What Percentage of the American Wealthy have Earned their Status

[bryant69]

You can define wealthy as you see fit.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[mirandapriestly]

1. There is no way any one can "earn" billions of dollars

IMO.

[NotGivingUp]

2. Nothing more than slave owners....

part of my rant from another post:

Anybody who has billions -- or millions, has stolen wealth from everybody else. They have stolen the life, breath, labor and sweat of people everywhere so that they could rise to the top of a very high heap. NOBODY deserves to have so much, and NOBODY deserves to have so little. They are nothing more than slave owners.

[winter999]

6. Does that include

people who win law suites against Big Tobacco, Doctor Negligence, Hot Coffee, etc.?

And if Millions is too much, what is the correct maximum? 100,000? Who's to say? Who's going to tell all of us that is the most we can earn/save/give?

[blonndee]

7. As far as I know, those who win such "law suites"

would be a negligible minority. Wouldn't ya say?

And the OP wasn't about what "is the most we can earn/save/give," now was it? The post to which you replied was emphasizing how "earning" money by exploiting others is theft.

[Nye Bevan]

8. Hmmmm. Let's take Julie Aigner-Clark as an example.

She was a stay-at-home mom when she came up with the idea for the Baby Einstein company. She borrowed a friend's video equipment and started making baby videos in her basement. She financed the company with $18,000 from her and her husband's savings. After a lot of hard work and luck her company ended up being a huge success and eventually she sold the company to Disney for $25 million.

http://www.bluesuitmom.com/career/womenbiz/babyeinstein.html

Do you really think that Julie Aigner-Clark is "nothing more than a slave owner"? That she has "stolen wealth from everybody else"? And that she has "stolen the life, breath, labor and sweat of people everywhere"?

I just think she's a great American success story.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. sure, we shouldn't take anything away from her accomplishment

But one thing to consider about your anecdote is that to

• be a stay-at-home mom
  
• have a friend with video equipment
  
• have $18,000 in savings to use as startup money
  

is a certain set of advantages that allowed her success to come more easily than it might have for others.

[Nye Bevan]

10. I agree entirely.

I just don't think that she is a slave-owner and a thief.

[skids]

3. It's not a one-time thing.

A weathy person, earned or not, seems in this country to have an ability to screw up with no consequences.

That is to say, once they have wealth they can do things that in a "fair" system should bankrupt them, but somehow manage still to stay rich.

So personally I view it as "what percentage is earning their status" and I would say it's very low number, based on the bullcrap I see a lot of them pulling.

[bryant69]

4. That's a good point

I don't know how to redo the poll to take that into account, but it's worth thinking about.

Bryant

[LostInAnomie]

5. There are plenty of millionaires who through had work...

... and beneficial circumstances have become well off. Examples of these would be doctors, lawyers, small business owners, etc. What many of them do not appreciate is that they were put in those positions through the labor, and sacrifice of others. They wouldn't have been able to earn those degrees, use the technology, develop their inventions, if it had not been for the work and excess capital produced by the little guy.

The extremely wealthy though in most cases haven't earned their wealth. They are the beneficiaries of inheritance and their wealth has a life of its own. Sure there are exceptions out there but most of the new billionaires were born hundred-millionaires.

[bryant69]

11. Kick

For more votes.