Reply to a friend

This is a response to a VERY good friend asking me why I hate rich people.  I have not sent it to him yet, not because I think he is right, but I value his friendship too much.  But I figured I could post it here.  I might still send it, but I am going to let it sit for a while.

Why do I hate these people I do not know?  Well, I don’t hate them.  I am frustrated with them.  I am frustrated that no one will admit that George W. got us into a two wars that were not funded.  I am frustrated that we had a budget surplus and a temporary tax cut was given to the affluent and now we are deficit, but to return the temporary tax cut is called a tax increase.  I am frustrated that I cannot afford insurance.  I am frustrated that Nick has pains, aches, and all kinds of things but we cannot afford insurance for him.  I am angry that jobs are going over seas and none are being formed in the US.  I am angry that I hear, “You just need to work harder.”  I have 10 years of college and I have been working as hard as possible to stay employed.  I am not a slug.  Nick is not a slug.  To suggest that we are in the situation we are in because we are trying to leach off of society is offensive.

Compromise means that both sides will not get everything they want.  Yet, I hear the Republicans being the party of “No.”  If GOP does not get exactly what they want, then they say “No!” and blame it on the President.  When given something that might be good for the country, all we hear is “We don’t want to give the president a victory.”  It is not the president’s victory, it is a victory for the nation.

I hear politicians complaining that after they spend $200,000 on their family of 6 they only have $400,000 left.  $400,000 left for what?  I would gladly pay taxes on the $6 million the guy makes if it meant that when I was done I had $400,000 left over!  What do I have left over after all my taxes and payments?  I am farther in debt than before.  If getting $400,000 of disposable income means that I have to work harder, tell me what that job is.

The job creators out there are not creating jobs.  They are sending jobs to other countries.  Check out the graph I sent on FB, the Koch brothers are becoming richer and richer, but they are not adding jobs to the economy.  Places like HP are hiring temp jobs which don’t involve any kind of benefits, no kind of security.  It is impossible to even get a vacation, not that we could afford it.  While working temp, you try to take a vacation, you end up losing your job.  You have it nice.  You have a stable job.  You have benefits.  You have the luxury of looking at people like me and calling me lazy.  Whether you say it directly or not, to have the comment, “Why do you hate all of these people that you do not even know? Is it because they work hard and are successful?” appears to imply that those of us who are unemployed are not willing to working hard.  I have worked hard and I am still unemployed.

So when I hear the Tea Party talking like it is all my fault, I get angry.  When I hear people say that the unemployed are lazy, I get angry.  When I hear about rich people getting breaks because they are rich (i.e. capital gains tax rates) I get angry.  If the rich were actually making jobs, I would not get angry.  But when I hear about oil companies making record profits while taking tax breaks, I get angry.  And if you look at the crowds in Occupy Wall Street, I am not the only one who is angry.  I look at what is happening and can hear Marie Antoinette saying, “They have no bread? Well let them eat cake.”  It is easy when you have a stable, well paying, job to say that everyone else needs to work harder, but that is really not a fair statement.