I would be happy to help you shoulder that burden.
For a small fee, of course.
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These complaints of the rich are so rich (ha), especially considering that for now, they’ve basically won. They’re getting pretty close now to completing their long-term project of privatizing every formerly public good, and they’ve convinced almost all of their lessers not only that they are lessers (simply because they have less money), but also that the only mode of responsible citizenship is to consume.
I have some suggestions for sad, rich people –
- Pay your fucking taxes!
2. Pay your fucking taxes!
- Pay your fucking fair share of taxes!
========================================
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It’s a nice idea in theory, but in practice it’s a little too close to knowing your place in the class system for my liking. If you want to solve the problem of people having less too little to live on then you have to think about it, and with the current economic situation when you start thinking about why people have too little you will inevitably start thinking about those who have more.
What you think about those with more will vary depending on political beliefs, but you will think about them.
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(okay, not exactly the beat box you described. but I like the gif)
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That is the only way to live. And it is self perpetuing. If a person does a selfless act, the beneficiary quite often does a selfless act. Donating to charities is great, but I won’t stop doing some face to face work as well.
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Bad Rodney Dangerfield impression
That’s what the IRS keeps telling me!
Serious note, I haaaaate the shenanigans in our tax code. The IRS already knows what I need to pay, why do I need to file? They run a seperate system that basically audits everyone, but for production they ignore things like cost basis accounting.
HR block and intuit get rich, and we all get annoyed. And why yes, I am arguing with the IRS right now since they want to garnish wages for something I couldn’t remotely owe. /r
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That sort of inequality exists in the US, too - it’s just that it’s a lot easier to avoid seeing it, especially if you’re rich, because in the US the wealthy also tend to be separated by geography. (Unless you’re in a city like San Francisco, which is why there’s suddenly these venture capitalists there demanding that the poor and homeless be hidden away somewhere else - it offends our “natural order.”)
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Oh yes 
I once met a lobbyist and immediately said to his face, “you know, lobbyists are shitty people. You know that, right?”
His response? “We aren’t all shitty people!”
“Mmm hmmmmm…”
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Based on the complaints I see by rich people, they wouldn’t see that as a solution but in the fact the opposite. They see themselves as being (unfairly, naturally) persecuted for their wealth even though they’re “not wealthy” and in fact “struggling” to get by (perhaps even bemoaning “all the taxes” they already pay), because they’re doing that wealth comparison thing where they aspire to live as if they had a million dollars a year in income but “only” have a third of a million, etc. If they paid more taxes, they definitely couldn’t afford to send all the kids to the elite private schools, the luxury cars, the multi-million dollar home and have a little left over for the yearly vacation to St. Barts…
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Yeah, I guess that “advice” of mine is more of a demand. Which would be more effective as a demand if more people were saying it too. While clutching pitchforks, torches, ropes, etc.
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I think it's fruitful to look to gender theory here, specifically the problem of toxic masculinity: men get a much, much better deal than women in society, and it still sucks.
I heartily disagree. If you make it past 30 without seeing that in yourself and at least accepting that it is controlling you, your lack of self-awareness is probably pathological. And more to the point, that’s something that affects everyone, regardless of income.
I’d break the sad wealthy into two camps. There’s the Notch camp (“Gosh, sudden wealth didn’t address the roots of my unhappiness!”) and the other 99% of unhappy wealthy people. For them, it is simply a guilty conscience, for which all the WSJ Op-eds and Fox and Friends mornings are but a temporary salve of obvious lies.
Sorry guys, it’s already happened.
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I know the default image of Sad & Rich (hey–new country band!) conjures images of old, white republican bankers, but I would guess this also applies to Michael Moore-types, various rap artists, and any mid-level tech worker fortunate enough to buy a house in SF, yes? I’m thinking perhaps the image of rich should be broadened a bit.
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I just gotta say, social programs (section 8 for my brother, medicare for my dad), infrastructure (I like roads and lighted walkways), firefighters (saved our lives), and a billion other things come from the commons. And they have honestly saved my bacon.
I.e. taxes. I pay them happily (except when being taxed on stuff that literally doesn’t exist, but that’s beside the point)
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Paying taxes is a good first step. But that’s a post-hoc solution. The problem with income inequality is in the income.
I don’t have any simple answers for that, but I’d start with thinking about punitive taxation on any business that has extreme pay disparities. I think that’s pretty much necessary as a first step. Finding a way to break the incestuous “board stocked with CEOs of other companies decides company CEO needs massive compensation” thing.
edit: …and another good first step…
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