Do rich people feel guilty?

[OneWiseAmberOP]

By rich I mean comfortably private school, buying luxury items and holidays on a regular basis witohut having to save up for it.

If you think you've earned your money and people are just jealous do you not see 'your' money came from extactive capitalistic practices and its taken from the pockets of people who are not rich...?

Well to be frank I believe a little communism is in order here re food, gas and health care.

No, not at all.

I also favour capitalism over the alternatives. My parents were economic migrants from Communist countries, two of many that took the opportunity to leave when it presented itself.

You do sound like you are advocating communism or at least bigger government. I would not trust this shower of a government to get anything right.

Wonder what nationalising food will do to the obesity epidemic.

Realistically, there are obese people, and there are poor people.

Their profit margins are tiny

If they had any shame, or compassion, or humanity, they wouldn't be rich in the first place.

No, I don't think rich people feel guilty. They hang out with others of similar wealth.

I actually think the tax on school fees means people are more likely to just say "Oh yeah, Jack goes to ABC School" when asked, rather than wibbling about what a hard decision it was to go private (I grew up in an area where a lot of people go private but it's still very left wing). Then, when the asker says "Oh! I don't agree with private school", they'll say "Don't choose it then".

What does annoy me is when someone meets someone they perceive as "rich" and then proceeds to tell them that they should donate money to charity. I am sure the teller feels better about themselves for doing so but I am sure that the "rich" person will happily ignore them. How much someone has or doesn't have isn't anyone else's business.

So why should somoeone who’s worked very hard at school and uni and done well fell bad? Do poor people who screwed around at school feel bad? It’s an odd question.

Realistically, there is a huge overlap between the two categories.

Its like £3.50 for a frozen portion of Mac and cheese if you don't want to get the £1 from Iceland that won't fill you up

Prices are prices

I've worked on a line. There were say 10 of us in my group on £10 an hour. That's £100 per hour total for hundreds and hundreds of trays of food

I often feel guilty, but its more like
survivor guilt, in that I was able to escape
from my very financially pressed childhood and now have a very financially sound life with 4 properties and children at public
school.

I try to give back and have done a lot of community work - but the upshot is that it’s mostly not appreciated or just taken for granted.

It's also their expertise and skills to be fair.

I’m not rich but do you feel guilty that you’re richer than a huge percentage of the world population.? If not why not?

If you think communism feeds people you are wrong

I think it was Peter Mandleson who said he was very relaxed about people being filthy rich, and he said that because he recognised that wealthy Brits are excellent for the tax take. This is a great attitude. We should be encouraging as many compatriots to get as rich as possible because that’s what’s going to fund our public services. How on earth have we got to the state where people who lavish taxes on the state should somehow feel guilty? It’s nuts!

Maybe if you had spent a couple of quid on toothbrushes and toothpaste over the years you wouldn't be on here whinging that your dentist won't treat you for free. Why the hell should they? Is it their fault you didn't take proper care of your teeth? No, but you'd expect them to sort out your own neglect of your teeth? You could have saved yourself a fortune.

Sure.

I wanted to say something similar. But I didn't want to be unkind

You are lucky not to understand, and swap empathy for arrogance.

I'm not being arrogant, in fact I'd say you are, in believing you deserve special treatment because you didn't do as well as you had hoped in life. Like you sound angry that your dentist isn't falling over himself to treat you for free.

I feel bad. She might have MH issues and/or a serious medical issue affecting her teeth.

Not one bit- I don’t think they should either. They earn it they can spend it!

YANBU, OP. It’s never more gross than watching poor people have to serve rich people, especially in poor countries.

Listening to white people moan about leaving their maids and nannies behind in the East is particularly nauseating.