The Rich, Wealthy, 1%.........

[brewer]

I've noticed that quite a few of the posters here harbor animosity toward the rich, wealthy, 1 percenter's ........... I've got a good feel for the 1%. Do any of you have a number in mind for the rest? What do you consider rich, wealthy? Do you have a sliding scale for the level of animosity, i.e. 500K=OK, 5mil=irritating, 10mil=disgust and so on?

[Pyrrho]

I can only speak for myself. It is not based purely on the amount of money someone has. It has to do with how they get it and what they do with it. And given the way that many get rich by taking advantage of other people, the animosity is well-earned.

[Regina]

I just think it's how willing the wealthy are to share and help poorer people out.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to hang onto some expendable income and spend some money on yourself, especially if you've really worked hard all your life for it. However, I have a problem with people who have employees they insist on paying minimum wage, when they themselves earn more money than they can ever possibly spend. Would it kill you to cut your income just a bit to give your employees (who your business would sink without) a wage they can live more sustainably on? Probably not.

[Minimalist]

To a certain degree it depends on which rich scum-sucking pig you are talking about.

These two?  Fuck 'em.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/28...s-About-It

The Koch Brothers are About to Destroy Veterans' Health Care and No One Knows About It

Miller and Rubio's proposals - H.R. 1994 and S. 1082 - would do away with those vital rights with the stroke of a pen. They do nothing to address the current $2.5 billion funding shortfall facing the VA; they do nothing to add new hospital beds or fill vacant positions. Their proposal instead would make every VA employee - doctors, nurses, benefit claims processors - at-will employees who can be fired at any time with little to no recourse.  

But Miller and Rubio are not alone in pushing this dangerous agenda; they are doing so with the full backing of a "veterans organization" called Concerned Veterans of America, which was recently exposed as a Koch Brothers-funded front group in a scathing report. Unlike other veterans groups, CVA lobbies aggressively to privatize the health care veterans fought for, gut the rights of VA workers, and reduce veterans' benefits in the name of smaller government. 

[AFTT47]

I admire some of them: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos. Scum bags like the Kock's, Sheldon Addison, Mitt Romney - not so much. It's a difference between those who have an agenda which helps their fellow humans vs. those who are simple, capitalistic predators.

[The Valkyrie]

It's not the money, I think, so much as what they do with it.

Bill gates and others give away billions to charity.  Others just seem to try to deny rights to others to make themselves richer.

[Minimalist]

Lewis Black 2008

And the people he blasts were amateurs compared to the scumbags who are running this country into the ground today.

[brewer]

Tell me if I'm wrong. It sounds like these people are OK as long as they 1) don't step on people/employees while they make their money and/or 2) use at least some of their money for good once they have accumulated their wealth.

Whats the position on Andrew Carnegie (kind of brutal while gathering/philanthropist after it had been gathered)?

The Kennedys? Made their money from illegal bootlegging. Where do they stand?

How about Mark Zuckerberg? Didn't he step on a few people on the way up?

Donald Trump? Forget his politics, I know he's a wack job mentally but doesn't appear to have stepped on people while gathering and he has charities. Is his wealth OK?

How about inherited wealth? Lets say two generations removed. Why are these persons on the shit list?

[Mister Agenda]

Most of the 1% started small businesses and ran them for decades while living within their means and winding up comfortable. Most of the 1% are near the bottom of the 1%. Maybe we should save our animosity for the .0001%, since they're the ones usually brought up as examples. There are around 8 million millionaires in the USA and most of them are worth less than 5 million.

[Pyrrho]

Tell me if I'm wrong. It sounds like these people are OK as long as they 1) don't step on people/employees while they make their money and/or 2) use at least some of their money for good once they have accumulated their wealth.

...

Also:

3) They don't do evil things or spend their money doing evil things (like lobbying to get lower taxes on the rich, cut aid to poor people, etc.).

Now, the number of rich people who are going to not be involved in at least one of those is going to be vanishingly small.  Not an empty set, but damn near empty.

Many people like Bill Gates.  But that fucker spoke out against raising the minimum wage.  He is another rich motherfucker who does not mind if people work for starvation wages.  His attitude is, he has his, and fuck you poor people!

And that is what many rich people are like.  They are not content to simply enjoy what they have, but are active in trying to keep poor people down.  That makes them scum.