This kind of worship of the 1% is really not healthy- and I am telling you that as someone who is reasonably well off currently, thank God. I am not sure if I would count in the top 1%, but I would guess I'm pretty close. I have my own business which is thankfully doing very well.
But I have also been in some really bad situations. When people see me now, they get this attitude like I'm some kind of superhuman being. But I remember back when I wasn't doing so hot people would look at me like some kind of subhuman being. Having seen it from both perspectives, I find that kinda funny- because I am the same person: same beliefs, work ethic, etc.... It's just that I have come to see how contingent success can be. Certainly intelligence, initiative, and hard work have a lot to do with it. But there's so much more: opportunities since childhood, connections, education, who your parents are, the political and economic stability of the country you happen to live in, etc, etc... To ascribe someone's success entirely to their individual self is very naive.
Wouldn't it be nice to have policies in place that increase and maximize everyone's opportunities to reach their full potential, rather than just those lucky enough to be born into it or stumble across it?
You're not hurting me by having policies in place to create a more stable and just society with more opportunities for everyone. In fact, that's helping me in the long run. I think Warren Buffett expressed this sentiment best:
""OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places."
-Warren Buffett
______________
Recently, Obama, who is thought to have a personal fortune of around $70 mil, expressed the same sentiment:
““I think they can afford it. We can afford it. I put myself in this category now.
You’re talking about us stepping up and spending money on providing childcare tax credits. Making those permanent to help families, who for a long time, have needed help.
You’re looking at making our infrastructure function more efficiently ... you’re talking about rebuilding a lot of buildings, roads, bridges, ports so that they are fortified against climate change. And also, that we start investing in the kinds of energy efficiency that’s going to be required to battle climate change.”
-Barack Obama
____________________
And here is JFK expressing the same sentiment decades ago:
"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
______________________
Stop worshipping the rich. We're not THAT special.
