The Rich Are Taking a Big Hit

[BeFree]

Overheard some millionaires the other day.... they were saying that the economy had better turn around pretty soon, as they've lost millions of dollars recently.

Of course, that's just on paper, those big losses. But their stocks and real estate investments have lost 20 to 30% or more in value in just the last year. Say if you had $5M in value last year, and your investments lost 30%, you've lost $1.5M.

The rich are taking a big hit. They are praying Obama has something up his sleeve, and so should we.

[Selatius]

1. It depends on how you define rich. A person between 1 to 10 million in net worth is something, but..

If you boast a net worth in excess of 10 million, such as hedge fund managers who can pull in 100 million in a single year, those people are what I consider rich.

[BeFree]

3. Sure

So someone with 10M in investments that went south this last year, who has taken a hit of around 30%, has lost 3M this year. From 10 down to 7.

Now I don't hang with any folks that rich, but I'd bet even they're hoping Obama has some magic.

[Selatius]

8. The ones I knew voted for McCain, but that was to be expected where I live.

The guys I spoke with--which I won't claim to be a representative sample of the US population with a net worth between 1 to 10 million--favored McCain, simply because they figured Obama would raise the tax rate on top margins. Now, having said that, I figure there would be others, certainly others outside of Mississippi, who would probably be more open-minded to an Obama Administration.

[pscot]

2. They can afford it

a lot better than some laid-off store clerk struggling on unemployment.

[BeFree]

4. For now, yes they can

Better than you or I, fer sure. But the point is that they are really putting their bets on Obama, and now we've something similar, eh?

[zorahopkins]

5. That's GREAT

So the rich are taking a big hit?

That's great -- GREAT!

The rich bastard either inherited their money (*ithout *orking for it themselves) or they underpaid thousands of *orkers.

Either *ay, the deserve *hat they are getting.

They'll get NO sympathy from ME!

Note: In protest of the continuing occupation of OUR *hite House by the illegal and totally corrupt Bush/Cheney regime of thugs and cronies, I REFUSE to use the letter bet*een "V" and "X".

[bertman]

30. Sorry to bust your bubble, zora, but not all rich people get rich by screwing over their

employees. Some rich people got that way because they had a unique or innovative way of doing something that allowed them to make lots of money. And, believe it or not, some of these people are even very good employers who treat their employees with respect and reward them with good pay and good benefits.

Some people invent things that we wall consider to be essential, such as computers. Some people just exceed the consuming public's expectations with their product, like a certain brand of ice cream.

Perhaps instead of being such an angry person you should try to learn more about some of the good things that some rich people do for other people.

[Common Sense Party]

34. Stop talking sense! n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Damn. I cannot seem to find my violin...

[Orrex]

23. Sorry--I stole it and shoved it up some rich guy's ass

Don't ask what I did with the bow.

[BrklynLiberal]

26. Thanks. I could not have thought of a better place for it...

:thumbsup: :rofl:

[Orrex]

29. Desperate times call for acts of violins

:evilgrin:

[BrklynLiberal]

....

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[unkachuck]

7. "The rich are taking a big hit."....

....Boo fuckin' Hoo....

[nebenaube]

9. oh goody...

TAX THE FUCK OUT THE UNPATRIOTIC BASTARDS AND THEN AUDIT THEM!

[mainer]

16. Being rich is unpatriotic? That's a new one.

You might try telling that to Warren Buffett.

[nebenaube]

35. No being rich and whining about the taxes that support the system

that enriched you is...

[Missy Vixen]

10. Just remember

All of these people employ other people, and those who work for a living are now short money as well. Drivers, nannies, personal trainers, those who own or work for clothing stores, etcetera are taking it in the shorts now, and those who don't make several million a year can't make up that cash.

There was just a story on the local news, for instance, re: bars and restaurants in the Seattle area that are now hurting because football fans are choosing to stay home rather than get together and have a couple of drinks/snacks while watching the game. I'm wondering how many restaurant failures we'll see over the next two months, for example.

Julie

[shanti]

18. exactly!

one of my sons is a valet at a high end mall in SoCal. he used to pull in at least $80 a night, sometimes more, in tips. lately, he says he's lucky if he gets $20 a night! he's getting his teaching credentials, so it's just part time work, but he's even worried that he won't find a teaching job in may:(

[mainer]

19. I deal with the rich all the time.

And about 90% of the ones I know (at least here in Maine) are Democrats. They're the ones we call when we need donations for the ACLU and gay rights and Planned Parenthood and women's shelters and Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders.

And most of the time, they come through.

When people start painting all rich with the same broad brush, they are besmirching many fine and generous people, many of whom earned their money without exploiting anyone.

[Missy Vixen]

24. Exactly

Demonizing someone who makes more money than we do is nothing more than generalization and snap judgment.

There are plenty of people who aren't so nice -- Bill O'Reilly comes to mind, for instance. At the same time, we live in an area that Microsoft millionaires have plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into charitable endeavors, arts programs, etcetera. I'm pretty grateful for their generosity. They also spend money and employ people in communities all over Puget Sound.

Julie

[stillcool]

11. If the major stock holders...

are giving the CEO's million dollar bonuses they can't be doing too bad. Seems to me like there's been a major re-distribution of wealth, and it went somewhere. I think that 2% club is very exclusive, and there's many millionaires that think they're members but aren't.

[BeFree]

28. So

....when Obama takes a slice out of that 2% pie, the other 98% all gonna eat a little better? I like that idea.

[OhioChick]

12. I feel for them......not.

:nopity:

[Bluzmann57]

13. The rich are taking a big hit?!

Well, I lost $10,000 on my last 401K statement and will likely have to work until I die or leave the USA. So I care nothing at all that the rich are taking a big hit. So am I. So are a lot of us. We need help. Now.

[shanti]

14. i believe that

at the hair salon yesterday, one of the clients was talking about not being able to afford to get her hair done because their stocks had been tanking for the last few months. my stylist (who is also the owner) also charged me $20 more for my 'do than usual, so she must be feeling it too!

[sarcasmo]

15. Krokus song from the 80's called Eat the Rich is very fitting right now.

[TahitiNut]

25. "Long pig" will be on the menu soon.

:shrug:

[Naturyl]

17. Yes, because the interests of the rich are my interests, too, right?

That mentality is the very basis of supply-side trickle-down voodoo.

Let them take a big hit. It's just too bad it isn't a big TAX hit.

[BeFree]

20. heh

Since the rich do skate on taxes rather easily, the hit to the revenue side of the federal budget isn't as bad as the hit being taken because of the millions of former 5-6,000 dollar taxpayers.

Looks like the rich are gonna have to take on a bigger burden in taxes since wee little folks are at rock bottom.

[mrcheerful]

21. The rich are taking a hit? Exactly how? Seems some in here forget

That the rich only lost on stocks they invested in this year, those that weren't on the inside trading scams that is, those that had the tips sold off before the crash. You also forget that the money they made over the last 8+ has already been put into off shore tax hide aways.

Those millions are safe and sound where uncle Sam can't touch them or the interest they make. The problem is most of us don't understand the way stock markets work outside of 401K's and the rest of the retirement scams we deal with. Count on one fact, the rich didn't lose as much as they whine they did, they never do.

They count on peoples misconception that I lost money so the guy who had millions more in stocks had to have lost more. Yet what about all those years they made a killing on their investments? The only ones to lose in the Wall Street game are the small time investors, the same as it was in 1929.

[BeFree]

27. Yer right

Nothing to be cheerful about, eh? Of course it is a paper loss, whereas real losses are taking place here, down low. Point is, we are all in this together and we're all hoping Obama pulls some good shit out. Don't you think?

[VOX]

22. The mega-rich hogs-at-the-trough have played a big part in putting *everybody* into this deep hole.

The last 8 years were another Gilded Age for the robber barons. Healthy profit is one thing, but it's been raining money for a select few, and they've been using the federal government as their personal ATM.

The rich will survive just fine. In spite of their losses, they'll always have the best medical care, be able to send their kids to the finest private schools and universities, live in the best neighborhoods, afford vast property taxes, etc.

I can't work up too much sympathy for a stratum of American society that's done so much damage to this country, and has so much to answer for. :grr:

[Odin2005]

31. Fuck them. n/t.

[SheilaT]

32. Everyone who has any kind

of investments in the stock market, every 401k, every pension plan out there, has taken a big hit. I haven't even bothered to open my investment account statements since September because I don't really want to know what the damage is. And I got laid off two weeks ago. I don't consider myself in the rich category, but I'm 60 years old and thought I was going to be able to retire in a few years, and all of a sudden I'm in the category of "I may never be able to retire".

So while it's easy to dump on "the rich", keep in mind that this economic downturn is hurting a lot of people, and it's probably hurting the little guys and gals a whole lot more than "the rich".

[BeFree]

33. Well

.... there's definitely more poor, and not having a roof is lots worse than having a roof with just a few holes. Thing is, this time it looks like bush really was a uniter: he's brought the rich and the poor together, all of us hoping for real change.

[Greyhound]

36. A lot of billionaires have been reduced to mere hundred millionaires soon.

Weep for the loss.:cry: