TheRich

Who is rich?

The Democrats are at it again. Soak the rich. Equitable society. It got me thinking who exactly are the rich?

I used to live in San Antonio and Laredo Texas. Land of the illegal. To the poverty stricken Mexican scratching out an existence in a single room hut with only outdoor plumbing, the illegals living in Laredo with six or eight or ten in a house having their own indoor plumbing and electricity were rich. To those same Laredoans, a Mexican, legal or not, living in the slums of south San Antonio in a small 500-800 square foot duplex home with no one else but their family, be it two, four, six or eight members, had it too well off. To a south San Antonio low income family, a middle class home in middle of town with 1200 square feet, two baths, two or three bedrooms, and a small backyard had to be rich. To a middle class worker, looking at those ‘huge’ Northside homes (2500 square feet, 3 bath, 3 bedrooms, two car garage for 150-175K), they surely were the residences of the wealthy. To the average Northsider, the wealthier enclaves of the city with their 4000 square foot, half acre lots, with prices over 300-400K, that must have been heaven. To those folks, scratching out a living with two professionals, they looked with envy at the Gates, the Dells, and others, surely richer than rich could be.

So what is rich? Everyone believes those above him on the economic scale are rich while ignoring the fact that all those beneath him believe him to be rich. Wealth envy. If I only could have some of their (those above) income, one thinks to himself, forgetting all those beneath him are thinking the same. It is a no win game. There are not enough rich to make everyone better off. Confiscate all of Bill Gates immense wealth and each citizen of the US will get $200, perhaps $250 each, hardly enough to worry about. But it makes good press, gets politicians elected, and government growing.

Who is the rich? Well to anyone below you and I, it is you and I, and to you and I, anyone with more than what you or I have.