The basic problem with the 1%

[lapfog_1]

millionaires and billionaires...

They honestly think they did something to earn their wealth... I mean they really believe that they are special... smarter, better, harder working, something...

There are a few that may actually be smarter or harder working... but most were either born into it or lucked their way into being wealthy.

I have a few job offers (that I kept) from Silicon Valley success stories... I keep them because of the stock options they offered me... each of the three I've kept would have make me millions (10s of millions if I had timed the market right). There were others from other tech firms that are completely worthless. At the time the offers were made, no one could tell which was the magic money maker and which were dogs.

I've read so many stories in recent days like this http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-donald-trump-vice-president-2015-7 where the article exudes this total lack of awareness on HOW Mark Cuban made billions. He got lucky. And Trump started life with a silver spoon jammed down his throat.

I'm not jealous of them... in fact I sort of pity them for their complete lack of understanding how lucky they really are... and their resulting loss of any human feelings.

[hfojvt]

1. well most of the legendary 1% are not billionaires

on the other hand, my own parents might be close to a millionaire - at least on paper.

Okay, I got the number 10.1 million millionaires, before I got swarmed by an ad. They define it different. They do not count the value of the primary residence, so my parents are out, unless they sell their property and downsize.

That is about 0.085% of households.

It's kinda hard though to make sweeping generalizations about 10.1 million people. That's like twice the population of Kansas already, not including their spouses and kids. You think there is some kind of Rubicon where somebody with $984,000 in assets is a normal human being, but if they get another $16,000 their soul gets sucked away? You think everybody with $800,000 in financial net worth is a decent human being?

[leftofcool]

2. Wow!

So I guess that small business owner who has finally arrived never had to work hard for it. Or the millionaire football player never hard to work hard or train hard for his job.

[hughee99]

3. Excellent point! Someone needs to remind Oprah, Michael Moore, Bob Dylan,

Bruce Springsteen, and of course presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton that they didn't do anything to earn their wealth and they are not special.

[HughBeaumont]

4. The problem doesn't so much reside in their perceived work ethic -

In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find even several people who deny their hard work and drive.

The problem resides in two factors:

1. The wealthy ones who steadfastly deny (and when I say "steadfastly", I mean that in great emphasis) that privilege, patronage, public resources or just plain good luck had anything whatsoever to do with their successes, or factored in tandem with their hard work.

2. Their perpetuation of the myth that "anyone can be successful if they just worked hard enough and wanted it bad enough", which contradicts their other favorite saying: "Despite what the Declaration of Independence tells you, not all persons are created equal".

[KentuckyWoman]

5. You are wrong about Mark Cuban.

I've seen interviews where he clearly understood how fortunate he is and feels an extra sense of responsibility because of it. From what I can see he backs that up. I disagree with many of his views but he's certainly not the boogie man.

My point is that it's not wealth itself that is a bad thing. It's the predator mentality. You've got a whole host of very wealthy people who are well aware the system is rigged and also want to change that. You've got even more very wealthy people who do indeed think they are just better than the rest of us and earned every penny with no one else's help. Those are the ones who are offended at being asked to pay anything to the society that supports them.

So lets not tar and feather everyone. Please.

[lapfog_1]

7. he is backing trump.

plus, 10 years ago he used to play heaqds up Texas holdem with 1 selected poker pro... they all lined up to take his money ($10M was put up by both players).

And I didn't say that every wealthy person was unfeeling... but with examples like "pharma bro" running around...

[brooklynite]

6. Care to provide any evidence at all?

There are a few that may actually be smarter or harder working... but most were either born into it or lucked their way into being wealthy.

My wife works long hours as a lawyer and makes 7 figures. She didn't inherit anything. And I know of lot of others who do the same.

Do you have any statistics to support your assertion that most 1%ers inherit or "luck into" their money? Or is this just your lazy supposition?

[a kennedy]

8. Now how bout this guy.....Jerry Seinfeld is selling 16 PORSCHES!!!!!!!

He made his money........

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/luxury/2016/02/19/jerry-seinfeld-porsche/index.html

[imanamerican63]

9. There is man that I admire for being a rich man.

Warren Buffett started delivery papers at a very young age, learn how to be responsible for what he earned. His is genuine, thoughtful in every sense of the word and stays out of the news for the most part. He knows that it is not right that he pays less in taxes then his own employees. I know a couple people who have and who are still working for him. They have only good things to say about him. Yes, he is wealthy, but is modest about he does busy.

[ileus]

10. Most of the millionaires I know are Doctors...they seem pretty smart.

I only know one millionaire banker, I pity him because he work 12-14 hour days. But he has coached my son to some of his best Rec League baseball seasons.

And I know maybe 3-5 millionaire small business owners....I pity them because their whole lives are wrapped around keeping their businesses going. Most all of them are only millionaires on paper.

I also know 2 or 3 farmers with million buck plus farms, I really pity these because they're married to keeping the farm from the bank.


The docs are generally assholes, but the others are for the most part good people that do work hard.

[hifiguy]

11. It really isn't the people who have even a few million who are the problem.

The ones with hundreds of millions and billions are, however, for the most part a blight on the world.

Money is a lot like blood in the body. When it is circulating freely, the result is health, when it all coagulates in a few places the body dies.

[jwirr]

12. The one and only thing I ever agreed with Nixon on was from

his inauguration. DC was having a garbage workers strike and there was trash lining the streets.

In his speech he talked about wages. His compared to the garbage men. He said that it should have been reversed. He was talking about the real value of the little guy on the bottom doing the vital jobs.

The wages and profits of the rich are inflated beyond reality compared to the rest of us.

[Recursion]

13. Do you feel that way about people who make more than $34K? (The global 1% line)

Or is that only true within a given country.

[moondust]

14. Imagine

if Bill Gates or Steve Jobs had been born 10 years earlier or 10 years later. Does anybody think somebody else wouldn't have come up with a default PC operating system and applications for the business world (see: Gary Kildall), or a handheld device combining several emerging mobile technologies into one including cell phone, touch screen, GPS, etc.?

I've seen a couple very wealthy people who weren't lottery winners admit on TV that much if not all of their "success" was due to luck.

The greater the drift away from meritocracy the greater the danger of incompetence and indifference taking over and making life miserable for everybody.

[hifiguy]

15. There will always be some guy or gal who is in the right place at the right time

and invents a better mousetrap that captures the public's imagination. They're not the problem. It's dynastic wealth that multiplies over time, and the fact that now days crooks, psychopaths and megalomaniacs run a financialized world solely for the benefit of themselves and their cronies. Throw in the idiot winners of the Lucky Sperm Sweepstakes, and our moneyed overlords look a lot like the emptied dregs of a Victorian lunatic asylum.