The rich are different — and not in a good way, studies suggest

Sigh... go take an econ course and then you can have a conversation with the rest of the grown ups.

That's a heck of an undeserved and inaccurate broad brush.

Yes it is, and War is hell, and when alot needs to get painted a broad brush does it fast and best.

And why undeserved? And by innaccurate ~ I am also presuming you have not been employed or perhaps simply visited the "Main Line" Philadelphia area?

(On a personal note, the study did not claim EVERY person is a selfish asshole, nor do i. Sorry if i offended you, your "Upper Class" standing, that of your friends, or your money. You are one of the few remaining bright spots at CURRENT and i enjoy your contributions often. It is my hatred of the Bush Cartel and the fact that the "Rich Upper Class" allowed W to steal two elections (( Al Gore did as well! )) and their fear of radical social change towards peace and equality that forces this venom out of my body as the global economies collapse for the second time in three years.)

You obviously don't know many or any people from the upper class. I do. Most of them are nothing like you described, which is why I pointed out that yours is an inaccurate and undeserved & very wide broad-brush. I have both been employed and have employed, and I have never been to Philadelphia. There is no real upper class in the US, anyway, only nouveaux-riches for the overwhelming most part, they are upper class wannabes but they have nothing to do with the upper class.

By claiming "There is no real upper class in the US, anyway...they have nothing to do with the upper class." are you saying that "True Class" can only come from the Europeans who stole their fortunes through the genocide and environmental destruction of the Americas?

Who (pray tell!) has legitimate class in your world?

Class is an aristocratic justification of ignorance.

No, I am not saying that at all - and only a few Europeans stole their fortunes through the genocide and environmental destruction of the Americas - followed by the colonists who rebelled and fought the Brits so that they could themselves steal fortunes and continue the genocide and environmental destruction of the Americas on a huge (and ongoing) scale and keep these ill-gained profits for themselves.

Oh, and as I recall the history of the USA, the British basically tried to protect the Native Americans and set a limit, a border, to prevent the expansion of land-grabbing and genocide of natives further west of the first colonies. One of the reasons for the War of Independence was to eliminate this limitation so as to grab all of the land and eliminate the Native Americans.

Class is the natural order that is found among all primates (except for Orangutans), and since we are primates, simians, apes, we are wired for living in a hierachical social structure. That's just nature, not ignorance.

First of all, I am not rich at all - by choice - even though I do stem from the upper class. I am British only because my parents naturalized British. As far as I can tell, and I've been posting here for over five years, Current is not an American governmental website.

No wedding was stained by the riots - these riots are largely the result of the British right-wing Tory government's "austerity" program that cut into government spending for the poor and for students.

How can empathy justify hatred of any kind - strikes me as a royal oxymoron!

You spew hatred - he who lives by hatred shall die by hatred.

Class is a natural hierarchical societal organization due to the fact that we are social apes. Betas, Deltas, and especially Omegas will always have some individuals among them who hate the Alphas - they are the losers.

I couldn't care less about your search query on Europe, and I will not grace your blog with my visit.

Oh, and by the way, I never look to troll, I never troll, as those who know me here and the intelligent newcomers know full well.

I see that too. It is not so surprising from the wealthy ones, but I do not understand the ones that struggle to pay their bills and still keep voting republican to appease their corporate masters.

This has been my experience as well .

maybe not to you...but if I made 250000 a year.....I sure would feel rich compared to now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some self made people are or maybe were at one time....but they soon forget in their power and glory!!! Kinda like ex smokers are with people who smoke...they should be empathetic.....but usually they aint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic"

“Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”

Have you considered that, maybe, just maybe, $250,000 is a gracious plenty to live on for a family of four?

Definition of rich - having wealth or great possessions; abundantly supplied with resources, means, or funds; wealthy.

When it comes to day-to-day life, $250K after taxes is $150K at the absolute worst.

That's $12,500/month

You can buy a million dollar home with a mortgage of $3,500 a month.

Bills for every utility and entertainment option you could possibly want? $1,000/month

Want to buy cars for everyone in the family: another $1,500/month

Want to eat out EVERY night? $2,000/month

These are all great possessions... and you can still put nearly half of it away to retire on.

That means you are abundantly supplied with resources, means and funds. If you don't have wealth yet, you will soon, because you simply can't spend that much.

Definition of Abundant - MORE THAN ADEQUATE.

250K is THE DEFINITION of rich. $200K is rich. $80K is fucking rich... I could never spend that much.

You need to accept that your perception of "rich" is factually inaccurate.

Most wealthy people worked their asses off to get there.

Like I said, they're obsessed with money. Type A personalities. I didn't call them lazy. So of course they worked hard.

or stepped on a lot of little people to get there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have found most to be selfish and greedy with anyone less than they think they are!!!!!!!!! We all work our asses off at our jobs.....that don't make them any better!!!

Many people who claim they work hard only think they work hard rather than actually working hard.

“They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic,”

So, of course, they must be working less hard than you did, right?

It couldn't possibly be that they can't get ahead because the economy has no opportunities to go around, and instead of getting sent to college by their boss, their boss squeezes them for everything and gives them nothing because there are no other options...

I'm sure you are right, since you watch all of these people at work... I mean, clearly you you are too busy to waste your time doing that, what with all the posting you have to do on here... What does your boss think of that? Oh wait...

I dont have a boss. All I have now is a one man consulting company. I enjoy working. I have the benefit of working when I want and taking on whatever projects I want. It's called freedom. It's the fruits of my hard work and efforts over the years. When I was in the corporate world or running my own companies I didnt boss people. I managed and led people to help them reach their potential.

That is it, in a nutshell. Many of their thought leaders (like Ayn Rand, Gov. Walker, Eric Cantor) are true sociopaths. Then there are others who are not sociopaths but who are so adept at rationalizing, compartmentalizing, ignoring and/or denying the truth that they truly exist in a state of altered consciousness (with or without the aid of alcohol, prescription drugs, and narcotics) where they cannot feel the emotions of empathy and compassion. Remember what the settlers of this country were told: that it was our God-given right and duty to displace the Native American peoples and to take and exploit the whole of America... some wealthy people today feel that exploiting the lower and middle classes is their right and destiny. Whatever you call it it's a mental and spiritual illness.

So all that money and power DON'T make them different? If you truly believe that "power inflates your view of yourself and diminishes your view of others," then you are agreeing with the article here that says the rich are "less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish." When you think you are better than other people, it's easy to justify taking advantage of them.

Following this logic, the only way to improve society's conscience would be to eliminate the rich altogether. Put some kind of financial cap on members of society AND all government officials. If no one can live so far above everyone else, they will relate to the public better. Then we can have something approaching social camaraderie, instead of lecherous class warfare.

Virtually all psychological/sociological behavior assessment have the same inherent subjectivity to them though.

Does low empathy lead to potential wealth, or does wealth inspire a low potential for empathy
- who can say which is cart, which mule.

What you CAN say, fairly,....is "I don't like that cart driver".

+^d that 2 bits of yours though -very good point.

It is relative. Imagine a typical lower middle class American's view of Somalia. The perspective is similar to higher income American's view of the lower middle class. I maintain we're the same.

I am a lower-earning American ($20,000 a year) , but I don't hate people in Somalia or think that it's fair to exploit them. I think you are wrong or I am missing your point. By you saying "we're the same," you contradict yourself since you just before said that the power dynamic causes different views. Not all humans with more money are bigoted and hateful. And if you gave every poor person 1 million dollars, I don't think they would all act the same.

Based on your posts I would not expect you to act that way. I have lived in many different income brackets and they all seem the same to me. Humans. Some bad, some good, most still have a long evolutionary journey ahead of them.

And you're right I did contradict myself. Damn I hate that!

Sorry. I suppose that didn't have a great deal of empathy in the recipe.

You know, we could bargain with them: "Hike the estate tax rate up 2x and we won't have to eat your children, too."

All it takes to get around the estate tax is a good trust attorney.

With a good attorney and enough money you can get around pretty much every tax

"All it takes to get around the estate tax is a good trust attorney."

True that.

good comment leen61!!!

Thank you, cherry!

Loved it! Voted up!

Oh, that's gonna leave a mark!

I paid my way through college. I graduated with loans and enough money to pay bills until my first paycheck. Everything I have I worked my ass off to achieve. If certain people on this site put the energy into getting ahead they put into whining, moaning and blaming others it might have been them too. But, thanks for the ignorant, personal attack.

Actually, I'm laughing at the jealousy. You're victims of the far left's class warfare brainwashing. I was right where all of you were after high school graduation. Everything I have people here could have achieved. I doubt most of you have my work ethic and determination. One thing I have very few of you have is personal accountability. I never blamed others when I failed. I asked myself what lessons I should learn from failure and move on. Some people give up when they fail. Failure is just a hurdle on the way to success. You don't lose when you fall down. You lose when you choose not to get up.

Yes I know those of us who chose to contribute to society at a lower pay grade than you are all losers. Those damned teachers, nurses, firefighters, etc. are just such a damned drag on your society. When they become ill or injured they and can no longer make those contributions to society should just shut the hell up and die already. Yes, Warren we all get where you are coming from.

" I graduated with loans and enough money to pay bills until my first paycheck."

My first paycheck didn't come until a year after graduation, and even then it was near the poverty line. Oh yeah, I was such a lazy ass by just putting in 50 hours a week.

You are grossly misinformed about the harsh realities of this world.

I BET , they have also a LOWER tolerance to pain and other adversity . Take all their money away , and some will just commit suicide , others will go insane . They do not have the coping skills we do , yet they bleed as we do . I suggest a new "reality TV show" . A test of courage . Just needs a good title . Suddenly Penniless ? Who's got your back ?

...or we could just lynch them... :-)

The old ways , so quick and tidy -- humane , even .

That's kind of a nice thought. Since they can afford genetic testing kits, they can use them ( in case they have trouble telling, for themselves, if they're overly greedy & selfish, or not ), since we know they're not all like that.

Awwwww, what a cute little Opus! Poor little guy looks like he needs a hug! Where did you find him?

Funny & sooo true! Like except for that last part. I'd be afraid of getting blood poisoning from them & turning into one of the creepy, stingy ones! Yuck! No thanks! Lol! Though really, they're not all like that.... just too many of them are for this country's own good.

It's true though, I've had this problem before, & heard from phone reps., at local utilities, who say they've had a lot of stubborn, spoiled brat-type rich folks call in whining, complaining, & making all kinds of threats over having to pay a simple, measly, little late fee on their bill, even though the late fee was perfectly legit! The rest of us just pay our late fees without a fuss when we know we were late. The maddening thing is, sometimes the supervisors give in to their whining & griping, and let them off without paying their late fee! I hear that happens a lot, actually. That's probably half the reason our water bills & other utilities are getting so ridiculously high, and nigh unaffordable! Maybe we need to find a way to give those supervisors more backbone... just something else to brainstorm on. :-)

I've seen this too. They don't pay their bills and when the collector has to call them to collect debts they pretend to be personally insulted that they were even called. They are all "far too busy" to talk to someone about bill-paying.

Oh no, there is a special Hell for them. They don't want to associate with the less fortunate. But don't dispair, your Hell won't be as bad.

Except it won't be tomatoes they'll be throwing :(

You obviously know little to nothing about the Russian Revolution. Most of the aristocrats who left Russia were saved and helped by their servants, protected from the Bolsheviks by their servants. Those who were massacred were massacred by the Bolsheviks who had been armed and financed by Kaiser Wilhelm II so as to weaken the Russian war effort on the German front. To this end, he sent envoys to Switzerland to contact Lenin whom he supplied with tons of gold and weapons, and had him smuggled into Russia along with said gold and weapons in a few sealed train wagons. Since most of the valid Russian men and weapons were engaged on the German front, this made this phony "revolution" a piece of cake, fighting and slaughtering unarmed old men, women and children.

Sorry I guess that was a bad example. I was just trying to make the point that when people are suppressed long enough they eventually fight back.

Probably not. But I hope you get my drift.

Many Buddhists would say, "keep marching peacefully, even if they shoot at you." I'm not sure I would hold with letting it go that far...., maybe, maybe not. I don't usually approve of letting people just walk all over you. But, yeah, you're right.... a bunch of peaceful demonstrations would be best.

Then maybe we could get rid of money all together, and this silly neurosis of "I'm better than you because I have more assets than you" would finally fade away into the nether regions of history.

lol,

Excellent! I wish I had thought of this idea.

There is a new B grade movie out Hobo With a Shotgun, ultra violenty funny in a silly sick way.

I watched it on ten star movies lol.

Is that Rutger Hauer?

Yes it is, getting old.

Still feisty. ;)

Knows how to work a shotgun.

He's a Dutchman. A great many of them measure up to over 6 feet tall.
Though it's what's inside of you that realy counts, as the Japanese have
shown us for centuries. I'd liked his 1990s movie as a blind swordsman
with a heightened sense of hearing. Too bad he has to star in a movie
that shows too much gratuitious violence. The man has a lot more class,
and deserves better than that-at any age.

+^d

Say, have you also seen that "Farside" cartoon.... something about, "...the right to arm bears." ?