I think a great deal of bloodshed could be avoided if the wealthy had a healthy and respectful fear of average people.

I think there is a rumor that the wealthy don't, perpetuated by a small segment of the very wealthy, powerful and elite to sow class warfare among the "kind of rich" and the peasants. 

I think the conservative wealthy understand that a large, disenfranchised, disempowered underclass traditionally - eventually goes really poorly for the ruling elites. 

Thu Dec 10 2020 18:13:33 EST from nonservator

I think a great deal of bloodshed could be avoided if the wealthy had a healthy and respectful fear of average people.

I think most of the wealthy who need to fear the average person, don't.

I think that is exactly what they want you to believe. That "The Wealthy" are the enemy. 

If you look closely - you'll see that most of the people telling you that "the wealthy" are the cause of society's issues - that it is greedy corporations exploiting the workers' labor as the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer and the middle class disappears... that it is a small percentage of individuals who own EVERYTHING and won't share it with *anybody*. 

Are in the very top 1% of the 1%. They're the people with two industrial grade GenAir fridges full of top-shelf ice cream, themselves. 

And their answer tends to be, "tax the BOTTOM of the top 1% at progressive rates over $250,000 income!" 

Meaning... "take the money from the portion of the 1% that can't shelter their outrageous income."

They know THEIR wealth is sheltered and protected. Celebrities and politicians and sports stars and tech billionaires won't EVER be affected by the class warfare that calls to redistribute the wealth of the "affluent". 

It will hit the HONEST 1%ers that live among the middle class, or near them - who do not worry about a $10,000 repair bill for their house, who aren't worried about HUGE healthcare costs - but who live relatively modestly - who drive modest luxury cars - but maybe have a used McClaren tucked away in the RV garage behind the $150,000 Super-C that is ALSO paid off. 

If you're being fed a narrative that the wealthy DGAF about you by the *wealthiest* segment of society - and they're directing your anger at on the segment of the wealthy that they consider *more like you* than *like themselves*... 

Be suspicious.  

Most of the 1% is very comfortable - and has no intention of sharing what they have - but they're concerned that the other 99% have enough comfort that a 1%er can go on vacation in something less than a fully-armored luxury SUT with an entourage of ex-special forces body guards. They're very concerned about rioting and unrest in major urban areas and the idea that it might spill out into sprawling country estates miles from the urban core.  They can't hop on a private jet and bug out to some safe haven if things go bad domestically. They might have a nice safe-room in their suburban McMansion and they MIGHT be able to charter a jet or at least fly out first class IF they get enough advance notice - but there is also the possibility that when they land they'll be broke and have to start over as refugees in a "free but very net-worth conscious" country - because all of their assets will have been seized when they fled. They can't really bring their $10 million net profit-a-year henna shop business or custom cabinet business with them to Uruguay when they flee the angry mobs in the US.  

And here is another truth - part of the disappearing middle-class is there has been unprecedented growth *into* affluence over the last 40 years in the US. The Middle Class isn't just disappearing because everyone in the middle is slipping into poverty. The AFFLUENT is swelling too - as people depart the Middle to become wealthy. The people who bang on the drum of class warfare NEVER share this fact. They just tell you that the middle class is disappearing - not that it is happening in part because many are escaping the middle to become rich. 

Trust me... the segment of the 1% that fits this demographic - and it is actually MOST of the 1% - got there by being bright - so a lot of them have already considered these things - and they care a lot. They're caught between an underclass who is being mobilized to hate them - and an upper-class that also doesn't like having them around at their country clubs, resorts, lodges and other exclusive destinations. 

 

The McClaren is photoshopped into my garage - but I'm really sitting in it - it lives in a friend's garage big enough to actually open the gull wings, with a $250,000 RV, a $100,000 Camaro and a $200,000 Vette with a parachute on the back of it that does 8 second 1/4 miles. 

He also has an F350, a Kia Stinger GT and a $40,000 Razor Side-by-Side in the "house" garage. 

I'm in a demographic where if he wants to do something - I don't have to worry about if I can afford it. "Want to fly down to Kentucky last minute this week, hire a driver and do a whisky tasting tour?" Sure... let's do that! 

While I'm not as well off as him - I'm well-off enough to be concerned about arguments for class warfare aimed at the demographic that is being labeled, "the rich". 

Fri Dec 11 2020 07:03:05 EST from nonservator

I think most of the wealthy who need to fear the average person, don't.

Also - I saw more of my circle who were in the solid 98% finally claw their way into the bottom of the top 1% over the last four years than at any time in my career. They're all very uncertain about what the future holds for them. 

As so