I've got to credit Neal Boortz with this one. I caught this comment a few weeks back while traveling. With the comments I'm reading on the other thread regarding Dems wanting to punish states who didn't go blue.
There are three main ways people get money in the US.
1. Inherited wealth. Folks don't mind this way so much because many either dream of that rich unknown uncle or accept the fact they weren't born into wealth. So they don't resent the fact people get rich this way. They call it lucky.
2. Sports and movie stars. People don't resent these folks because they see the special talent these folks have (excluding Bruce Willis). Ordinary folks realize they don't have the talent and will never have that talent, so these folks are OK.
3. Then we come to those who work hard, pay attention and actually build wealth out of dedication. These people are to be despised and the force of the government should be sent in there to steal their money. Why? Because jealous people have convinced themselves that the could have done what they did. They only needed to have applied themself a little more. Maybe stayed out of the bars when they were younger. Maybe lived with in their means a little more. So because of this, their greed has driven them to hate successful individuals in the catagory.
GET OVER IT!
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
I'm far from being wealthy. I choose to work in a profession that isn't a high-paying profession. I choose to work in a place that pays below the industry's average. I work my tail off to pay the bills, and operate a small business to pay for my hobbies. I've often thought about how nice it would be to take a few hundred thousand dollars in loans or investments and grow my existing side business or start a new one, but I always come back to the same thing: I have stability and peace of mind now so why risk a good thing?
Meanwhile, I have a friend who was born into a fairly wealthy family. He owns his own business, which he had paid off (as well as his home) by the time he was 35 and was ready to start investing in commercial real estate. He wouldn't be where he was at today if his father before him and his grandfather before him hadn't been successful businessmen who achieved wealth and set the groundwork. But he has also worked hard to get to where he is, paying his own way through college and working weekends while others are golfing or at the lake.
Another friend was blessed with a Midas touch. He, too, got off on the right foot because he inherited his father's wealth. But he's multiplied that wealth a couple of times over because he has a gift for realizing good investment opportunities. To my knowledge he has never invested in anything that has failed (or failed to make him money). He's a little different in that he doesn't really work any harder than the average Joe; he's just smarter than the average Joe...not because of any formal training or schooling, but because he has a knack for good business decisions.
If my mindset were that of some of our friends on the left, I would resent them for having more than I have even though I work as hard (or harder) than they do. I would feel they should pay for my health care and retirement because they can afford it more easily than I can.
I'm a little different, though, in that I realize my choices have led me and my family to where we are today. I'm not a risk-taker. A low-risk comfortable lifestyle is my choosing over a high-risk luxurious lifestyle. Many Americans seem unable to grasp the simple concept that we are what we make of ourselves. Whether it's a smart business plan or good ol' fashioned back-breaking labor or a smart family. (We often forget that someone's inherited wealth is almost always the result of their parents or their parents' parents own smart business plans and back-breaking labor...and however unfair it may seem, we live with the consequences [or rewards] of our parents' actions. That's life.)
It isn't just cliche to say that anyone can be anything they want to be in America. I look around me and see examples of people pulling them up by their bootstraps everywhere I turn. I have to look no further than my father for an example. Born to a Baptist minister and a homemaker mother who scraped by on meager wages, my father didn't get a head start. He worked in the coal industry. When I was a child, I remember when going to McDonald's was a rare treat reserved for payday every now and then. When the coal industry tanked and my father was laid off, we lived on green beans and potatoes raised in our garden because he refused to accept food stamps. I remember him pacing the floors late at night because he didn't know how he was going to make the next house payment or car payment. He could've sat around and envied the rich and voted for political candidates simply because he felt they would make his life better with handouts. Instead, he put his shoulder to the wheel. He would work 10-12 hours a day, then come home and dive into his electricians' books he had purchased. He trained himself to be an electrician, which eventually led him away from the coal mines and into a different field. From there, he continued to work hard until he was a plant manager, and later a senior vice president at another firm. Today he's financially independent. He's no millionaire; not even close. But he can do what he wants to do when he wants to do it.
Want money? Stop envying those who have it and go after it. Sure there are risks involved. But almost everyone who has anything has taken risks to get it. And the good thing about America? If you can dream it up, there's some kind of low-interest government loan or grant to help you get it started. That's the kind of handout I can get behind.
The only rich people I dislike are those who hold it over the heads of those around them. The only rich people who should be scorned or made into a scapegoat for all of America's ills are those who obtained their wealth through wanton disregard for fellow man or through illegal measures. And I assure you there aren't nearly as many of those as some of our friends on the left would have us believe.
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Politics, it seems to me, all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
- athelets/actors, WAY overpaid for the service they provide,
The average American disagrees with you. As long as we're spending $8 on a movie ticket, $100 on a Sunday afternoon football ticket or $199 for a cable package showing every game on the planet, actors and athletes will continue to receive high salaries.
I love sports and I like a good movie, but it never ceases to amaze me how parents who can hardly afford to keep shoes on their children's feet will shell out money for satellite TV or tickets to sporting events. Need entertainment? Take a walk through the woods. It's just as entertaining and a hell of a lot more relaxing.
I agree with you that athletes are overpaid and a lot of them prove through their actions that they don't deserve what they've been blessed with. For that reason, I refuse to watch professional sports. But the average American disagrees with me, too.
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Politics, it seems to me, all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
Good posts here. In summation...inferiority complex is on the nose here. Its easier to hate someone who has busted their hump to get there than to go get it yourself. That way they can blame everyone but themselves and not have to think about why they didnt apply themselves more.
The average American disagrees with you. As long as we're spending $8 on a movie ticket, $100 on a Sunday afternoon football ticket or $199 for a cable package showing every game on the planet, actors and athletes will continue to receive high salaries.
I love sports and I like a good movie, but it never ceases to amaze me how parents who can hardly afford to keep shoes on their children's feet will shell out money for satellite TV or tickets to sporting events. Need entertainment? Take a walk through the woods. It's just as entertaining and a hell of a lot more relaxing.
I agree with you that athletes are overpaid and a lot of them prove through their actions that they don't deserve what they've been blessed with. For that reason, I refuse to watch professional sports. But the average American disagrees with me, too.
Apparently those paying the athletes salaries think they're worth it. There is no gun to their head making them pay the high salaries. They look at the athlete and determine if having him/her on the team will get him the return on his investment he's looking for. If he doesn't think its worth it all he has to do is say no or offer a salary he does think is worth it. I don't think there is a person on here who wouldn't pay somebody 10 million a year if they believed that particular somebody would earn them 12, 15 or more million a year.
I think it is just basic jealousy. They don't have the talent or skills that others are willing to pay big bucks for and they resent those that do. Pretty common human short coming. Most people think they're underpaid and everybody else is overpaid but that kind of thinking only serves to keep them in the situation they're in.
How much is "fair"? 10%? 25%? 75%? If it's fair for the guy making $15,000 a year, then it's fair for the guy making $1,500,000 a year--right? If not, why not? If it's fair for the guy in NY city, then it's fair for the guy in Tupelo, MS--right? If not, why not? If you are making more than I am, then you should be paying me so we're equal--that's only fair, right? If not, why not?
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
but I say max tax of 49-50% is fair, and actually paying half of what you earn, not tax shelters etc...
the disparity of wealth in this country is crazy, CEO's earning 1000X's more than a regular employee is not right, esp when they just ship jobs over seas and reap the benefits of doing so.
everyone in this country should have access to a quality job paying 30-50k/year with a hs education. If this was the case in inner cities, crime would be way down.
I assume few of us on here earn over 250k or 1mil/year, sure we'd all like to, but for the most part it's not going to happen, I find it odd that most Americans earning 50k/year aren't in favor of taxing the rich way more?
Why do folks hate successful people so much?
