How rich are the rich compared with the rest of Americans ?

Happyflowerlady

Happyflowerlady

Vagabond Flowerchild
Location
Northern Alabama
I was going to add this little YouTube video/chart into the discussion about the Moneyless Guy, but when I thought about it for a minute, I decided that it would be good to just start a new topic about this.
It does fit in with the discussion there as regards whether the rich take advantage of the poor, or do the rich actually provide everyting that the rest of us need to live, thus really being our caretakers, and working hard to earn their money .
What is the weath distribution in America ?
How does it really compare ? Check out this eye opening 5 minute video...

 

I am not an American** so I cannot comment on the wealth distribution of your country but I offer this perspective.

I am rich.

I have a house to live in, enough clothing to be warm in Winter and more than one pair of shoes. I do not go hungry except by choice. I can read and write. When I am ill I have access to pharmaceuticals, medical practitioners and hospital treatment and I can afford to have my teeth fixed.

As such I am counted amongst the world's wealthy people. Many are much less fortunate.

** I'm an Aussie living partly on my savings and on an (part) aged pension.
 
Warrigal said:
I am not an American** so I cannot comment on the wealth distribution of your country but I offer this perspective.

I am rich.

I have a house to live in, enough clothing to be warm in Winter and more than one pair of shoes. I do not go hungry except by choice. I can read and write. When I am ill I have access to pharmaceuticals, medical practitioners and hospital treatment and I can afford to have my teeth fixed.

As such I am counted amongst the world's wealthy people. Many are much less fortunate.

** I'm an Aussie living partly on my savings and on an (part) aged pension.
Click to expand...

Well said Warrigal, I'm rich also, without having large sums of money in the bank. :dollar:
 

I don't find that video shocking at all. It's just common knowledge I thought. And pretty darn pathetic!
If more of the super wealthy thought like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the world would be a better place. They, at least, are trying to salvage the future.

We all have to share this planet, rich and poor alike, and resources and learning need to be shared.
Developing minds for future scientists, doctors, etc.... isn't going to come from that 1%! Young minds need to be given a chance to become great ..it seems the very wealthy would prefer that not happen..
 
Nothin' wrong with havin' lots. But, it's the greedy and filthy rich that make me puke. I make work for the suckers but I sure as hell ain't gonna serve 'em.
 
"I'm too poor to pay attention."

Well not really but just had to throw that one in.

I'd say compared to the rest of the world I am rich, compared to Bill Gates not so much!

But I think about this a lot sometimes, I have a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head and I am grateful for that everyday.
 
I've never been one to engage in whining about why I'm not among the super-wealthy. I know it's because it was never a priority in my life, and I certainly don't see that they're keeping me down or providing everything I need.

The idea that for some reason the wealthy are more responsible for changing the world and making it better than the middle and lower classes is to me a slacker's philosophy. We ALL can change the world regardless of how much filthy lucre we have in our pockets - don't make it another revolutionary class struggle, because I don't like sitting in a tent outside City Hall this time of year.
 
I'm always reading about the Middle Class. The middle class did this or that, or the middle class is disappearing. The middle class is divided up into many compartments. for instance, the well to do, upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class, etc. And there may be more. I never got into the middle class. One time I came close to being upper poor. Somebody has to be in that upper echelon of those that are comfortable, so why not me? But, alas, (now there's an antiquated word for you) I never made it, never come closer than Upper Poor.
 
Boo's Mom said:
I don't find that video shocking at all. It's just common knowledge I thought. And pretty darn pathetic!
If more of the super wealthy thought like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the world would be a better place. They, at least, are trying to salvage the future.

We all have to share this planet, rich and poor alike, and resources and learning need to be shared.
Developing minds for future scientists, doctors, etc.... isn't going to come from that 1%! Young minds need to be given a chance to become great ..it seems the very wealthy would prefer that not happen..
Click to expand...


:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
I don't like to be put in any class whether it is poor, middle or upper class. I think that the wealth distribution is probably the same in every county in that there is a very wide difference between seriously needy people and the ones that have more money than necessary. I'm much like others have stated. I have a roof over my head, can afford any required medication and have enough to eat. As I read through the thread and see that some of us consider themselves to be "poor", I can't help but think that they obviously have enough money for internet and a computer so how "poor" can you be?

As long as I have health and family, I consider myself to be very rich indeed!
 
I don't like to be put in a class either. I have no class. :playful:

Our monthly income would be poor for some, but it also depends on how you live, how much money you need. We probably appear to have it pretty good, due to the fact that I bought an old house in the 1970's for what you couldn't even buy a used car for these days and we paid for it and never felt the need to "move up".

We also drive our cars/trucks until they are practically rolling antiques and replaced when only absolutely needed. Never use credit cards for anything and never go in debt for anything.
Never replace something that works just on a whim, you get something new when whatever it is breaks or quits working.

One side of my family, my mom's side, they were dirt poor, you know those heart breaking pictures you see of Depression era familys with nothing! That was them. I don't know how they survived sometimes.

Both of my parents were children during the Great Depression but my dad's family had a business and did pretty well, they never had to go without food and new clothes.

Anyway I still remember when I was a kid if somebody in the family got anything new it was big news, a new couch was an event! Everybody had to stop by for a viewing!!
 
Well, then, a final thought. None of this is whining, merely an attempt at conversation on a particular subject(mind you I can do my share of whining), merely an attempt at conversation. And, all English speaking peoples are classified. Our worth is rated by someone who keeps score of the haves and have nots and those in between. happy Thanksgiving, Seniors.
 
Like others, I don't like to be considered part of any class. But this I do know, having money, being rich whatever you like to call it, doesn't necessarily make people happy.
I get a lot of pleasure from buying something new/secondhand, big or small, my neighbours on the other hand, get pleasure for just a short while, then it becomes 'old hat' for they can go out and buy whatever takes their fancy, a trip overseas a few times a year, 2 new cars etc.etc., but they are not happy. Much is missing in their personal lives.
Being rich sure does come in many forms.
 
Three different things at play: Income and savings plus spending.

I had a 401k for decades but I never spent it. Was it there? Perhaps but I ignored it like it wasn't there. It gave me no benefit until I decided to use it. The bank that holds that money refused to give us a car loan because our income was too low. Are we rich if we can't even get a loan on a used car?
We tend to view rich in terms of spending. The guy in town with a big house and a Mercedes is rich. The woman that donates $100k to the historical museum is rich. If you have the money to enjoy yourself without worry, I would say that is rich.
 
All this happened within my lifetime. When I grew up in the 1950s/mid 1960s all was fine and our nation thrived. But then...

We Counterculture folks from the late 1960s into 1970s have warned it would slowly happen given unrestrained capitalism Wall Street corporate greed with their puppet politicians starting with president RR greasing legislation and then globalization, parts of that process. This is why despite all their puppet news media articles throwing fits kicking and screaming against doing so, we need to greatly raise SS maximum tax rates and general taxes of both individuals and corps at high income levels including closing a long list of loopholes the wealthy are killing the rest of us on and causing horrible social problems like homelessness.
 
IMO having more isn’t as important as finding balance in your life and being able to maintain that little sweet spot between too little and too much.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”
- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
 
Warrigal said:
I am not an American** so I cannot comment on the wealth distribution of your country but I offer this perspective.

I am rich.

I have a house to live in, enough clothing to be warm in Winter and more than one pair of shoes. I do not go hungry except by choice. I can read and write. When I am ill I have access to pharmaceuticals, medical practitioners and hospital treatment and I can afford to have my teeth fixed.

As such I am counted amongst the world's wealthy people. Many are much less fortunate.

** I'm an Aussie living partly on my savings and on an (part) aged pension.
Click to expand...
In developed countries, "poverty" is often relative, defined as having less than 60% of the median income. In contrast, global extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as living on less than ÂŁ2.00 per day. The average person in a developed country operates in an economic reality where they can afford basic needs such as food, shelter, healthcare and discretionary spending, whereas, at the lowest end of the global spectrum, people are struggling for daily survival. The richest 10% of the global population owns 76% of all wealth, while the bottom 50% owns only 2%.

Growing up, I was so poor that had I not been a boy, I wouldn't have had anything to play with!

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