Do you resent rich people?

[DiscoBoy]

I resent prudes and pricks. Sometimes they happen to be rich.

 

[BIGBULL29]

The poor are always the most charitable and generous. There's not doubt that the rich have helped the poor, but overall they give quite little.

What's the sacrifice of Oprah writing a check for 2 million dollars. It's like pennies to her. Sure, it's nice, but it's not charity (charity = real sacrifice)

Some rich are decent people, but why do they cling so much to their extreme wealth? Why do they need that much? Some people really have no clue how much money so folks have in this country. It's pornographic (and so is this site LOL).

I'm tired of hearing how hard some people have worked to become millionnaires. How does that justify extreme wealth? I know lots of folks who work hard at minimum-wage jobs and never advance. The greater issue here is that life is unfair and extreme wealth leads one nowhere spiritually.

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

Why would I confine my resentment to rich people ? There are plenty of poor arseholes around too.

I have family members that have money and lots of it. My aunt Billie married into money and her husband made even more money in the oil industry in Texas.

My aunt Irene always had money. Her husband was a closet Mo and owned an upscale hair salon in Baton Rouge for many years.

When they visited us or my grandmother, they were never arrogant or rude. If they were, I never noticed it. These were my mother's sisters. They were raised in a house with no plumbing and made their bloomers out of flour sacks, humble beginnings to say the least.

Many of the wealthy people I have met in my life were across the board in attitude. My dad always told me after encounters with arrogant rich people: "Son, they flush the toilet just like we do. The only difference is they can buy more things, people like us use layaway."

I don't care for people who use their charm to cozy up to people with money.
I cannot abide those egos that pretend to have more than they really do.
I have little patience for the filthy rich who look down their nose at me or anyone else.

Resent? No. That is a waste of my time.

In the end, we all return to the dust from which we are made. All that really matters is how well we have honestly loved ourselves enough to accept the fact that, it is all fleeting and chose to do some good in the world while we are here.

You cannot take it with you.

 

[SilverTrain]

I've dealt with a lot of Old Money and a lot of New Money (most, but by no means all) of it, American.

I would generally agree with the sentiment that I dislike assholes, whatever their economic station in life.

Are the wealthy disproportionately asshole-ish, then? No empirical evidence on this one, I'm sure. It's all anecdotal and prone to generalization.

My take: it's not that there are proportionately more rich assholes than poor ones, but the rich ones end up with more opportunities to lord their asininity over the rest of us. And a fair number maximize the potential inherent in these opportunities.

So, I don't resent "rich people".

But there are a good number of rich people whose asininity I remember and the concomitant resentment that engendered tends to linger.

 

[Gl3nn]

I'm tired of hearing how hard some people have worked to become millionnaires. How does that justify extreme wealth? I know lots of folks who work hard at minimum-wage jobs and never advance. The greater issue here is that life is unfair and extreme wealth leads one nowhere spiritually.

Life's a bitch, get used to it. And people don't try to get rich to become more spiritual...they do it to buy more things. That's what matters

 

[msmooooth]

This is the most ridiculous post I've seen on here yet! "Do you resent rich people"

I think a more appropriate title should have been "how many of you are angry at the world because the world doesn't give you enough free shit"

ANYONE in this country, and I mean ANYONE, can work hard and make money. The key words being "work hard". Some people will make it, others won't but that's life.

 

[SilverTrain]

ANYONE in this country, and I mean ANYONE, can work hard and make money. The key words being "work hard".

True, but "making money" and being "rich" are not the same thing. Today, being rich means making a whole lot of money. And there just aren't that many opportunities to make the kind of money that's required to be "rich". So, to posit that "anyone can be rich!" is disingenuous, at best.

 

[Sergeant_Torpedo]

Those who deride the so called politics of envy, claiming we need the rich are the boot lickers of our culture. Money is good, it is the way we share walth within our society. The love of money and adulation of those who love money (filthy lucre as it used to be called) is getting worse. It isn't poor people who finance terrorism, theough the rich will coerce them into carrying out the crimes. Note how the American dollar financed the atrocities in Ireland, and American politicians who now hob nob and support the terrorst leaders in their postions of devolved political power. The trickle down effect philosophy is a red herring. Money made honestly enhances society, money grabbed dishonorably from the poor, be it in rural America or exploited Asia and Africa, is a scourage which debauches us all.

 

[msmooooth]

True, but "making money" and being "rich" are not the same thing. Today, being rich means making a whole lot of money. And there just aren't that many opportunities to make the kind of money that's required to be "rich". So, to posit that "anyone can be rich!" is disingenuous, at best.

It's hardly disingenuous. It's the truth. You want to be rich, by your standards, work hard and be exceptional at something. Take that and build YOUR better mouse trap. Bill Gates started Microsoft in his garage. UnderArmor went up againt Nike and Addidas 10 years ago and are now a world class company. Google started in Susan Wojcicki's garage 10 + years ago.

It's not impossible or unobtainable. It's there for everyone.

 

[SilverTrain]

It's not impossible or unobtainable. It's there for everyone.

You'd be fun in philosophy class.

 

[BIGBULL29]

Life's a bitch, get used to it. And people don't try to get rich to become more spiritual...they do it to buy more things. That's what matters

Of course people don't get rich to become more spiritual!

I always prayed to God I'd never become extremely wealthy. Once you have it all, there is nothing left, unless your truly enlightened (but then if you're truly enlightened, you would have already parted with your fortunes).

 

[thadjock]

Of course people don't get rich to become more spiritual!

but alot of people become more spiritual in order to get rich.....

i.e. tv evangelists, christian right wing politicians, actors who join the church of scientology etc.

 

[TopDudeFtl]

No, I do not resent rich people. Some of my best clients are rich. Yesterday I sent some estimates for a month's worth of work to one such client. He called this morning to say he was sending a check, overnight I might add, to cover it all. I love those clients. :biggrin1:

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

It's hardly disingenuous. It's the truth. You want to be rich, by your standards, work hard and be exceptional at something. Take that and build YOUR better mouse trap. Bill Gates started Microsoft in his garage. UnderArmor went up againt Nike and Addidas 10 years ago and are now a world class company. Google started in Susan Wojcicki's garage 10 + years ago.

It's not impossible or unobtainable. It's there for everyone.

Yes in fact "It's there for everyone" but not EVERYONE is going to get it.

Deuteronomy 15:11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

I know women who are the bread winners in their marriage. They are VERY rich and yet, the money seems hollow or empty. Something seems to be lacking, always. They have achieved status yet they are far from the embodiment of what we perceive as being successful.

Other people, struggle and do the right thing. By every reasonable count they should be wealthy but are not.

Life simply does not always measure up to what we feel should be.

 

[msmooooth]

Yes in fact "It's there for everyone" but not EVERYONE is going to get it.

Deuteronomy 15:11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

I know women who are the bread winners in their marriage. They are VERY rich and yet, the money seems hollow or empty. Something seems to be lacking, always. They have achieved status yet they are far from the embodiment of what we perceive as being successful.

Other people, struggle and do the right thing. By every reasonable count they should be wealthy but are not.

Life simply does not always measure up to what we feel should be.

You're absolutely right. And in my original post, I stated that "some will make it and some won't".

I also never said it would be easy to obtain, I only stated that it is out there for everyone who tries.

The fact remains though that the title of the post is ridiculous. "Do you resent rich people?" Particularly when the status of being "rich" can fall onto anyone. Even the person who started the thread.

 

[Pendlum]

I don't resent them, I just wish I had their money. :tongue: School isn't cheap!

 

[B_ILIW]

i don't resent rich people. why should i? because they have more of something than i do? so what? just seems petty and infantile mode of reasoning.

i think in life, we simply don't have equal outcomes. besides, the poorest US citizen lives a higher living standard than the poorest people in Africa. isn't this unfair also?

 

[B_VinylBoy]

I doubt anyone who would actually resent rich people. We all aspire to be one.
However, I do have my issues with people who are so desperate to make money that they'll destroy the lives of others to get it.

 

[BIGBULL29]

but alot of people become more spiritual in order to get rich.....

i.e. tv evangelists, christian right wing politicians, actors who join the church of scientology etc.

You're not wrong about that.

 

[BIGBULL29]

When I was in Mexico City last year and traveled between the slums and the uber rich suburbs like Polanco and San Angel and seeing the disparity of wealth between the have and the have nots I began truly resenting all the rich Mexicans who have made their money exploiting the poor in that country. There's a reason why the rich have broken glass bottle tops on their tall masonry walls surrounding their homes. It's because they are the focus of intense hatred and resentment among most of the poor there.

I began thinking of all the filthy rich people in the US I resented. Most that I know made their money as Wall Street types. Contributing nothing to the common good or benefit of society they are parasites worthy of being strung up as the aristocracy was in the French Revolution. They have actually wrecked many peoples lives and livihoods by engineering mergers and take overs that eliminated good companies and their workers.

As the divide between the haves and have nots grows in America and the middle class erodes I begin to resent these people more and more. We all have been brainwashed to think that these rich people are living the American Dream through hard work and sacrifice but I think in all actuality most I know have stolen their money legally.

You are so right here, Earl. I went to Haiti a while back for two weeks and came back to the US with awful feelings towards wealth. It was pornographic to me. As time passed, I seemed to forget it all, only remembering how I felt and what I saw from time to time.

And, no, I'm not apologizing for my attitude towards extreme wealth. No one needs to be worth millions and millions of dollars while other people can't afford a bowl of soup. It's wrong on all sides of the fence.

Money is the god of most Americans (even those who hide behide religion).

How rich do people need to be? If you're a millionnaire, you need to become a billionnaire; and when that's not enough, you'll need to become a trillionnaire. One can never have enough money. Never!

Nothing irks me more when people like Regis Philbin and Whoopie Goldberg talk about the "poor" rich man who's so heavily taxed. God love 'em!