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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that in the UK we love to hate rich people?

194 replies

InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest · 11/10/2021 17:18

Looking at a few threads here it seems that there is a definite trend that sees a lot of us in the UK loving to hate rich people. Why is that? Why do we resent them? Sure, I'd love to have lots of money and not need to worry but I don't resent those who do have it.

And yet there is so much vitriol on MN directed at people with money. Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble... Enlighten me please. Because I'm almost embarrassed IRL to admit I'd actually love to be rich!

OP posts:
thefourgp · 11/10/2021 17:24

Rich or super rich? I don’t think anyone works hard enough or is talented enough to become a billionaire without some morally bankrupt practices Eg. Having staff on zero hour contracts, paying lower level staff minimum wage whilst those at the top earn millions, having your staff have to claim universal credit because you don’t pay enough for them to comfortably live etc.

Kljnmw3459 · 11/10/2021 17:25

I think the opposite is true, everyone hates the poor.

mustlovegin · 11/10/2021 17:26

And yet there is so much vitriol on MN directed at people with money

A lot on MN are lefties

Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble

Very true

TheQueef · 11/10/2021 17:27

You must be new.
The poor are slated equally if not more on mnet and the 'Undeserving' poor are vilified.

Rainbowheart1 · 11/10/2021 17:27

Really, I think you will find everyone hates the poor

Waxonwaxoff0 · 11/10/2021 17:28

I don't hate rich people, I hate rich people who exploit poor people.

MargaretFaffter · 11/10/2021 17:29

Petty jealousy for the most part. Hating someone for being posh or rich is the other side of the same coin as hating someone for being “common” or poor. It’s all just a pointless waste of time and energy.

AnneLovesGilbert · 11/10/2021 17:30

I agree with you to a point. On the other hand the Conservatives are now the party of the working class and literally millions of people on low wages and recently reduced benefits seem besotted with our privileged privately wealthy, Eton educated toff Prime Minister and seem under the misguided impression he’s one of the lads and a down to earth man of the people. They want to be like him rather than hating him.

Keir Starmer is far more normal in his background and career progression and he’s seen as out of touch and inaccessible.

EmmaOvary · 11/10/2021 17:31

"Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble."

What are you on about?! Proportionally the rich pay less as a percentage of earnings than the poor, and there are far more poor people than rich. I'd say it's the poor we have to thank for taxes. Plus, the very wealthy have money in offshore tax havens/ creative accounting etc etc.

Eealoty · 11/10/2021 17:32

Without their tax money Grin. God.

One of the richest men in England, jrm, pays exactly zero tax in the UK. Not unusual with the very wealthy.

And much inherited wealth, still buoying "family businesses" in the UK today, comes from the humongous payouts given to slave owner families when slavery was abolished hundreds of years ago. The equivalent of hundreds of millions today, was handed out to each....! Which formed the basis for quite a number of big successful businesses today.

But keep doffing your hat 🎩

MissConductUS · 11/10/2021 17:33

YANBU. Being rich does not make someone evil.

DroopyClematis · 11/10/2021 17:34

I think that a lot of people go through life scrimping and scraping that when they hear of someone who , maybe, got a large inheritance or who earn/are married to someone who earns a lot of money that they feel jealous or even resentful.

There was a thread fairly recently posted by someone who was irked that she really wanted a particular LV bag but her friend went ahead and bought the one she wanted . The poster was very miffed that her friend didn't want her to copy her. ( or thereabouts.)

So many posts about a bloody ( ubiquitous and usually , copied ) bag.
When someone who is struggling to find the pennies to top up an electricity card , reads posts like this... the resentment overflows.

Sometimes, the odd thread reads like the 60s sketch featuring The Two Ronnies with John Cleese.
Basically saying 'I'm superior to him because I'm better than him, but I look up to other him because he's superior to me.'

I do still wonder whether we've shaken off class in our society.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 11/10/2021 17:34

And we'd be in a lot of trouble if a lot of the essential workers earning less than £10 an hour decided to quit their jobs too but many think they're not worthy of a fair wage.

aLilNonnyMouse · 11/10/2021 17:34

It's impossible to become rich without exploiting the labour of people poorer than you and paying them less than they are worth. People are rightly waking up to this reality and getting rightfully angry about it.

Comedycook · 11/10/2021 17:35

I'd say rich and poor are both hated!

mustlovegin · 11/10/2021 17:36

the very wealthy have money in offshore tax havens/ creative accounting etc

Billionaires and celebrities, sportsmen, etc yes, but the 'average' wealthy person pays a lot of tax

Iggly · 11/10/2021 17:36

The problem isn’t those individuals. It’s the system which allows individuals to effectively hoard more money than they’d ever need.

I don’t hate rich people for being rich. Eg I quite like Gary Neville but think Rishi is a fucking knob.

It slows down the economy, it stops other people earning more and results in huge imbalances.

Furthermore I hate that some rich people think that having money makes them better. No. It doesn’t.

The system is fucked and needs change.

Bunbunbunny · 11/10/2021 17:36

@Iggly

The problem isn’t those individuals. It’s the system which allows individuals to effectively hoard more money than they’d ever need.

I don’t hate rich people for being rich. Eg I quite like Gary Neville but think Rishi is a fucking knob.

It slows down the economy, it stops other people earning more and results in huge imbalances.

Furthermore I hate that some rich people think that having money makes them better. No. It doesn’t.

The system is fucked and needs change.

Yep I hate the system too
Iggly · 11/10/2021 17:37

Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble

Sorry but I’m not going to be grateful for those sponging off the backs of people who earn very little. The super rich are spongers.

Gallowayan · 11/10/2021 17:37

I don't hate people for being rich. I dislike people who support the system of inequalities which makes them better off.

HouseOfFire · 11/10/2021 17:37

@mustlovegin

And yet there is so much vitriol on MN directed at people with money

A lot on MN are lefties

Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble

Very true

No one hates the rich who actually pay their taxes...

Sadly that's not how the rich stay rich

mustlovegin · 11/10/2021 17:38

It's impossible to become rich without exploiting the labour of people poorer

Most entrepreneurs and industrialists take a lot of personal risk and work 24/7 - something that many employed people don't want to do. Each to their own

Iggly · 11/10/2021 17:38

@mustlovegin

It's impossible to become rich without exploiting the labour of people poorer

Most entrepreneurs and industrialists take a lot of personal risk and work 24/7 - something that many employed people don't want to do. Each to their own

They do not do it in isolation.

I take Jeff Bezos as an example.

Last time I checked, he was lent money by family and friends and he didn’t deliver all of my Amazon prime parcels.

mustlovegin · 11/10/2021 17:39

than they’d ever need

Define 'need'

Gallowayan · 11/10/2021 17:39

And for the avoidance of doubt by that I mean tories.