I don't really care how much money you have. I don't care if you're worth a gazillion dollars.
People would make snide comments about Paris Hilton's tax breaks. But it really does not bother me when she spends 10 thousand on a new pair of shoes or a million on an all night long party. What she does with her money has no impact whatsoever on my life. And her video a couple weeks back was pure gold, but I digress.
But this is where we have given the wrong message.
All too often, we are accused of class warfare. Who really cares what Paris Hilton does? If it doesn't affect your life, let her do what she wants. That's fine by me.
What is wrong is when the rich do something that does affect me.
When the board and executives at Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and on and on made bad financial decisions, there was not a poor person represented in that room. Then they are bailed out by our tax dollars. In essence, I am an involuntary shareholder in a company in which I will see none of the gains, am on the hook for any losses, and have no say to make sure these companies don't engage in such risky actions again.
When an insurance executive raises your rates or denies your claim so he can get a bigger bonus, no poor person has a say in that decision. Rich people only need apply for that job. Meanwhile I pay the price in higher premiums.
When oil executives feed at the public trough through tax subsidies, then make $40 billion in profits, only rich people have any say in that matter. Poor people just pay the bills.
Rich people do not necessarily have bad judgment, but when they are in positions of power, they can and do have devastating affects on the rest of us. That John McCain has 7 homes (or 700 homes for that matter) does not bother me all that much. What does trouble me is that he wants to do the same thing we have been doing for years. That is handing over the economy to the rich people who have been making bad decisions and forcing them on the rest of us.