patrick.net

It's not the wealth. It's the corruption.

We go at it here, but I -- assuming I am one of the 'pseudo-rationalists' you are referring to -- don't hate "the rich".

People who provide real value from their labor deserve every penny.

It's the rent-seeking I hate, profiting from mere ownership of existing wealth, or taking advantage of monopoly rent situations to extort wealth in non-consensual transactions.

We can find these operators in real estate, consumer finance, our $8500/capita health industry, natural resource sector, etc.

Altogether this is a several trillion dollar flow from the nation's productive population -- our workers -- to the parasitically wealthy, who already own 90% of the country and are going for 100% apparently.

Seeing the corruption in our economy is really mind-boggling. We're just about as bad as the Soviet Union was ca. 1980. Maybe we got another 10 years too, maybe not.

that some people "deserve" their "excess" wealth is too severe for their egos to bear.

LOL. For a supposed non-'pseudo rationalist' you're sure painting in broad strokes here, Tex.

Peter P says

The consequence of accepting that some people "deserve" their "excess" wealth is too severe for their egos to bear.

Textbook straw man.

You're out on a limb that you don't support in the slightest.

If I think that a guy who makes $500,000 can afford to pay $10K more in taxes and that he should, IT doesn't mean that I have any feelings of hate or even envy (although I might be a little envious). It's just logic, or an opinion based on logic.

Given our broken financial and economic situation, the question of how much should be paid by those with huge discretionary income is a fair debate to have.

You have a keen sense for the obvious, if you are observing that the opinion on this subject of someone who makes 60K a year may (but will not always) be different from someone who makes 600K per year.

But you sound not so bright when you try so hard to to conclude that just because the opinion of many of the wealthy on the subject is influenced by their self interest and ego (sense of entitlement), that therefore the opinion of a regular joe on this should be driven by such similar psychology.