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

[InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest]

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!

agree with this. If you look at any threads on high earners its all about how they "worked really hard" or took all the opportunities or took risks.

i always laugh when i see people posting "i worked so hard at my private school"

@Fizbosshoes True. It's certainly not an average salary or what anyone should feel that they have to 'aspire' to either.

Even middle class people make me feel uncomfortable. Again it’s not that I hate them, they’re just living a different life to what I am so I just find it a lot harder to connect to them.

You feel uncomfortable around the very average 60% of the UK population? That is very hard to believe.

I think we don’t like to celebrate success it’s seen as crass by many

And there is still a slight culture of know your place

I find more hate aimed at the poor. It's like being poor is seen as an immoral choice that people make.

I don't hate rich people, I hate greedy people.

Landlords who own 1000s of properties, a lot sat empty, during a housing crisis. Landlords who buy up all the new builds meant for first time buyers, only adding to the expensive rental imbalance and fucking over young people trying to save for a deposit.

Wealthy business owners who cut corners, scrimp on wages by paying people the bare minimum while whining that people don't want to work anymore/dare to take time off sick/keep leaving their terrible company.

People who are wealthy and dodge taxes, get tax breaks and benefits handed to them and are in all expenses paid jobs. Looking at you Bottomley!!

The rich people I don't hate are those that do none of the above, those that came into that wealth by actually working their arses off, paying staff fair wages etc and even those who's families worked their arses off so they could inherit.

I have seen a comment on MN that literally said “I hate all rich people”.

I have never seen a comment saying “I hate poor people”.

@CatsArePeople

its pretty normal to sneer at unearned privilege. like the landed gentry.

Are all landed people 'gentry'? Did all landed people go to public schools?

@thefourgp

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.

Right on the money here.

No one begrudges hard work and sacrifice for success and financial reward. But people do hate business cheats, liars, and morally corrupt arseholes, who would throw their own mother under the bus just to get ahead.

It’s fashionable among many lefties to dislike the wealthy

The stupidity of it is that many of this type of lefties are wealthy to the majority of people they are always wittering on about they are happy to pay more tax. Well as they are not taxed more I often wonder why they don’t spend their time doing some volunteer work rather than wring their hands constantly about the state of our society

The rich people I have met (admittedly few and far between) have always seemed nice. It's the middle classes who can seem the most out of touch and therefore unlikeable. Those who claim to be 'skint' and go on to ask how on earth will they feed a family of four for a week on £200 (God forbid they use their savings!). MNers who answer the question 'Where can I buy a cheap black dress for a funeral' with 'Why not try Hobbs?' and others who claim 'It's only £10, why are you getting so worked up about it', not understanding that £10 is a lot of money to some.

Obviously MAMCALT.

Or even NAMCALT!

Lots of good points Diverseopinions

It would never cross my mind to hate them, they obviously worked hard for what they have (or family did). Surely we want contributing members of society?

The system is broken. The government should have brought in a higher tax band instead of increasing Ni across the board. But then they receive lots of donations from wealthy billionaires and the like.

take Jeff Bezos as an example
Last time I checked, he was lent money by family and friends

The American Dream is a lie, pure and simple.

I'm not so sure:

Jeff Bezos was born the son of a single teen mom who was so strapped she couldn’t afford a telephone, and he is now the richest person in the world...

Jacklyn Bezos was barely 17 and a junior in high school when she gave birth to Bezos in 1964...

[she] enrolled in night school and picked her classes based on which professor would allow her to bring her infant to class with her...

www.cnbc.com/2019/06/14/jeff-bezoss-single-teen-mom-brought-him-to-night-school-with-her.html

Jeff Bezos says dad emigrated from Cuba alone at 16: ‘His grit, determination, optimism are inspiring’

in 1962 Mike Bezos came to America from Cuba wearing a jacket his mother had hand-stitched from cleaning rags. He was a teenager travelling by himself and he spoke almost no English...

Bezos’ father first stayed in Camp Matecumbe, a refugee camp in Florida, for three weeks. He was later sent to Wilmington, Delaware to attend high school, where he got a scholarship to go to college in Albuquerque...

Though Mike Bezos is not Jeff’s biological father, he raised him...

“It is truly unbelievable. I look back on my life and I had lived the American Dream 30 years ago,” Mike Bezos says. “It is really just out of this world.”

www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/how-jeff-bezos-dad-who-came-from-cuba-alone-at-16-inspires-him.html

No the super rich people and ‘old money’ are absolutely loved to the point of fetishisation with bowing and scraping and cap doffing. It’s a national embarrassment and explains why we have Brexit.

On the other hand if you’re a higher earner who studied hard, works ridiculous hours and is on a higher wage e.g £60k+ you are hated, called liberal elite, told you’re rude and entitled unlike those wonderful real posh people covered in dog hair who drive bangers despite being unearned multi millionaires.

You’re also told your not one of the ‘people’ with your lattes and quinoa and are responsible for people who left school at the first opportunity and/or possibly made some poor choices being ‘left behind’. Meanwhile Johnson, Sunak, Farage, Laurence Fox etc who were born into money and would get up and walk out if almost any us were seated next to them at a restaurant are apparently on the side of working man.

This country is very very fucked up.

Surely we want contributing members of society?

Exactly. Probably the least respectable are those who don't produce anything- like researchers or philosophers living off grants, big fish managing charities funded by the taxpayer or lobby groups. Many of these spend their time concocting ideas about how to make middle classes feel guilty and strip them of their hard earned cash

On the other hand, I think most decent people would agree that those who make an effort but still struggle (or are disabled, for instance) need and deserve help

I think if there were more social mobility in the country then people would be more philosophical about the wealthy. But, yes, I think people are less generous when money and power are so heavily hoarded.

I don't hate rich people, I'm jealous of them. Most people on MN are rich.

I disagree. YABU. There is a difference between hating the behaviour and hating the person. I do dislike lying, slithery, cowardly, chancers, conmen and charlatans, especially when they line their personal pockets with public money - much of which is currently evident - but that's not the same thing at all.

really

if you’re a higher earner who studied hard, works ridiculous hours and is on a higher wage e.g £60k+ you are hated, called liberal elite

Many of these high earners are not liberal though

A lot dislike liberals as they consider them hypocritical

How many countries are poorer than Jeff Bezos now? Still around 125? Nobody needs so much.

I don’t hate nice rich people with good morals. Agree with the greedy rich people comment.