Sunak says we have 'moved past' resenting people for being rich

[theDudesmummy]

Wtf. I guess peak capitalism has been achieved. Well done capitalists. Nauseating.

I understand and agree with much of the sentiment on this thread, however..... Where do we mark a line. Are first generation rich OK, because they didn't inherit? Sunaks parents were not wealthy, he has made his own wealth, and married wealth. His wife is second generation, but her father came from a very poor background. As a family they support a lot of charitable foundations.

Many of the UK billionaires are self made, many are immigrants. How do you view Dyson? How about the woman who opened all the betting shops, the plumber guy, both working class made good.

I don’t resent anyone for their wealth.

I resent the fact only wealthy privileged people make it to high positions where they get to make life changing decisions about impoverished people though.

I don't necessarily resent the rich. Some people are rich because they've worked bloody hard to get where they are. Good on them.

I resent those people who live in a bubble and have no idea about the reality of standard of living for some people.

I resent those who have ancestral wealth, who went to the right school, met the right people, groomed from birth to go to Eton, do PPE at Oxbridge and have had everything handed to them on a plate all their lives.

Basically those who have no idea and believe everyone is struggling, and everyone is cutting back. However, they are cutting back on that third foreign holiday this year, others are cutting back on their own food so they can feed their kids. Not the same.

Didn't Switzerland get rich by providing secret banking services to any one and everyone. Eg Nazis.
And they certainly had very strict immigration rules

@PinkRobotDuck What in the world does this have to do with either Rishi Sunak’s comment or mine? If you’re trying to point out that I’m a rich hypocrite without @ ing me, well - it wasn’t a great move and you’re quite wrong. My quasi-“D”H goes on unemployment here next week, I’m scared to death (unfortunate, since that won’t be a long scare), we don’t have any massive savings or own any property anywhere. If you own ANY property in the UK, you’re better off than we are. I’m now still working while I’m dying so we can pay our rent; I’m so, so fucking exhausted in my bones and it’s not a path to death that I’d wish on anyone. Before “D”H lost his job, we were hoping I could start shutting down. We came here because this is where he could get a job at the time, and I’m staying in Switzerland because they pay for my incredibly expensive medication and they’ll let me have the right to die, which I need quite soon, and the UK won’t. I regret including those six extra words “I’m in Switzerland right now but” because of people like you, so let’s just pretend my comment started at, “My friend in Edinburgh…”

You're always gonna get some people more successful than others.

As you mention the Sunaks family charitable works, i think its only fair that his wives family 100% back the Russians in their invasion of Ukraine & have close ties to Modi who also backs Putin....... perhaps they can hand out some money to some charities helping Ukrainian orphaned children or victims of Russian rape?

It’s the system our govts since Thatcher have allowed that I resent allowing the v rich to siphon off so much of the country’s wealth.

Jusr one example:

”In 2022 Shell made £33 billion. It paid its outgoing CEO £9.7 million. Already in the first three months of 2023, the company made £7.6 billion. Eyewatering sums.Meanwhile the rest of us have seen energy bills soar, with almost 2 million households plunged into fuel poverty. The choice between heating or eating became a reality for millions.

And yet despite this huge disparity, Shell paid just £15 million in tax to the UK. That’s 22p per citizen. Shell made enough in 2022 to pay for the energy bills of almost half the UK population. Instead, just 22p.

Norway meanwhile eked out £6.3 billion from Shell, amounting to £1,126 per citizen. This despite the fact that Shell doesn't report any oil production at all in Norway, and it only produces 2.5 times more gas in Norway than it does in the UK.

And this absurd reality comes in a year in which the UK had a supposed windfall tax on the profits of energy giants like Shell. Just like our broken energy system at large, the tax regime isn’t working.”

https://act.globalwitness.org/page/128561/tweet/1

we don’t actually know how he made his wealth but it certainly wasn’t some sort of rags to riches, hard graft of a tale otherwise we’d hear all about it. He most likely made it off the back of the 2008 bank crash (it was gambling investment managers who broke the banks with making audacious bets). I would be less bothered if we the taxpayers weren’t expected to pick up the fucking tab.

The rewards for the very wealthy remain far far too skewed in their favour and people at the bottom get fuck all. It’s naive to think it isn’t linked.

DH had a well paid job and now retired we are happily passing it on to the DCs - what do you expect people to do - make alot of money then give all to a charity? (and some of their Chairs do very well) .

We inherited nothing and have paid tax all our lives and now pay tax on our pensions. I'm sure that that totals up to quite a lot going to the Gov to do what they will with.

I took your post as a criticism of standard of living in Edinburgh as compared with Switzerland.

I don't resent a rich person but I do resent the inequity in our society. We know that vast wealth inequality leads to all number of inequalities in our society. We also know that the societies with the biggest gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone including the well off. The Spirit Level by Wilkinson and Pickett talks brilliantly about this.

I may not resent a rich person but I certainly resent a system where people have billions - an amount impossible to spent in 3 lifetimes and others are choosing between heating and eating.

Sunak just makes himself look like an idiot when he tries to speak for the ordinary person.
How on earth would he know what an average person thinks? He only knows other rich people fgs!
Im more than a little bit annoyed at those in power telling us how we are supposed to feel about every last subject, especially one which blatantly works in their favour and against that of those they are supposed to represent

Individuals hoarding wealth while millions are using food banks and struggling to access basic healthcare is not a good look.

Rishi Sunak 👁️ CU

If schools and healthcare in this country weren't in such dire straits, I might be able to "move on."
If there werent huge teacher shortages in secondary and underfunding.
If there werent ridiculous ambulance waits.
If he hadn't made changes to student loans so that bright kids wanting a post 18 education to further their chances would be punished with 40 years of punishing debt. Despite other countries having similar levels of university attendance without the punishing debt.
If young people didn't face a housing crisis.
Then I might move on.

@PinkRobotDuck No, it wasn’t at all. I would actually live in Edinburgh if I could, and Switzerland has some very, VERY big problems and some very big blind spots, like almost any country.