Reply #55: Today's rich are two or three generations removed from the person who made the family fortune.

[bulloney]

They never had to worry about paying for their college, finding a sustainable job, affording housing. They can afford luxuries regularly that most of us have to save up for most of our lives to get--if ever.

The ancestors of these people made their wealth despite tax rates on the wealthiest that were double or nearly triple the current rates. Money has come so easy for this generation's wealthy because of their family's predecessors that they want to find a way to make it easier. They don't want to do it by working longer or harder. They do it by buying off public officials to lower the tax rates on their bracket or eliminate regulations that increase their cost of doing business (never mind the long-term consequences).

I was hoping the current economy would be a wake-up call for these people. Instead, they've only hunkered down and are trying to horde even more of the pie that they already have.