Why don't rich people share their riches with the poor?

Question

In Social Science, there is what we call differential association. This is a situation where rich people live side by side with the most poor people and in such a situation, there is always a tendency of the poor community yielding gangs of thieves to terrorise rich communities. Often times I tend to think one of the ways reducing criminal aggression by the most poor on the rich is by compassionately sharing the riches so as to narrow the gap between the rich and poor. It also unsafe to have people in abject poverty living in the neighbourhood with the rich people.

Answer 1

Then they wouldn't be rich and have privileged lifestyles.
Being rich means segregation and living in your own world.
But there are many wealthy people who use their position in life to promote charities.

Answer 2

Some wealthy people inherited their money, of course, but many wealthy people got to where they are by hard work, cunning and sacrifice. They earned it. Why should they give it away to someone? Throwing money at someone who is poor does not necessarily signify being compassionate. Being compassionate is providing someone the opportunity to develop life fulfilling tools like education or skills training so that they may go out, if they choose, and make their own riches. This way a person is not robbed of the pleasure of having earned their own place in the world and that energy of frustration and aggression might be channeled into something positive.

Answer 3

I am not a wealthy person so I can't tell you what rich people think, but I have an opinion all the same. I do not give away my money to poor people. I work on the same street as a ghetto and I have people asking me for money every day. I will never give them money, not because I hate poor people, but because I kill myself to earn this money that they want me to just hand over to them. I don't ask that people give me anything that I didn't earn. There will always be poor people because there will always be those of us who refuse to work. There are some people who have just gotten a bad hand in life, they are the exception though. There are many rich people who give to charities, look at Bill Gates. He gives billions to cure the sick. I would hate to be poor and homeless, that's why I do everything in my power to not be. I might never be rich, but if I were I would probably give to a good charity as opposed to the poor people who live down the street from my job. Most rich people are like me, they have worked to hard for what they have to give it away. That's a fair statement I think. I hope this has been helpful.

Answer 4

I can see your concern. The idea is good in theory but practically there should be ways and means to share their wealth. By distributing money it will all go down the drain. They can start programs by helping the poor with food and clothing first. Then start a vocational training center with various interests and counseling so that they can bring them on track and help them to sustain themselves from poverty. Just sharing their wealth without a definite plan won't work. This can work. But you know most of the wealthy people aren't bad. They think about helping others but somewhere along the way they lose focus. Then, it gets hard for them to get back to their humble dreams. You can only come across a few who are the cream of the crop to come out of their shell and do something for just the betterment of the society. Let's just hope that more of them come through and help people around them.

Answer 5

They do share. The top 5% of the population pay around 50% of the total income tax revenues to the federal government, let alone state income and property taxes. The wealthy do share with the less affluent. This money is then spend on education, welfare, and social programs for the less affluent. They are already caring more then their "fair share" of the burden, to ask more of them is asinine. To call them greedy or ignorant is just sour grapes. If it bothers you that they have something that you don't, work hard, plan ahead, and do what you can to increase your financial situation. I've never been handed anything, I put myself through school, and worked hard to be where I am today. I'm nothing special, if I can work hard and find a job making 6 figures, then anyone can who has the motivation to do so.

Answer 6

Wealth is not entirely earned. Some of it is inherited. Some of it happens by luck, such as winning a lottery or selecting good investments. Some of it is gained through poor government policy, such as policies that are geared to maintain class stratification. Occasionally, somebody who is well off was once poor, but this is not the norm.

Even given the above, rich people are no different than anybody else in terms of their values and beliefs re sharing the wealth. There are some who will give significant sums of money to charity, feeling this is their way of "giving back". Others create their own foundations and allow philanthropists to use their money to develop specific types of programs. Other wealthy people may choose not to share their wealth, feeling maybe they worked for it, they deserve it. There is a theoretical principle called conspicuous consumption, imported by a theorist by the name of Veblen. Some wealthy - particularly those of new money - want to show their wealth by purchasing big homes, fancy cars and enjoy their lives, not necessarily to make the poor mad at them, but to show people what they feel they've earned.

In a country where such great wealth is possible, I believe government does have a responsibility to ensure that poverty is not an issue. All people should be able to meet their own needs and live a basic lifestyle without worrying about making choices like they have to here in Ontario, where many have to choose between paying rent or buying food. In many ways, some charities do perpetuate government inaction in this area ... particularly charities, such as food banks and homeless shelters. This gives people the false notion that the needs of the very poor are taken care of by those that give to food banks or shelters, when in fact the opposite is true.

Self-esteem and personal self-worth are very much driven by how much a person is able to achieve, not necessarily monetarily, but in ways of making one's mark on society. If a person has to rely on hand-outs for basic survival, they are not likely to develop a high enough self-esteem and motivation to do more for themselves, as they may see themselves as only worthy of the "crumbs" of society. There have been many studies on the principle of reciprocity, whereby those who are unable to reciprocate actually lose their feeling of self-worth.

Answer 7

Some rich people do share. But also, some poor people take advantage of generous people. If you just give and give to the poor, you have accomplished nothing. There is an old saying that states that "if you give a fish to a hungry man, he'll again be hungry tomorrow, but if you teach that hungry man how to fish, he'll never go hungry again".

The solution to poverty does NOT lie in giving to the poor, but in TEACHING to the poor. More than economic, poverty is a problem of education.

Answer 8

Many are in a world where they want it to remain limited with just a few. Many feel if they did it, let the poor do it i mean get rich.Finally some feel rich peer pressure prohibits indirectly using their money for the poor unless it helps them through taxes or other perks. Remember this. Its not monetary richness that can help the poor its richness of heart that can do wonders. I wish you joy and peace Good luck and much wisdom.

Answer 9

i believe there should be a wage cap on £100,000 grand a year. business profits should be taxed heavily all over the world. the reason for ( i believe the majority) crime, as you have suggested, is that people who are filthy rich live along side those who are dirt poor. if there wasnt such a disgusting polarisation of wealth i believe there would not be half as much crime.
however, the rich people want to stay rich and they will cling on to their money until their dying breaths.

Answer 10

Many rich people do give to the needy. But they have to give it to the right place. If they just give it to people who could do more, but just don't want to, it's not even fair. They try to teach people how to fish, instead of just giving them the fish.
That's why people who win the lottery usually end up broke in a few years. They don't have the knowledge to use the money wisely. It would be foolish for a rich person to waste his money on people like that.

Answer 11

You don't make poor people rich, by making the rich people poor. Chances are the rich people (or their forefathers) worked for their money, sought out education, studied hard, worked hard, came up with good ideas. Why should they be penalised in favour of those who have not succeeded? Very often those who have plenty give generously to charity!