i've been thinking about all the resentment on overpaid ceo's and high dollar people. now i'm a middle class guy. i do know some people who would fall into the upper crust based on tax percentages paid category. once you earn a certain amount you end up in the top tax bracket. so in my distinction they are in the same group. multi millionaires (not including real estate or non cash assets), not billionaires. yet there seems to be no real distinction in what is the line between the classes.
interestingly enough those multi millionaires, consider themselves middle class. a rare few who are quite arrogant and flashy call themselves rich...but in the people i know they tend to be the exception not the general rule.
so i started to think about who they were and if they were in fact evil and greedy.
most are very smart and quick with numbers. well educated. most have a mba. most own their own businesses or worked for large corporations and later started their own business when the corporate culture became too much for them. not one i know had it handed to them. all i know earned it through good decisions and hard work.
so i thought long and hard and tryed to be unbiased and i couldn't say anyone of them i would call "evil." nor would i say any of the ones i know are cold hearted. rather when i talk to them most seem to be too worried about their employee's self induced financial problems. which is an odd thing when you think about it because normally i always stereotyped rich people into being cold, distant, ruthless, and cheap. ironically when i really went back and thought through big decisions they made and even little events to get a better grasp of who they are...i realized that none of these stereotypes fit any of them. well maybe one...but he's a horrible person. if he saw an old lady hit by a train crossing the rail road tracks with a bag full of groceries and her purse. he'd take the groceries and purse and put them in his car, before he'd call 911. anyways....
so i started to think...we all complain about ceo's and such making huge salaries and bonuses...and we get really psised off about it and rightfully so...but then i thought of myself and other low earners i know. if our boss came to us and said i'm gonna pay you 150k and give you a bonus of another 100k...would i turn it down? or if i did turn it down would i really mean it? keep in mind let's say the job is only worth 50k market value, and a typical bonus in a good time might only be 20k....would i or anyone else put up much of a fight to recieve a lower wage package? i seriously doubt it. not to say i wouldn't be thinking at home how wrong it feels to get so much for so little. still i think i'd sleep okay if i was overpaid. which leads me to ceo's. i saw a survey once of 500 of the large corporations in america with questions asked to the ceo's. one of the questions was did they think they were overpaid. interestingly enough, over 80% something said yes they felt they were overpaid. so go back to my example. how many would refuse to accept an overly generous benefit package...not too many.
so i wonder is it really a class warefare that is going on...or is it really a culture war? what i mean is class war would be the poor against the rich. a typical battle of control and wealth that has plagued human civilization since the dawn of man. a culture war would be different in that we didn't hate each other based on wealth, but rather how it was obtained and what we did with it.
what one does with their wealth says allot about who they are. for example a typical avg. working guy wins a lottery. what do they do with the winnings most of the time? first they quit their job typically and tell their boss to stuff it. then they horde the money and buy cars and houses and boats and silly things. the people i know who earned their wealth not through the lotto...they open small businesses which create jobs that support more than just themselves with their money and they make money. which way is worse? giving money to dumb or unmotivated people doesn't help anyone but themselves. sure they buy things and that helps retailers and car dealers, etc...but truth be told they don't really buy enough to actually contribute back to society. now a guy who takes money he worked hard for to invest it in a small business with the chance he could lose it all...he is taking a big risk. with big risks come big rewards or failures. think along those lines and it's not hard to see how someone who makes allot of money might feel justified when their risk resulted in a good result. if it went the other way they now lost eveything they worked long and hard for. keeping a small business profitable isn't that easy. it's a constant struggle...it's not like you open it and make money and then sit back and watch as your fortune grows. you work longer harder hours than most even realize. weekends, become worktime...going over financials and sales reports trying to stay ahead of the competition and the curve of the economy. it's work...and when you go home it doesn't stop. it's your problem...so you can't go home and forget about it. the problems come home with you...you can't forget them as soon as you punch out. not to mention but other people, called employees, depend on you for their survival. so failing doesn't just affect you. it affects them as well. that's allot of weight to carry on one's shoulders 24hours a day 7 days a week. even when you take a vacation...it still involves calling everyday to make sure things are going smoothly and recievables are being collected and deposited...it's a never ending battle for survival and you never get any time off.
most decent people here would agree that someone who made millions by lying, stealing, and cheating is a horrible person and would deserve to lose that money, right? likewise most wouldn't be upset if someone made that money working hard and being smart, right?
so it seems to me we should be having a war...but with the culture in america of cheaters, deadbeats, and abusers. i'm not saying every ceo doesn't cheat or lie. i'm sure allot do. it's a tough market and there is only so many ceo jobs. so the competition is tough, and it brings the ugliest out in people...yet i also know some out there surely do a good job, work hard, and earn their money. i see a problem in our culture of greed and selfisness in not only the top but as well on the bottom. i'll give some examples.
i know people who collect disability checks from our govt and yet they go hunting and climb up tree stands and crouch all day to shoot a deer. they mow their own lawn. they take their kids to the beach and body surf and wrestle, etc. now to me this person could be working for a living. this is what i call abusing the system. if you look hard enough you'll see millions of examples of this going on. people taking govt aid in welfare, food stamps, housing, whatever they can get their hands on that don't really need it. in my eyes these people are no different than a greedy, selfish ceo. different dollar amounts of course, but isn't cheating and lying the same regardless of how much is being cheated, stolen, abused, etc? truth is, if these disability/welfare dirtbags were smarter they be taking big bucks rather than small bucks...it's just a matter of education and skill at that point.
so i think it's not a class war we need to face, it's a culture war. we need to shake down from the top to the bottom. weed out all the abusers and dirtbags. we need to set a precident, if you are not pulling your own weight you have to get off the ship. the hard working, weight pulling people of this country have been battling with each other over nonsense issues rather than addressing the real enemy within. greed and selfishness. it's not really money, that is the root of evil......rather it's the catalyst that brings the real evil from within. greed and selfishness.
so to end with i don't see class warfare as being our problem. i'm okay with a guy who works harder than me making more than i do...and i think most decent people do as well. i have a problem with people cheating, lying, stealing, abusing, and manipulating the system to make a buck or a fortune. being poor isn't an excuse. bad behavior is bad behavior..regardless of class, race, sex, creed, etc or income. never forget for every dirtbag wall streeter/ceo/executive who is doing this...there is probably 10 ,000 low level dirtbags doing the same exact thing.
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2 comments:
People really think badly of CEOs?
You know, if I thought about it really hard, I might remember a time or two when I thought upper class citizens were snobs or something, but it probably had more to do with envy at the moment than any real belief in it.
I guess I've grown up around way too many really nice people with money, because I've found them to be generally great people to associate myself with. Just as you've mentioned, I find them to be among the smartest, most people-friendly, most compassionate people I know.
One of my pet theories is that financial freedom allows for people to be nicer. When we're struggling to make it, as you said, it brings out our ugliest sides. Maybe that's why so many people associate having money with happiness? Naturally, it can't cure every problem, but it can probably do wonders for our temperaments and generosity.
Loving our neighbors would be a lot easier, anyway.
oh there are snobs. but money has little to do with it. i know plenty of poor snobs...that think they are better than everyone else. which is really waht a snaob is. someone who thinks they are superior based on nothing more than narcissism and a lack of humility.
very true about financial freedom. excellent point.
although with money comes more problems. it puts one in a situation where they have to defend and fight from greedy relatives, friends, family, associates as well as professional money sharks...like investment groups, etc. everyone is always bringing a life or death tale to get you to part with cash. it's mentally very stressful. it's not surprising that dirt poor people who win large lotto jackpots after so many years seem to be more miserable then when they could trust their friends and family. money changes people.
on that note though...i leave with this thought. life is what you make of it. if you see it as a struggle...then it is. like my mom used to pound into my head when i complained about having to do chores after school and the weekends...she would say, "you have the wrong attitude. if you make chores fun, they are. if you don't they aren't." there is allot of truth to this theory. if people would approach problem with this attitude we'd see allot less misery.
j.h.
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