Don't Cry For Me Argentina

I found this particular piece on the rich or rather the Nuevo Riche to be rather interesting. The author did a follow up here. The first one is a letter or email from some upper class family that makes in excess of 250 grand a year and how they don't feel rich and should not have to pay the taxes that they do.

The second is rather a rebuttal of how off base the author thinks the letter is and I agree.

I am not going to quote it here, you can read it yourself. Yes I know, a small group of small violins are being assembled now just for him. But be that as it may, I think that the one point one can take away from these sorts of complaints is that those making vast amounts of money - high six figure incomes I should say, though I would bet this applies to those making even more - is that a large number of these folks are just as out of control financially as anyone else. They do not know how to really live within their means.

I am not saying this to garner any sympathy. Far from it. I know nothing about their credit cards or other loans, but I would say that they are living in a house far more than they need, purchase cars far more expensive and spend far more than is necessary on other things as well. The long and the short of it is they do not know how to manage their money so any increase in out go looks horrible to them.

I have known people in exactly this situation. The more money they get or think they are getting, the more they spend. Making some sailors seem austere by comparison. What is worse is that a good number of these people really do feel that they entitled to all they have and more.

I know not where this behavior and attitude comes from. It did not used to be so. I knew people who were very well off but you would not guess it by their possessions or life style. A friend up in Phillie whose father owned a hardware store but also inherited a good deal of money. Another whose parents were professionals. A friend of my father who was a specialty surgeon at a hospital up in Cleveland. They were not austere, just nicely middle class.

So for these people to complain about government expenditures I would have to say: "If you spot it, you got it." Maybe your financial problem is you and not the government.