The rich and affluent: why hate them?

Maybe the word 'hate' is too strong of a word here, but it is the general feeling one gets when they begin talking about the rich and affluent.

You may have come across the 'ferrari running over the police officer's foot' video on Youtube and that is just one of many examples showing how the general public truly despises the rich, or at least quickly jumps to conclusions (e.g. immediately labeling him as a 'douche', undeservingly 'born into money', etc).

And then there's Wall Street. Oh Wall Street, why are you being hated on so much? Is it because we NEEDED to bail you out? Do people not realize that if these big banks weren't bailed out, we would've easily be living in a depression, versus a recession? And so, is this the reason why people label every single person in Finance as scumbags? What ever happened to simply admiring one's success and use it as inspiration to create your own?

I don't study Finance, but I do learn about it on my spare time. So, I'm wondering, what is your take on the rich and affluent? Do you dislike them? Admire them? Why do people feel this way, and is it even worth trying to tell other people to feel otherwise? (Because I've tried, but once someone assumes a banker is a greedy scumbag, they assume all of them are!)

And one more thing, if people think bankers are cheating the tax payer's money, why do people adore companies like Apple? Apple prices are ridiculously high, and paying ridiculously low wages to the places they outsource to, all creating huge profit margins for them. Yet, people don't treat Apple or Samsung billionaires/millionaires as the same as bankers. Is it because people are more positively, directly affected by these companies, whereas the banking sector, it is more difficult to understand the positive impacts they have?

I'm probably not the best person to defend Wall Street, but I will anyway because I find it fun to be a contrarian and bail outs and 'shady get rich schemes' are really getting blown out of proportions.

Let's be clear here: what is gambling in Finance? The gambling you're talking about is essentially betting if the market is going to go up or down. Why make these bets? Because people like you who have 401ks want their assets to appreciate. You want your money to double, triple in the next 5 years or so. It is what you want, so financiers provide you with these seemingly 'risky' bets. Remember, Finance is a zero sum game. One person wins, the other person loses. If one person bets the market will go up with your 401ks and if the market does go up, he/she will profit, while somewhere else in the world, another person does the exact opposite and bets against the market -- he/she will lose.

And to beat the dead horse again, the housing market disaster was partly due to people who took on adjustable rate mortgages, allowing them to purchase homes they cannot afford, while knowing full well (at least they should've) of the risks associated with these mortgages. Bankers never act in such a way without informing their clients first. Yes, there are brokers out there who don't necessarily have their clients' interest in mind first, but the clients will always be informed before any decisions are made.

As for bail outs, I am pretty sure no one (or at least not most people) profited from having their firm/company fail and effectively being laid off. The bail outs was an act of lender of last resort, they are meant to save, not help. Yes, there are probably people who still walk out handsomely paid for their many years of service, and some may argue they are undeserving of their severance packages, but it's not like their intentions were to cause a financial meltdown. And I'm not sure if you guys know that AIG (one of the largest insurance companies in the world) was bailed out in the financial crisis. Do you have any idea what it would have been like if AIG failed? So, bail outs are necessary.

So what does Wall Street do? Well, I'll talk about investment banks since they've been getting a beat down lately. They are no longer allowed to do proprietary trading (i.e. trading with their own assets), but before that, they made a lot of their money from loans. Loans to people who start ambitious, successful companies. Companies that make your every day lives a little easier. Without these investment banks, these companies would not get the capital (money) needed for advertisement, inventories, research and development, etc.

Anyway, I hope that helps. As for tax evasion and all those stuff, well, that's a problem for the regulators/people who write up those tax codes. If you allow holes in the system, people will take advantage of it. Half my class in high school 'cheated' on their tests by using previous tests from the same teacher (which ended up being identical), so the class average was about 85%. Are we all immoral brats? Maybe. But it's the saying of work smart, not hard.

P.S.
Before I get hate mail: I am a poor pre-medical student living off of loans. I live in the 'ghettos' and I do not live in the USA. In addition, doctors here get paid a fixed rate, so don't think I'll go upping my patient rates for a quick buck. I wonder how many were quick to judge, hmm...

P.S. #2
It seems like the Wall Street topic, should've been the main topic of this thread. It seems like it gets a lot more people riled up (not surprisingly). Well, another thing I wanted to get off my chest is that why do people 'despise' those who drive expensive, exotic cars. If I pay $280,000 for a bright red Ferrari 458, will I immediately be labelled as a douche? Really? I cannot simply just love cars, and hearing the exhaust note all the time, is like having a symphony playing my favourite piece wherever I go? Why should I use that money on charity and trying to feed the poor? Who the hell tries to get rich to feed the poor? I spent hundreds of hours volunteering/helping high school students, but never is 'helping/feeding the poor' on my list.

I never got how the Libor scandal would harm clients directly though. Indirectly, maybe, but it's not like the bankers were trying to purposely screw over their clients. Sure, they cheated, but it is because they were able to. I cheated on a math test because it was easy and was the 'smart' thing to do. Regulators knew about Libor and the problems associated with it. Your secretary of treasury Timothy Geithner knew about it years ago, but his reaction was only lukewarm.

Companies pay money for lobbyists because they simply cannot perform as well in an incredibly heavy regulated system. There are good regulations like making banks heavily capitalized -- in case if there's ever a shock, they would still have cash on hand, but other regulations will prevent them from growing/competing with foreign companies. No one wants another crisis, it is bad for them as much as it is bad for you and me.

Anyway, that's all from me. I'm not sure what to say about lobbyists (I guess regulators are just as 'bad' as bankers if they - the rule makers - are influenced by money) or bankers hiding the fine print (which is illegal by the way, so it really is a problem that people don't bother to read the fine prints or don't ask for a 2nd opinion in order to truly understand them). We all seem like we have different views, and like the people I've tried bickering with on Youtube, it is just a fight not worth fighting for. Because at the end of the day, people will be influenced by money, and if the price is right, people are incentivize to cheat.

You can even say, America was built by cheaters/thieves, and that is what makes America so successful. The people who are 'smart' enough to find the holes in the system are able to be the first to take advantage of it, enabling them to get further ahead than other people/countries. And if they do well, chances are you as the lower class, will too. So, honestly, I just say let the system run its course. The USA will not implode or anything, and they'll keep coming up on top if they find more ways to 'cheat'. The expansion of 2001-2007 was partially due to the housing market booming thanks to seemingly cheap mortgages. People's main equity/net worth lies in their homes, and with such big houses, people were willing to spend, regardless of whether they can 'afford to' or not. So, it must be nice to look with hindsight saying the bankers are 'robbing' from us, but during the go-go days, people must have thought it was nice to be able to afford their dream homes. So, at the end of the day, bankers are just finding opportunities that are presented to them. No banker is out to 'get you', they are just doing their job. Sometimes their job benefits you, other times, not so much. It's no reason to hate them for that. Caterpillar, the large construction equipment company basically shut down a whole company because they simply could not oblige to the union's demands. Are all Caterpillar heads scumbags and assholes? No. They might have left hundreds of workers jobless, but there are still hundreds of thousands employed elsewhere.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, stop with the hate. It is pointless and tasteless. They are just doing their job, trying to make the most of it, and I think the 'haters' should begin to do the same. Go get a job, do well in it, and just let America continue to grow and prosper. The Finance sector only became a hot debate in the recent years because they were more directly associated with the crisis. However, we've had dozens of recessions throughout the decades, and the Finance sector has always been there doing similar things. Yet, America has always come out on top. So, people (especially those in Occupy Wall Street) should just go on their way, better themselves, their jobs, their lifestyle, and stay out of a heated debate that will never end. Why am I not able to find successful people on OWS? Because capitalism, and the free market, is what allowed them to be successful. Medical students are able to become doctors because banks are able to provide loans to people like me, who need substantial amounts of money to study.

Again, sorry for the long winded reply. It was fun writing (even though I seem to be all over the place).
And just some fun reads:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/dont-break-up-the-big-banks.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States