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Old 09-14-2008, 01:26 PM   #8
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 1,009

How do you think most rich people got to where they are? Some are lucky, sure. Some had it handed to them. I'll admit that just as readily as I will admit that some rich people (and some middle class and poor too!) cheat the tax system.

But the fact is, lots of rich people got rich by doing SOMEthing very well and working their asses off to move up in life. What makes you say they are allowed to be average? I don't understand what you mean.
I'm sorry I didn't explain this well (I work in the anti-poverty field and I'm pretty passionate about this). Here is a better example:

Up this year - and I believe public outcry had something to do with it - the starting salary for NYC police officers was $25,100. Compare that with the manager of one New York hedge fund who made $3.7 billion in 2007. That comes to $422,374 an hour. It took the hedge fund manager about three and a half minutes to make what a police officer earned in a year. I ask you: Who has the greater impact on people's everyday lives? Which job is harder/more dangerous? While technically $25,100 is above the poverty line, YOU try living on that much in NYC (and living in the city is a requirement).

And as far as rich people being allowed to be average: I think Bush has gotten pretty far in life considering how utterly average he is. I doubt he would be the leader of the free world if he was poor.

-Mohandas Gandhi

Last edited by BB; 09-14-2008 at 01:31 PM.
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