephine who experiences desire as something hard won or out of reach.

I was particularly struck by this sentence on page 68:

"When any passion can be easily and immediately satiated, the experiences that stir even the most exhilarating emotions in humankind--love, accomplishment, adventure--soon take their place among common things. Consequently, the emotion that defined each of them was boredom."

I'm not an academic and don't know if this is a common conception or if it's based on historical or psychological evidence or merely the author's interpretation of what makes the rich folk tick. I do know that the sentence intrigued me enough to pick up a pen and underline it. Because given the state of the world today, and the position of all too many individuals labeled by society as "old money" or "the elite," you have to wonder if its all just a giant chess game played by a bunch of bored frat boys. Think of it: from the earliest days of your existence you can have whatever you want--women, men, booze, drugs, cars, travel, luxuries most of us could only dream of. You can go anywhere you want, do anything you want. There is absolutely nothing holding you back. What would you crave if everything material was already at your fingertips? What would satisfy a need that is no longer easy to satisfy? (Like any kind of junkie who needs bigger and bigger thrills to get the same high). Where do you go to get that thrill that the common folk might feel when they succeed at something more "mundane", like graduating at the top of their class, getting a promotion, or falling in love?

Is it a frat boy's boredom that's put the world in its current precarious state?