Rich people really deserve the money they have ?

Question

Rich people really deserve the money they have ?

Answer 1

Business is like a game. There are rules which produce winners and losers and often the difference is very small or a matter of luck.  An actor may get a   role that that makes him a superstar while another equally talented remains in the second tier. CEO's  see their options shoot up in value because the economy is good but when the economy turns sour  their replacement see almost no gains. When I read history I am struck by how few of the people who made major contributions were rich and how little we care about what the rich people did. I am not sure that the concept of deserve can be applied in a sensible way because there is no common agreement  about the value of anybody labor, so like any game we can only make sure people follow the rules. When we find the result unacceptable, we change the rules.

Answer 2

Deserve sometimes has nothing to do with it. If they earned it legally, then they certainly do deserve it. But if they win the lottery who is to say if they deserve it or not. How are we to judge that? Some things just ARE for no particular reason.

Answer 3

To answer this question, you have to define "rich", which is a completely relative term.  To a homeless person with no belongings other than the clothes on his back, you and I are rich.  

To Oprah, you and I are relative paupers.  

However, let's assume you mean a multi-millionaire in terms of wealth, not income.  After all, there are people who make $3 million a year and spend $3.1 million, thereby having a net loss of $100K for that year.

Let's take an entertainer, for example, like Jessica Simpson.  She is a business owner who sells a product - her image - for a profit.  Like any other business, she has a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement.  Her income is based on demand for her songs, movies, appearances, etc.  

In essence, she deserves every penny she makes, because people are willing to buy her products, and she sells them at a rate that earns her a profit.

Assume you are talking about invested wealth - a man works at a factory for 35 years and retires at 55, averaging $35,000 a year.  Because of living a very frugal lifestyle, he is able to save $10,000 a year, which invested wisely over time becomes $2 million.  Wealthy by many people's standards and earned through a lifetime of hard work.  

He dies at age 75 and passes on the $2 million tax free to family members who then invest it wisely as well, earns 10% on the money, and in another 28 years it is worth $32 million.

Let's say we assume this man's wealthy descendants don't deserve his money.  Who does?  Me?  You?  That guy over there?   He should have the right to give the money to whomever he wants, as he earned it.  I know, it's not the most socialist view of the world.  

Deserved?  Again, I'd say yes.  After all, our hard-working man never bought a lottery ticket, rarely ate dinner out, and did everything he could to secure his family's financial future so they might have it easier than he did.  

What about the woman that works hard through school, takes out financial aid to pay for college, works her way up through the corporate ladder, first making $20,000 a year, through promotion and perseverance starts making $100,000, and then accepts the job as CEO making $1,000,000 annual after 20 years.  As long as her leadership and management skills will benefit the company exponentially more than the $1 million they are paying, it is a win-win.  

Again, deserved.  

So, we've taken 3 scenarios - one an entertainer/business owner, one a hard-working blue collar worker with a propensity to save, and finally, the college-educated corporate employee who works her way up the ladder.  Each attained a level of success through hard work.  

How about the guy who walks into the convenience store every day and buys 3 lottery tickets?  He spends $100 a month on the lottery for a couple years and one day hits the powerball and wins $100 million.  Deserved?  Some would say no, but I would say yes.  As much as I feel the lottery is a waste of money and is solely motivated by greed, the guy spent the money every day on his tickets.  Successful?  Not because of the lottery win - that can make a person lucky, not successful.  However, ultimately he deserves the money because he won it fair and square, just like the person that wins the door prize at bingo.  They all put their tickets in the jar when they walked in and someone had to win it.  

Assuming jealousy is not the motive to ask the question (i.e. that person has more than me so let's make everyone equal), you asked "do the rich deserve to be rich?".  

Let's say the answer is a resounding "NO!".  We then have to decide how to apportion everyone's wealth evenly so no one is better off than anyone else.  In the above scenario, who should have their wealth stripped, who should it go to, and why?  

Once these questions are answered, we can have a better understanding of "deservedness" of the rich.

Answer 4

No.

That's why we have government and welfare.  So we can take from the rich and give to the poor who helped them get rich by staying home and out of the way.

Answer 5

A lot of them no, like K-Fed.

Answer 6

it doesn't matter- they have it anyway.  I"m sure each case is different...and I don't think money is something people "deserve" I think they either somehow inherit it, or work to get it... or steal it!

Answer 7

There are different class of rich people. The celebrity culture is more in developed nation because people love easy life and glamorous life. In developing countries the icons are industrialists and scientists. So in those countries they deserve the money they have but not in developed nations. In China and India, scientists, astronauts, entrepreneurs are icons of youth. But here in US, kids have brittney spears as icon. The riches dont deserve it. But on the other side, smart people in poor countries make money coz people like to be like them whereas we like celebrities.

Answer 8

Mostly no.  Most extremely wealthy people I have seen have, weather conscious or unconscious, done many immoral things to get it.  

On the other hand though they all don't seem happy with there lives at all. They're bored, paranoid, and miserable.

So I believe everyone, brought up rich or poor, should just do what makes them truly happy, instead of obsessing over pursuing money.  The ends don't ever justify the means.

Answer 9

in america there is what is called old money and new money, usually old money invested in tobacco, oil, cotton or some sort of industry, in other words they are the killers, scounderals, rapists, speculators and liars who managed to come out on top in the new world while eradicating milliions of people who were living here before them...New Money is a different story....New Money are the ones who learned from the old money how it was done but did not make their move until they were sure that the old money had cleared the way and cleaned up most of the hostil country...and while they eat off ikea...poor children eat off dirt...how wonderful is that

Answer 10

Depends on what you mean by 'deserve'.

Clearly, some people work 'harder' than others but get paid less, and others barely work and get paid alot.

That is because there are generally skills and abilities which are required for a job that are rare. For example, an accountant has a rare skill. His skills are probably so rare because accounting is perceived as very boring work by most people.

Because his skill is rare, people are willing to pay him more for his time, because they might not be able to find another accountant to do the same work.

Clearly, the accountant worked for it, and people were willing to pay him the amount they did for his time, or he wouldn't have the money.

Now lets say there's two accountants who get paid the same amount - one worked his way through university doing 30 hours a week to meet the bills whilst he studied hard, and the other was from a rich family, went on overseas holidays at the end of every semester, lived in an expensive apartment, and drove an expensive car, all at his parents expense.

Clearly, the first accountant worked harder for his degree. Does that mean he is 'more deserving' of the money he receieves?

That is basically a philosophical question.

Lets then contrast the accountant with a cleaner. One who works 50 hours per week, and takes hold 1/3 what the accountant does. He works hard every day, makes things absolutely spotless, and does extremely dirty work.

Why does the cleaner get paid less than the accountant? He gets paid less because the skills used for his job aren't as rare. There are plenty of people who can do the job, so when the cleaner says he wants an extra $20 a week, his employer can say no, because he can find another person to do the work if he wants.

Is the cleaner more deserving of his money than the accountant because he works harder, longer hours?

Yet again, this is a philosophical question.

Obviously, there are people who don't deserve there money - for example, people who inherited their wealth from wealthy parents who worked hard for it, but never worked hard for anything themselves. They're not really 'deserving' of their money.

There are always differences in outcomes for everyone. Two people could put in the same effort, but have vastly different outcomes. It may just be about being in the right place at the right time sometimes.

Answer 11

IN MY OPINION, THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF RICH AND POOR SHOULD BE DONE AWAY WITH, AND IT SHOULD BECOEM MANDATORY FOR EVERYBODY TO PERFORM SOME KIND OF SERVICE RATHER THAN JUST BEING A BURDEN ON OTHERS.

WHY IS CHINA,  DESPITE BEING A COMMUNIST COUNTRY, MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN U.S. NOW?

Answer 12

depends, some people work really hard for that money.  others are just born into it.

Answer 13

no they dont a lot of the time because they get payed for doing their hobbies

like footballers get payed more than first responders who do voluntery work even though they help save lifes and footballers dont

Answer 14

Say we were both dropped off in the middle of nowhere and had to survive.  If I was lazy and did nothing, and you were industrious and built a nice little shelter, we would both deserve our outcomes.  We both had the same opportunities and disadvantages.  

Now lets say that we were both dropped of in this same location and you had nothing and I had tools, supplies, equipment, and a decade of knowledge about surviving in the region.  Would it be fair if I prospered and you didn't?

I'm reading a great book right now called Consumed: How markets corrupt children, infantile adults, and swallow citizens whole.  Towards the beginning, the Author, Benjamin Barber, talks about how this mindset came to be.  

In early America, the mindset was work hard, and be frugal.  Think of the Amish, for example.  These hard workers ended up with better off because of their lifestyle.  People who didn't work so hard didn't have much to show for it.  In an era where most people had similar opportunity, the harder worker did deserve their wealth.  

Now, though, we don't have any kind of equality.  You can't pick your parents or the circumstances you were born into.  Our rich kids don't go to inner city schools, our poorest kids can't do as well on tests if they are only thinking about when lunch is (their only meal of the day).  A hard working construction worker is never going to earn as much money as a lazy lawyer.

Answer 15

Some do , some dont.

Its too big a group to label as deserving or underserving.

Hardworking people deserve all they can get.

Answer 16

Question must have been "Poor people know why they are poor ? then the answer would be always no they dont deserve the money they have.

Answer 17

Depends on how they got it. They did stuff legally, then they should keep it. Do stuff illegally, go to jail and give the money to people who actually need it.

Answer 18

if they worked hard for it of course coz its theres

but if its from drug dealing or so, they dont

Answer 19

it depends on how they got it.

Answer 20

It depends on how they got it. If they got it using the bad way, then i think they don't deserve the money. We can say that they deserve it if they use their money for the good of others.

Answer 21

Boy.  What?

Ok I'll bite.

No.  All rich people don't deserve the money they have.

ALL rich people should be poor.  AND!!!   AND!!!...lol

ALL poor people should be rich.  How's that?

I'm sorry but that is the rediculous answer that your question in my opinion is begging to hear.  Now, if you think my answer sounded kind of silly..............your doing great!

Answer 22

maybe. much money is made from cronyism. but who are we to decide who deserves what?