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rehmwa 2
The rich are easy targets and they have stuff - so I can convince myself to hate them so I don't feel bad about treating them like subhuman cash machines.
Even better, if I can convince a bunch of other people to hate them (I don't care what the reason is), maybe they'll vote me into a medium paying elective role if I'm honest - or if I'm very dishonest, the same role could be very lucrative.
Then, once in power, I can play those voters and that hated group against each other until they both VOLUNTARILY start giving me power and money - bwahahahahahaha
you never know
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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants
rehmwa 2
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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants
kallend 1,623
marks2065*********I don't actually know anyone who hates people just because they are rich. Do you actually know such people?
On the other hand, I know quite a few people who resent how some people are able to use their wealth to buy political influence and game the system to their advantage. Examples include hedge fund managers who are paid millions of $$/year, but are taxed on that income at a rate far lower than anybody whose income is through a salary or hourly wage. While there may be valid reasons why people such as Romney are (or were until quite recently) taxed at only 15% on income from investments, whereas auto mechanics (as one example of people who get their hands dirty doing while working) are taxed at a significantly higher rate, perhaps you can understand why people would resent that arrangement. You may be confusing resentment of the special treatment the rich are able to buy for themselves with hatred of the rich.
Of course the right wing of American politics done a fine job of painting any questioning of the special treatment the very wealthy tend to get as "class warfare". It's really quite brilliant, especially if you consider that the growth in income of the top 5%, compared to everybody else, suggests that it's the wealthy who have declared economic war on everybody else.
Don
I think the hate is from being told lies from the people that profit from class warfare. When the issue with Romney only paying 15% on investments was compared to the average Joe they were misled. If you look at the average Joe making less than 100k, after their tax return is filed, they pay about the same percentage or less. They definitely pay less in total $s than Romney. Class warfare is staged to keep people from working together and solving problems while keeping power hungry people in power. The left would loose greatly if it were not for class warfare and racism. I think you should use the rich as examples of what is possible, to promote the American dream and drive people to work harder to obtain their goals and desires.
Yes the Rich do... I agree that they who hold all the real power are actually PRACTICING class warfare. It is the perfect application of the Golden Rule...
He who has the GOLD has made all the rules to benefit his class. Murica
And the ones that pay for most of our infrastructure, defense, and charity that make this nation great deserve our thanks and appreciation.
That sounds more like the definition of brown-nosing.
The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.
richravizza 25
If we're being told Life in America is NOT Fair, social and financial inequality is Rampant. therefor Everyone in America is a Victim except the rich,they got it Good.
If its repeated enough the THEY WILL BELIEVE IT.
That's right in the Greatest Country on this Earth you are a Victim.and
Opportunity is Dead.
The American dream is Dead. Don't even try, if you do,your a FOOL.
The gov't is Here to save you and make it Fair, Screw the rich,that will make you feel Good,and right all your wrongs.
By the Way how does it feel to be DEPENDENT?
NWFlyer 2
All that said, while I don't harbor any ill will towards the wealthy, I do harbor some ill will towards those who paint the wealthy as hard workers and the poor as lazy. I'm not a fan of the messaging that those who are wealthy are somehow more deserving of wealth than those who are poor or middle class. I am, by world standards - wealthy, and by American standards, doing well, though I'm hardly wealthy. I have worked hard and taken advantage of opportunities that have come my way, but I don't feel that I am inherently more deserving; a lot of the opportunities that were available to me were pure luck based on the circumstances of my birth.
I'm also pretty disappointed by the systematic dismantling of the American middle class that's taken place over the last few decades because of a whole host of economic forces, and political and social choices we've made as a nation, because I feel that is more likely than anything to be the undoing of this society, and will continue to breed hatred and resentment ... aimed in all different directions at all kinds of groups.
To some people, I probably qualify as rich. Our house and cars are paid for, and we are retired. (edit to add: I bought the house in 1988, and the car in 2006, so the surprising thing would be if they weren't paid for by now).
He considers the bottom group to be "barely rich." Of course, to the other 97% of America, even they probably look pretty rich.For the definition of "really rich," I went to Richistan. It groups rich people thusly:
But the upshot is that people in these groups, particularly the upper 2, live in a parallel universe that we don't get to inhabit. And the resentment is that it's not really accessible to the overwhelming majority of Americans. Unless, of course, they manage to generate a startup and get bought out -- that's the quickest honest way to get to the top two tiers these days. The bottom one is somewhat accessible with hard work, saving, and not buying a lot of shit on credit that you don't need.
For many of the things that most people do have access to, the very wealthy have superior access; if we want our kid to go to (for example), Harvard, he has to compete against the legacies (mostly rich) who get added points in the admission process simply because their parents went there, or they donated enough money. Etc.
I think the resentment is two-part; it's for the loss of the American dream that anyone can "make it." But that was never true -- it's just that now, with mass media so pervasive, pretty much everyone knows not only who's made it, but it's rubbed in their faces all the time.
Wendy P.
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