Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's disgusting. Off the Oscars topic, when I read how much money Gary Cohn of the Trump administration makes, it almost made me sick. No individual person should have that much money. It really seems immoral to me.

Immoral? OMG. How much Gary Cohn makes has no effect on my life. Why should I care?

No OP. Be grateful for what you have. If you want more things, get a second job.

No. Just as poor people don’t bother me. Life is too short to resent a whole class of people or let stuff like this bother me.

I feel fortunate for my family and friends and am generally a happy person

"privilege."

What is it about that word?

I don't know how I feel about this.

I had very little growing up and have had to work for everything I have. It always bothered me to have to be in school wiht people who had college, their apartments, etc. paid for, internships waiting for them, etc. To get the same or even a fraction of what was available to them, I had to work my ass off. I didn't begrudge them for it but it was a tough pill to swallow.

I see a lot of these folks acting as if they had to work for what they have. But, in truth, their family's money gave them a HUGE leg up in terms of saving for their own wealth (you get a leg up with no student loans to pay) and opportunities.

So, the folks who have a sense of entitlement based on the fact that they are entitled is what bothers me.

I also have issues with the utter greed that is apparent with many wealthy people. No such thing as too much money, too expensive of cars, etc. If they gave back even a little to benefit others . . . . (some do, yes, I know). The "only benefit me and my family" mentality is pretty gross to me. I do pretty well but would not consider myself "rich" now and we give a lot of ourselves -money and volunteering- to charities. I think all people of means should (morally, not legally).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I learned that Oscan nominees will receive goody bags worth 100k tonight. I understand that they’re hard working and deserve their success and riches but I think 100k in gifts for already very wealthy individuals is so excessive.


I grew up middle class but my parents made a lot of sacrifices to send me to a private school with Uber rich kids. That was hard. Just seeing how easy life was for them and how privileged they were.

I don’t know why I feel almost...resentful? Even though of course it’s theirblife and they should enjoy it. It just bugged me how they were in a bubble and assumed their life was normal.

Hollywood is full of typical liberals. Everyone but themselves should share the fruits of their labor with the poor.
If they really wanted to do something about gun violence, they would stop making movies such as Die Hard and Rambo.

+1. Ditto for environmental policy. Everyone else should live in tiny homes and fly coach but they can own and maintain four extra homes and fly private jets.

Yes, it's disgusting. Off the Oscars topic, when I read how much money Gary Cohn of the Trump administration makes, it almost made me sick. No individual person should have that much money. It really seems immoral to me.

Anonymous wrote:If I hear that ancient phrase “he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple” I think I’ll scream. It’s no more clever now that it was 50 years ago.

How about the lucky sperm club?

If I hear that ancient phrase “he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple” I think I’ll scream. It’s no more clever now that it was 50 years ago.

In the immortal words of Groucho Marx, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and rich is better.”

I pay no attention to what others have and get. I'm happy with my life. Love my husband and kids, have a warm home, roof over my head and food in my belly. No complaints.

Comparison is the thief of Joy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I learned that Oscan nominees will receive goody bags worth 100k tonight. I understand that they’re hard working and deserve their success and riches but I think 100k in gifts for already very wealthy individuals is so excessive.


I grew up middle class but my parents made a lot of sacrifices to send me to a private school with Uber rich kids. That was hard. Just seeing how easy life was for them and how privileged they were.

I don’t know why I feel almost...resentful? Even though of course it’s theirblife and they should enjoy it. It just bugged me how they were in a bubble and assumed their life was normal.

I knew a teacher that constantly ranted about the kids in his class had more things than he and his wife had. All I could think was damn, get another job. He called the kids snotty little rich monsters that deserved nothing. He deserved it all.

He's still teaching and probably still full of hate.

Don't envy. It's an ugly wasteful emotion.

Was he a teacher at "CMS"?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I’m in the minority but I just don’t feel this way. I grew up poor, now make more money than I thought possible, and have always viewed the wealthy as people who have something I can learn. I’m not at all like the cynical pp who thinks that only the wealth can get/stay wealthy. Really rich people are an inspiration.

Me, too. It's interesting to me that most of the resentment being expressed here is from people who grew up UMC around generational wealth. I think it's because the UMC kids are entitled, themselves, and it makes them furious to find out that there are people who were given more. If you grow up poor, you realize that you're not entitled to anything. If you grew up UMC in New York, you're probably not going to know many people who moved up in life, because you're already so near the top. The "rich" people in my home town were poorer than the "middle class" people in DC. I know lots of people who are better off than their parents, because I know people who grew up poor or lower middle class. Yes, luck is part of it, but they all worked extremely hard, because they realized that they had no room for error, and no one was going to give them anything.

+1

I hope I know you IRL. You get it.

Thank you. It's something I worry about, because my dc is now one of those UMC kids.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most very rich people have done immoral things to become wealthy. I don't envy people like that. I have things that they don't.

- my wife loves me not my money
- I have had one wife
- I know who my true friends are and aren't
- my kids have a good work ethic, responsible and respect a dollar
- no one has ever tried to sue me
- no one hates me for screwing them over
- my customers are happy to see me
- I sleep well at night

I am rich in life.

I started out with nothing and built a business that has made me wealthy. I can check the same boxes you posted.

Then go run your business and stop wasting time on here being a smug asshole.

How am I being a smug asshole? By mentioning I’m wealthy?

No, by refusing to acknowledge that, in addition to a lot of hard work, at least some good luck factored into your success.

-You born with the amount of intelligence required to be a smart businessperson? That was good luck.
-Did you ever have a teacher/relative/boss/neighbor along the way whocame into your life & inspired you? That was good luck.
-Were you free of a serious illness (excluding those entirely related to lifestyle) that would have taken you out of the workforce for a significant amount of time during your young 20s &/or 30s (ie your prime "career building" years)? If not, that was good luck.
Do you have any serious psychological illnesses that effect or have ever effected your ability to fuction (including work) on a day-to-day basis? If not, that's good luck.
Etc, etc, etc...

Where do you see me not saying some luck plays a role? The post I replied to says most rich people have done immoral things, and the poster has a list of things he can point to that are positives in his life. I pointed out, I can check those same positive things. You decided I was a smug asshole for some reason by reading into my answer. I never said luck is not a factor. You seem to have a lot of hatred for others, why is that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I’m in the minority but I just don’t feel this way. I grew up poor, now make more money than I thought possible, and have always viewed the wealthy as people who have something I can learn. I’m not at all like the cynical pp who thinks that only the wealth can get/stay wealthy. Really rich people are an inspiration.

Me, too. It's interesting to me that most of the resentment being expressed here is from people who grew up UMC around generational wealth. I think it's because the UMC kids are entitled, themselves, and it makes them furious to find out that there are people who were given more. If you grow up poor, you realize that you're not entitled to anything. If you grew up UMC in New York, you're probably not going to know many people who moved up in life, because you're already so near the top. The "rich" people in my home town were poorer than the "middle class" people in DC. I know lots of people who are better off than their parents, because I know people who grew up poor or lower middle class. Yes, luck is part of it, but they all worked extremely hard, because they realized that they had no room for error, and no one was going to give them anything.

I’m the pp you’re responding to. Good point! Growing up poor, EVERYONE had more than me. Only a few people had less. So I didn’t focus in on the rich as a target to hate. On the contrary, by high school I was hanging out with rich (not UMC- rich) kids from a few private schools. They had no problem showing me the ropes and they explained why I should have hope for my future. I don’t harbor any resentment at all- I am grateful. A lot of rich people are more than happy to help other people figure out how to get ahead.

Showing you what “ropes”? How to seek a disbursement from the trust to pay for law school? Those are the rich kid ropes. I know because I was one. None of my rich friends had any additional smarts or savvy. They did, however, have a line in with the good internships.

DP. The 'ropes' must have been how to score blow and which champagne brands to order.