The rich and affluent: why hate them?

I don't think anybody hates rich people because...they're rich, or succsessful. Bill Gates is a much loved individual and he's about as rich as it gets.

The problem is that some rich people, despite living far within their means, making millions in profits every year and essentially blowing it on things to make themselves look richer than each other, would rather not pay a little extra in taxes to help finance the U.S. deficit. Not only that, but they find sneaky ways to avoid paying as much on taxes as possible, and hire people to find loopholes in tax laws to do so. Look at Mitt Romney for example, he had tax havens set up and as a result barely paid shit. Those are the rich people that others have a problem with. Those who just want to be rich and "fuck everyone else". The selfish bastards. :)

I don't give a damn about how much money someone has and how they live their life. Frankly they could flaunt their wealth as much as they want and I could put up with it, ditto for them holding onto their money or looking down on me.

What I can't forgive is the rich using their money to subvert democracy, buying out the Congress and Senate one representative at a time, drowning legislation with their lobbyist, drowning us in their propaganda and corrupting the establishment by setting up "revolving doors" (if you make or enforce laws in a way beneficial to business, you'll have a very good job waiting at the end of your term) that ensure that being corrupt is the career choice for anyone in politics.

...in one sentence (that's not a run-on catastrophe) I can't stand the rich trying to rule us with their money and make our life a living hell. ('Cause that's how proles at the mercy of big capital live).

Earlier, I have read a blog post related to this topic and them posting pictures of themselves having a good time. I don't dive a fuck at them having a good time, but they can at least minimize their posting of "status symbols" that creates envy in the hearts of those who view the photos.

You can read the article here.

Like I said, it doesn't mean anything. Just putting a few simple facts out there, I wasn't implying anything.

Compassion and humility can only develop through adversity. It is very difficult to truly understand these concepts when most of your life, you had everything you needed/wanted.

I myself do not hate people with money. I hate undeserving, corrupt people with money. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to get used to having money, even if you earned it the right way. When you get used to having money, you begin to expect it. From then on, it is a landslide into greater sins than just greed.

I don't think it's a simple matter of hate. Being classified "rich" doesn't directly warrant hate. It's the perception that the rich benefits at the expense of the poor that causes so. Mismanagement of funds, over exaggerating one's financial gains to drive the stock market, misleading home owners with below-market home loan rates and lowering requirements for home loans despite common sense, for the sake of competing with rival firms (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, I'm pointing at you guys)...these are the things that all of us, rich or poor, should be angry at.

Another issue that comes to mind, courtesy of the recent election season, is the torrent of data that show the rich paying less tax than the average American. This again is not an issue of hate; it's an issue of fairness and how we define it. Hating the rich won't do anything to the status quo. Bridging the inequality gap through more efficient redistribution of tax dollars will.

Anytime someone suggests something like this a lot of the rich(and the politicians they have brought and paid for) start screaming about socialism. Of course socialism is a far more complex thing than raising the tax rate of the wealthiest by a small percentage, but that doesn't stop the from bringing it up every time someone suggests maybe some things need to change

Yes, politicians tend to misconstrue redistribution of tax dollars and redistribution of wealth. Both are totally different. The latter is outright socialism; directly taking money from the rich and then distributing it among the less fortunate. Tax in itself is payment for the goods and services a government provide (e.g. police protection, fire prevention, highway construction). But I digress. My point still stands; hating the rich won't solve anything, it's the inequality gap and the sense that fairness towards all citizens has become a myth of the past that fuel this hatred.

"How come they can achieve so much by giving up so little while I am working my ass off just to put food on the table"

"I have done so much good deeds but nothing good ever happens to me, and these assholes are getting all the riches in this world while they are killing it"

one word really, envy

It's a natural instinct, I guess. Humans are just another species of mammals. We naturally have competition within our species, just like any other. The rich and affluent can be viewed as the hippo with larger jaws or the bird with a larger beak. They're competition.

These are the 2013 tax rates for those filing "Single" according to the
IRS

$0 - 8,925 = 10%
8,925 - 36,250 = 15%
36,250 - 87,850 = 25%
87,850 - 183,250 = 28%
183,250 - 398,350 = 33%
398,350 - 400,000 = 35%
400,000+ = 39.6%

Everyone who pays income tax will be taxed the same rate within a threshold. Every dollar you earn up to 8,925 will be taxed at 10% regardless if you only earn 8,925 or $100,000,000. Then in the next threshold every dollar will be taxed at 15% and so on so forth. So every dollar more than 400,000 you earn is taxed at 39.6% at the Federal level. Then you have to take into account if a state has an income tax itself (such as Georgia). If you live in new York which has an maximum income tax rate of 8.97% and earn over $500,000 the combined income tax rate you'll pay is 48.57%.

For the State of Georgia which has an income tax of 6% over $7,000 that means they pay an income tax rate of 16,21,31,34,39,41,45.6% respectively.

There's not really a reason to hate someone who put effort into attempting to keep more of the money they've rightfully earned.



People tend to support the idea because it's not their money. People like "free money" and politicians like votes. So, politicians like taxing those who don't vote for them to then use the money to buy more votes for themselves.

When you say that someone should pay a higher tax rate than you. You are saying that they are less entitled to fruits of their labor than you to your own. The only argument I hear for higher taxes is "they have enough" which is just a subjective statement because nobody can objectively state that X% is the correct amount.

The entire income tax system has become a political tool that has given rise to a bureaucracy and an industry that drains millions if not billions of dollars of time, energy and money from society.

[color=#2e1a6b]Holy crap taxes are high

Do these numbers include investment profits or social security?

Yes but, some types of income are subject to tax exemption, such as interest on municipal bonds, a portion of Social Security benefits, certain types of investments (Roth IRA's), life insurance proceeds to name a few.

To be fair, there are various tax credits & deductions you can apply for including Child credit (up to $1,000), Child and dependent care credit (up to $6,000 if income is below 15,000), Earned Income Tax Credit among others.

that girl.... good lord I have no words for that.....

I know coming from a privilaged family I got a lot of greif for having money. My family isn't like mansion ritch or anything but both PHDs and work at the university so they wete paid a very good salery. I never got a car or to go on fancy trips though I had my tuition for Cosmotology school and University paid for.

I can't speak about the folks who make corporate saleries who live the lavish life besides that I have some ethical concerns to how tthey spend money. I think soly because you have money does not meen you are above other human beings and visa versa... so that being said being ritch alone is not something you should dislike about a person. there are plenty of people who worked hard and went from making pennies to millions, ritch people can be hard workers as well.

I agree a lot with your comment about "spending there money like water". When you throw away such a valueable thing for nothing it turns my insides. yes buy a 20, 000 dollar coat you may feel you have earned it but consider where that money will go and why you choose to spend it there...and person who sold 20, 000 dollar coat invest that in something worth while besides a 40, 000 dollar coat. its the spenders mentality the arrogant ritch people have that is so awful.

I think "hating on" on wealthy/rich people JUST for the soul reason of them being wealthy/rich, is stupid.
Disliking them because of their attitude is different. I have a few goods friends of mine who are wealthy/rich, and they still act as kind humans, and aren't arrogant dick heads.
But anyone can be an arrogant dick head, not just the arrogant rich dick heads, ya know.
I do find that some people get a moreso overbearing ignorant attitude sometimes because they are rich, and that is annoying, and is a reason for people to dislike them, but just because they have money does not mean you should dislike them, it's petty.

Why don't you do some research on the rare species called "Plutocrats" that proclaim themselves to be the voice of the 1%.


Companies like Apple and other companies take their businesses/jobs over seas for cheaper labor, and import their products to the US. There by bleeding America dry in exchange for being able to keep as much as they can, what little money they do spend goes out of the US to over sea countries.

Companies like Foxconn,
if you ignore everything and simply look at this system. It says "this is what we want, slave labor". They promote and sustain these kind of environments demanding nothing less.



Also bullshit on "they can't survive" with the current or even proposed tax rate considering they had a much harder one 20-30 years ago with huge economic growth.


Companies like Hostess that went bankrupt in 2006 (I think) who was bailed out after agreeing everyone would take pay cuts and that they wouldn't make the same mistakes, to, just last year, make the same mistakes. The top brass were lining their wallets with raises while they reached bankruptcy again, this time demanding their workers take pay cuts and that all their pensions be striped in order to make up for the bankruptcy.

Gambling wasn't so much the problem, it's how big the gambles were, that was. They bet more than they could afford and drove themselves into bankruptcy, then demanded to be bailed out holding the economy hostage. After they were bailed out, they repeated the bull crap. A lot of companies, now, are buying up multiple small companies just for that kind of leeway. They know they can make risk, crash, and expect the American tax dollar to bail them out with a 0% interest loan.

AIG bank, that you defended so strongly.


Merging Boom...

Mitt Romney, "the face of the 1%", really did a number on public opinion. A rich man who has no care in the world beyond his vast riches and need for war fought by everyone else. Who couldn't be bother to care about the average Joe for longer than 5 mins. This is what the world see's him as... yes, over seas too...



and



The guy gets away with paying 12% in taxes per year...

These a number of reasons why the 1% is hated, I am well aware not all of them are these kind of people, but the ones portrayed in media outlets, the ones who talk, the ones who get their way.... Are people like these, even Rupert Murdoch and his ownership of Fox, just breeds more distrust.

For everything there is the good,the bad,the very very ugly and the very ugly has screwed over the us and if you know of the movie "trading places" with Dan ackroyd(while its a great movie)its basically what happened but for millions more and we are at the part with wanting them to taste a bit of their medicine and i know a few rich people and have nothing against them but when you use your resorces to screw people over somethings gotta give

and who honestly needs billions anyways i would just settle with having 10 million just buy simple and functional things and save the rest in the back/or just give random people in the street money

Your point? Look at the percentage who who don't even pay income tax and yet you complain about someone else paying 12% when roughly half of the country are net tax consumers as opposed to net tax payers.



You probably don't even pay income tax. If you do, it's probably some paltry amount.

Answer me this; Why are people like Mitt Romney and the other "1%" less entitled to the fruits of their labor than you are?