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Actually you aren't, I don't believe that everyone else is not rich, there are plenty of rich people.
Where did you get that from?
From this:
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Originally Posted by slackjaw
He said Bill Gates was first generation rich. Coming from an upper middle class background to be worth billions is first generation rich.
In my opinion, if your parents (and grandparents) were "upper middle class", and you were sent to "an exclusive preparatory school", you pretty well have the economic advantages you need to not have to struggle and scrabble for a living. That constitutes a "rich" upbringing, as far as I'm concerned, which mean you're not going to be "first generation" rich when you attain even more wealth.
I think most of us, who had "upper middle class" classmates in school, thought of them as being "rich kids". And Bill Gates would have been one of them.
In other words, I never said what you attributed to me. There is a huge range between upper middle class and billionaires, and I certainly never made the claim that anyone making less than a billion is not rich.
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I think most of us, who had "upper middle class" classmates in school, thought of them as being "rich kids". And Bill Gates would have been one of them.
There is hardly any "middle class" anymore. It is either the uber-wealthy or the working poor. Working 2 or 3 jobs could possibly bring someone in the working poor category up into what used to be called the middle class.
Plumbers don't gross $750k a year. Regardless, its not that "rags to riches" never occurs, instead its that its very rare. It is an important myth to maintain, again it keeps the proles from soaking the rich and keeps their minds off the social injustice that is right in front of their face.
Honestly, the American elite have achieved something no other aristocracy has achieved, namely they have created a population that is largely blind to their existence. But they are playing a dangerous game.
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Originally Posted by maschuette
Let me see if i got this right User_ID, if someone is successful is business then they are an a-hole, and if someone isnt successful then they are retarded, and if someone doesnt even try then they are mindless sheep. That seems to be the general trend in all your post. So...which are you?
No, you don't have it right, I haven't stated any of those things.
There is hardly any "middle class" anymore. It is either the uber-wealthy or the working poor. Working 2 or 3 jobs could possibly bring someone in the working poor category up into what used to be called the middle class.
If you want to squeek through highschool and earn a solid living then I suggest using your family connections driving a bus in madison Wisconsin so that you can make over 100,000 a year. (It helps if you have relatives in the union).
However, if you are like most of us....the concept of making good money stumbling out of highschool into a factory like 1953 is DOA.
We got spoiled in the 50's and 60's where you could make a nice living just "showing up". Times have changed, not only are we making our own living....we are paying for the fat-cat retirements of our predecessors.
Why don't you just clarify your position on this point. Is upper middle class and enrollment in exclusive preparatory schools something that qualifies as "rich" in the sense that there is no economic struggle to further education and career, or isn't it? Does a kid from that kind of background qualify for inclusion in the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison class of people who excelled despite "humble beginnings", or not. Forget about billionaires, there are only 412 of those. Was Gates' family so impecunious and destitute that Bill had to struggle and scramble his way through economic hardship to educational opportunity and access to open doors?
What you said, in plain concise words, was "Coming from an upper middle class background to be worth billions is first generation rich." I disagreed with YOU and YOUR words.
Gosh, the last time I checked the only birthright I or my children had was life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not even a guarantee of happiness but I sure as heck had the right to pursue it.
Why don't you just clarify your position on this point.
Sounds like a good idea, since obviously if it isn't spelled out precisely people like you would twist and misrepresent in order to attack.
To be clear Mr. Strawman = when I said going from upper middle class to billionaire is first generation rich, I was not claiming that everyone under billionaire isn't rich. I know you tried to imply I said that, but I didn't and that isn't what I believe.
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Is upper middle class and enrollment in exclusive preparatory schools something that qualifies as "rich" in the sense that there is no economic struggle to further education and career, or isn't it?
No. To me rich is enough money that you don't have any concerns about needing to earn a paycheck, and despite what you think there are plenty who need to keep billing those hours to put their kids thru their fancy schools.
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Does a kid from that kind of background qualify for inclusion in the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison class of people who excelled despite "humble beginnings", or not.
Don't care, the discussion is Bill Gates and his upper middle class upbringing, not Thomas Edison.
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Forget about billionaires, there are only 412 of those. Was Gates' family so impecunious and destitute that Bill had to struggle and scramble his way through economic hardship to educational opportunity and access to open doors?
Nobody said they were destitute, until you just did. I believe "upper middle class" was what I was using to describe them. Thanks for some good laughs watching you desperately trying to steer the thread in a direction that gives you room to wriggle out of your assertions from earlier though.
Focus jtur88! Nobody said Bill Gates was destitute! Let's repeat for jtur88: Bill Gates went from upper middle class to billionaire. He was first generation rich.
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