Discussion How Do You Feel About Rich People?

I get that this is a little random, but this just popped in my head while I was doing my Social Studies HW. I don't dislike rich people, but I tend to badmouth them at times. Of course, that's just me venting my jealousy. I want to be rich and successful when I'm older and stuff, and it's times like this that I realize that I'm a hypocrite. A lot of the common-folk don't like rich people. I don't think I'm part of that group? I'm not sure. It's just envy and admiration. But, do people realize that those people got to that point on their own? Why are they despised for something they earned with their own blood, sweat, and tears? I was watching a video for my social studies homework, and we were assigned to watch a speech from Bernie Sanders. I respect him, I do, but he tends to put a lot of pressure on the rich about well, how rich they are. Maybe I'm clear on this or not, but literally 5 hours ago, he posted on twitter that "The 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people. Let me repeat that, because it is almost too absurd to believe: the 50 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than some 165 MILLION Americans. That is a moral obscenity." No hate, just expressing my opinion, but just because they're rich does that mean they're morally obscene? I get that they don't pay taxes, while we do and someone should fix that. But, they are humans too. I'd be seriously offended if someone said to me that just because I earn more money than them I'm morally disgusting. Sure, give them taxes, but do you gotta spread hate like that?

I don't mean to offend anyone or side with anyone, but the rich being crappy people in people's eyes is so widespread that even novels have that. The rich are the rich, the poor are the poor, and the common are the common. Sorry, politicians! I'm just an 8th grader with a low mental capacity. I might be missing something here, and if I am, then please guide me! Let me know opinions and share your knowledge with me! Let's expand our views!

Spoiler

I can't believe I'm ranting about politics on a novel forum. I just feel more comfortable here.

 

I dislike everyone equally but you're more likely to get mugged by a poor person than a rich person so there's that.

 

Personally, I neither despise them nor envy them, but I believe that to become a successful businessman and become wealthy is extremely difficult without discarding morality and principles, because the majority of the rich would do anything it takes to make more profit, social media CEOs for instance devise strategies that could suck away your soul in order for you to waste more time on their products.

 

Yeah, I understand that. It might be hard to be a businessman with a pearly white record. Dirty things most likely happen behind the scenes... Oh well, not many people know that. Or they may, they just don't care.

 

I don't hate people because their rich, but I just think that some of the corrupt, immoral shit that they do just to save a minimal amount of money pisses me off, but then again, I can understand why they would do that. Like for example, giving a low tip just to save like 10 or so dollars. Not like that 10$ will change your life or anything, but you want to save it anyways because you like money.

So I guess my conclusion is that humans, generally, are pretty terrible, and an immoral rich person is just a normal person that happens to be rich, thus allowing them to get away with their evil schemes that normal people only think of or do on a smaller scale.

 

IMO being rich as in "disposable income for a private chef, maid, etc." is fine. Being billionaire rich and profiting from exploiting your workers "Amazon-style" is not.

 

I feel like most people despise the very rich people because there is simply no need to have that much money. It's annoying that someone has such a ridiculous amount of money and they are out splurging on things that are absolutely unnecessary. If we split up that money basically everyone could have a reasonable quality of life. Honestly though as long as the people with a bunch of money are out reinvesting it into technology then we will slowly approach a better quality of life for low costs (robots and AI baby), so I don't really mind. If they are pocketing it and doing nothing though, yikes. That's why I don't really blame companies for not having rainy day funds when everyone is outraged because if they did progress might slow down a lot.

Another thing to note is most of the ridiculously rich folks are rich because the stock in the company they own is highly valued. You can't exactly confiscate that money because that's asking them to give up a majority share in their company and opening it to outside takeover. Thus, even if they have a really high net worth, there's not really a good solution for it.

 

Yes! That's what I mean. In the end we're all the same. They may or may not have done the same if they were middle-class or poor. They just happened to be rich. We all want money, power, or luxury at some point in life. It's human nature to be greedy. I'm not justifying it or anything, but it's possible. Not all rich do bad things.

Having a lavish amount of money can be unnecessary depending on your goals or ideals. Some don't aim to be rich. Some do, but they have varying reasons as to why. For example, earning money for future generations. Earning money for society and those who can't. But there are also selfish people out there. Is there a point in despising them, though? Despising them for the bad they do is reasonable. But, where is the point in despising them for the money they earned with their brain and smarts? Without the rich, would we have social media? Facebook, Twitter, Insta, they're only here because someone wanted to be rich. We don't think about that much, do we?

 

I envy them because both my life would be so much simpler with a large sum of money. It's all envy on my end.

I don't believe that they have some sort of moral or social obligations because of their wealth alone, nor should they stop gaining wealth through legal means just because they are already rich.

The way I look at it, more money would allow me to bypass many things which would normally consume so much of my time, energy and health. A better quality of life for the short period of time I am alive.

 

Recently the makeup artist of Kelly Jenner, who made 600 million dollars in 2020 alone, had an accident that required a 60k surgery, and rather than covering the full expenses for the guy when she clearly could, she created a gofundme and donated 5k. Also, keep in mind that as an influencer or whatever she is, she depends solely on her face and body, so the artist plays a huge role in her success. From this we can realize that some rich people are an entirely different breed

 

Money is something people get very emotional about. The more emotional people are about money the less they usually have. We like to use morality as an argument that rich people must be bad... how else could they have gotten rich. There are lots of ways to make money and many of them don’t hurt anyone. Think game stop earlier this year... many people made fortunes... many lost their shirts... but one did not cause the other. They each took a risk and some won and some lost, it isn’t the winners fault that the looser lost. Not in that situation.

keep in mind that most of the richest people are in favor of a program called universal basic income. It’s a program where their tax dollars would go directly to a fund that would split evenly and then be handed out to every person in a country. This would go to everyone without question. Why would rich people want this? Because they run businesses. Businesses need costumers. When people have money they buy more things. Most rich people benefit from having extensive welfare programs in the countries they operate in. They are willing to pay for it!

those type of People don’t sound bad to me. They sound generous. They want a win for everyone, themselves included.

 

That's only one person though, right (although there may be more)? She herself is a very greedy person. Now that, is morally obscene. Like I said before, it depends on what you want and who you are. Are you successful and greedy or successful and generous? People may be generous with their money reluctantly, but at least they did it, right? It doesn't have to be sincere, as long as it helped someone. But, I don't understand that type of person. She obviously had enough, unless she used it all up on something?

 

She could pay for the surgery in full, but why is she obligated to do so?

We don't know how well she and he know one another. It could be an employer/employee relationship or something equally impersonal. Setting such a precedent would be a nightmare.

By using her influence to raise the sum rather than pay for it in full herself, it sidesteps a number of problems should similar issues arise in future with the people she employs or works with.

 

In the end, don't we all benefit? I mean, majority of us get something in the end. They sell, we buy. They make money, we lose some for something worth it. Isn't that right?

 

But note the assumptions in the arguments. They are rich, therefore they must have committed immoral acts. Somehow, the possibility that they might have done it totally legally is assumed to be invalid, which is part of the brainwashing of the masses by socialist media.

To put it in perspective, my father can be considered a millionare. He got there by starting his own construction business and personally leading construction projects to the point where his nails are pretty much discoloured and deformed from doing construction work. It irks me to say the least that "Since he earned a million, he must have cheated on taxes" or "He has money, he must be a cheat" is the excuse people give for his money rather than his hard work.

 

You're right, but that only applies in a case where it's beyond her capability, however, she made 600 million in 2020 alone, 60k is meager compared to what she has, but as you said, it's not as if he's entitled to her money or anything, it's only a question of morality and being humane, which she's clearly not

 

You know, this method was tried in the 1920s. It was a big failure. They called it "Communism", just in case people missed the history.

 

That's what I don't understand. They got there by themselves, so why do they deserve to be judged? The way they got there is uncertain. If they got there using honest means, then there really isn't a reason to bash them. If they used illegal ways, then don't judge them for the amount of money they have. What matters is who they are and why they do the things they do. This actually applies to everyone. Rich or Poor.

 

This is very true. It is not good for everyone to be equal, but it is certainly ok to raise the bottom line and lower the top line.

 

I like you. You're funny. o(^▽^)o