Rich People

[opebo]

Just curious.  What is the role of those we all serve?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

How exactly am I serving them right now?

As for the question, as we all know, collective labels are idiotic.

[WalterMitty]

for the most part, option 2.

[Paul Kemp]

Blatantly ignoring the stickied thread eh?

[traininthedistance]

As for the question, as we all know, collective labels are idiotic.

This.  Never thought I'd agree with you so strongly on anything.

[ElectionsGuy]

We should stop dividing people by class. Ultimately all classes have good and bad elements. And complete love or hatred based solely on class is absurd.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Rich people, like all privileged people, need to acknowledge their privilege and do their share to build an egalitarian society. When they fail to do that, they are HP.

[TNF]

Bloodsucking parasites (normal)

[Redalgo]

I agree with Antionio, though if they fail to do their proper part I continue to consider them comrades - ones who have gone awry and are in need of some guidance - rather than HP.

[Franzl]

Depends how they became rich.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I'd say both... some are hard working and have created jobs and wealth for others.

These people are too busy working to have any real say in politics.  So you get the blood sucking parasites who use this other, smaller, group to justify their actions.

[H. Ross Peron]

Depends on their conduct. Its absurd to classify such a broad group of people.

[Indy Texas]

Where did most of the people on this forum come up with their conception of rich people as all gathering in secret rooms at regular intervals to explicitly plot ways to make the lives of everyone else as miserable as possible?

One of my friends in high school's father was the CEO of a major oil and gas pipeline company. I looked his compensation up on their website once and it was in the eight figures when you included bonuses and stock options.

I never heard this guy say a word about anything politically related; looked his name up on Open Secrets and he has never made any campaign contributions. He was in his office at 7 every morning and usually didn't get home until around 7 at night. He didn't spend all day lounging around a country club sipping scotch and wondering what ways he could abuse the employees.

He was just someone who grew up in an ordinary family, went to college, got an engineering degree, and over the years, through a combination of diligence, luck and timing, became a CEO. That doesn't mean he deserves to pay a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. But your caricature of him and people like him as a "blood sucking parasite" has about as much merit and justification as Krazen's characterization of all public employees as "moochers."

[Vosem]

The category is far too broad and ill-defined to ever be defined as one, and both choices are far too narrow. Voted for the second option, but more out of opposition to the first than a belief that the second is universally the case.

[IceSpear]

Where did most of the people on this forum come up with their conception of rich people as all gathering in secret rooms at regular intervals to explicitly plot ways to make the lives of everyone else as miserable as possible?

It's not so much that they're plotting or trying to make people's lives miserable. It's that they don't give a crap if they have to do so in order to increase their bottom line.

Again, not saying all rich people are like that, so this poll is a false dichotomy. I picked "other", as I think most rich people are greedy and need to give back to their country that gave them opportunities more than they do, but not all of them are like that.

[Flake]

Where did most of the people on this forum come up with their conception of rich people as all gathering in secret rooms at regular intervals to explicitly plot ways to make the lives of everyone else as miserable as possible?

One of my friends in high school's father was the CEO of a major oil and gas pipeline company. I looked his compensation up on their website once and it was in the eight figures when you included bonuses and stock options.

I never heard this guy say a word about anything politically related; looked his name up on Open Secrets and he has never made any campaign contributions. He was in his office at 7 every morning and usually didn't get home until around 7 at night. He didn't spend all day lounging around a country club sipping scotch and wondering what ways he could abuse the employees.

He was just someone who grew up in an ordinary family, went to college, got an engineering degree, and over the years, through a combination of diligence, luck and timing, became a CEO. That doesn't mean he deserves to pay a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. But your caricature of him and people like him as a "blood sucking parasite" has about as much merit and justification as Krazen's characterization of all public employees as "moochers."

This sums up my views.

[Sopranos Republican]

Depends how they became rich.

[opebo]

Blatantly ignoring the stickied thread eh?

Not at all.  Definitions of economic class is are functions of all political ideologies.  I'm sure Torie didn't mean to disallow discussion of Marxism in his sticky.

[traininthedistance]

Rich people, like all privileged people, need to acknowledge their privilege and do their share to build an egalitarian society. When they fail to do that, they are HP.

I agree with the first part- that, certainly, the rich are privileged and ought to acknowledge/respect that in their thoughts and attitudes.

I don't know exactly what you mean to say by the second part, but I suspect that I can't really support it as a blanket obligation.  I am unwilling to judge people for devoting their limited time and energy to things other than political action.

[Sec. of State Superique]

Other - a mix of both options!

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't know exactly what you mean to say by the second part, but I suspect that I can't really support it as a blanket obligation.  I am unwilling to judge people for devoting their limited time and energy to things other than political action.

I mean it in a fairly minimalistic way, ie mainly paying their taxes without complaining and not voting for plutocratic parties like the GOP. Giving money to charities is a plus, though not a big one.

[Peter the Lefty]

I'm with Tony here.  I've met too many rich people who are actually nice and well-meaning to label them as blood-sucking parasites (though I accidently voted hard-working job creators in the poll).  No label can apply broadly to a demographic group like that. 

[morgieb]

As for the question, as we all know, collective labels are idiotic.

Depends how they became rich.

These are my views pretty much.

[Mordecai]

Depends on the particular individual. Those who built companies from the ground up and made a product that people wanted while creating jobs are Hard working Job Ceators. Those who inherited their wealth and benefited from the welfare state, then turned around and ed things up for the later generations with trickle-down economics while claiming to have hard-earned every penny, are Bloodsucking parasites.

[PJ]

As I've previously stated, I don't hate the rich, I despise the process in which income inequality can be created. Stereotyping any class is equivalent to stereotyping a race.