I live near, not in, cluster subdivisions where the homes start at half a million, some where the homes start at three quarters of a million.
I suppose most folks would consider those "the rich".
Most of the rich people I've met didn't make their money on the backs of others. At least, not anymore than we all do. I write books. People buy the books, I get a cut. You could say I "made money on their backs" because they had to pay in order to walk out of the store with the book. You could say I "made money on the backs" of the low paid employees somewhere in the bowels of the publishing, distributing, and book selling system.
Except that those folks would probably be pissed off if someone said, "Oh, we cannot exploit you anymore, we are closing this horrible capitalist enterprise, fly, be free!" If the former employers then said you talked them into it, the newly unemployed would probably come egg your house. ;-)
I'm not rich. Writing doesn't pay as much as geeking, which I used to do, so it's a lifestyle choice.
Most of the rich people I know: a few are doctors, some own one or more small businesses, some work in executive positions doing some sort of mental gruntwork. Example: my cousin's husband makes mid six figures as the Chief Financial Officer of an explosives company in a mining city. He's not Ebeneezer Scrooge. He's a number cruncher. Sort of a Bob Cratchett with fair pay, a hell of a lot of talent, and economies of scale.
It's hard to put the rich in pigeonholes by what they do, because if there was a cookie-cutter ticket to fortune, a lot more people would be doing it. ;-)
Most rich people didn't hurt a damned soul to get where they are. They just had a good talent at something, worked hard and made the most of it, and exercised iron-clad financial discipline to avoid making foolish money decisions---like lots of high interest debt, forex.
Rich people, whatever their talents, almost all share one single, shining, exceptional talent: the ability to delay gratification.
There are some rich scumbags. I wouldn't invite the Litchfields to dinner, nor accept their invitation if, god knows why, they invited me.
Most rich people are not scumbags. They just have wealth-generating and wealth-protecting lifestyle habits instead of poverty lifestyle habits.
Most poor people are poor because they lack some of the money habits middle class kids, like me, soaked up with our mothers' milk.
I've had enough poor friends to see it over and over again.
I've been poor--for a few tough years. I didn't stay that way. If I'd made the day in and day out repeated money mistakes that my poor friends make, I'd still be poor.
Not exactly their fault, just that there are things they don't know or habits they're not willing to have that would make the difference between being poor and at least lower middle class. At minimum.
If they'd started using good money habits and delayed gratification and using their best talents back when the rich did, they'd be rich.
Like I said, I was a middle class kid. That's normal to me. Like most people, I'd like to be rich, but I'm not driven to be rich. Which is why I'm not rich. ;-)
Julie
