04-07-2016, 10:57 AM
This is a tough topic. I hope to be in the same boat as you someday, mike, with a lot of income and assets keeping me any my family safe and comfortable. (And I think that I am on the way!)
I think that the vast majority of Americans are comfortable with a fair amount of wealth inequality. It is in our DNA as Americans, and that inequality is fundamental to the entrepreneurial spirit of the country and the ideas you note -- that anyone can work hard to get ahead. Indeed, for the past fifty years or so there seems to have been very little discontent on this front.
But even I -- as an aspiring rich person -- have to concede that wealth inequality has gotten really out of hand in recent decades. (Watch this video!) The people who are motivated to bash the rich are not necessarily lazy. I completely understand the frustration of working hard and seeing no forward movement in your life. It does feel more and more like the common folk are just commodities to further enrich the holders of capital. Improving the distribution of wealth and improving personal incomes throughout all levels of society would (I think) go a really long way towards improving the economy. Is that inconsistent with my own interests as an aspiring rich person? I'm not sure. But I suspect not.
I don't think people upset about these issues see you as the enemy. I think their ire is more directed at the uber-wealthy, at Wall Street, at big corporations, and especially financial firms.
I think that the vast majority of Americans are comfortable with a fair amount of wealth inequality. It is in our DNA as Americans, and that inequality is fundamental to the entrepreneurial spirit of the country and the ideas you note -- that anyone can work hard to get ahead. Indeed, for the past fifty years or so there seems to have been very little discontent on this front.
But even I -- as an aspiring rich person -- have to concede that wealth inequality has gotten really out of hand in recent decades. (Watch this video!) The people who are motivated to bash the rich are not necessarily lazy. I completely understand the frustration of working hard and seeing no forward movement in your life. It does feel more and more like the common folk are just commodities to further enrich the holders of capital. Improving the distribution of wealth and improving personal incomes throughout all levels of society would (I think) go a really long way towards improving the economy. Is that inconsistent with my own interests as an aspiring rich person? I'm not sure. But I suspect not.
I don't think people upset about these issues see you as the enemy. I think their ire is more directed at the uber-wealthy, at Wall Street, at big corporations, and especially financial firms.