Why do so many people like to see the successful (rich) punished while the govt. rewards the lazy? Jealousy?

Question

Why are wealthy people made out to be evil while lazy people are referred to as the poor innocent people (I am referring to people that live off govenment programs when they are capable of working.)

Answer 1

If a person works hard to make a fortune, I think they should be able to decide how it is spent. Not the government.

Answer 2

The reason could be that "so many people" feel cheated by this classist society because they are denied the benefits, special treatment and superiority that rich people are granted.

I don't believe that it has anything to do with jealousy, I believe that it has to do with hatred of the classist power structure. It seems that "so many people" don't know what the real enemy is and they take their anger and frustration out on rich people because they have confused the evil social order with the people living within the evil social order.


It is incorrect to call the rich "successful" just for being rich. People who are capable of working that inherit riches and live off of their parents' fortune and do not work can easily be classified as "successful" just for being rich.

It is also incorrect to call poor innocent people "lazy" just for being in need of government assistance while being capable of working. People who inherit poverty that work two or three McJobs a day while also receiving extra assistance from the government can easily be classified as "lazy" just for being poor innocent people.

Answer 3

You are asking 2 questions that are quite different.

a) Why do so many people like to see the successful/rich punished?

b) Why does the government reward the lazy?

I doubt that many people out there like to see lazy people rewarded for doing nothing. The system is in place for those that need help, but people take advantage. However, you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater and take away benefits to the needy just because some people take advantage.

People always take advantage, no matter what their economic standing. Rich people can be just as lazy. In a lot of ways, they are even more lazy. Or they can just be very selfish and greedy.

The term is 'schadenfreude'... look it up. People like watching rich/successful people fall because there are far too many cases where people hear about rich/successful people getting away with things. Even murder. Hello OJ! Hello Robert Blake! Hello Brandy! Paris almost got special treatment and released (actually, she still is getting preferred treatment).

People like to know that rich people don't ALWAYS get away with these types of things.

Answer 4

UGh, I know exactly how you feel. I think about this ALL of the time. IF you are truly in need of aid it makes sense... but most of them really are lazy! If you are getting that money from the government, you better be crippled, blind, deaf, homeless, and have a total of three fingers. If the above is not true, Mickey D's is ALWAYS hiring... Let's get serious.

The ones that work hard for their money should be able to keep it. What the hell is wrong with this picture??? Yhe lazy should NOT be rewarded... the hard working should.

Answer 5

Well, I agree with you completely. Than those who are busting their butts to make ends meet and need just a lil bit of help are denied because they "make too much". The alternative would be to do nothing and get hand outs. I was there. At 21 with baby #1. Husband working hard. We wanted medicaid but his $400/week was "too much"! Instead of living like that, he worked his butt off and now at 26 is making loads more. So, its not just jealousy, its lack of drive to succeed and a false feeling of entitlement.

Answer 6

For the most part the wealthy are evil, but, the poor are not innocent. For the most part they are fat, lazy, and ignorant. BOTH must be curtailed, prosecute the criminal and stop funding the capable.

Answer 7

I have always wondered why the politicians receive great health-care plans, retirement packages and salaries in which they can vote themselves increases, not to mention the influence peddling and insider info for stock and other money-making opportunities through lobbyists......you are correct, why do these lazy people benefit from us?

Answer 8

I know several poor people including me who have worked hard all of their lives, and I also know some rich people who are the laziest good for nothing pieces of crap I have ever met. so don't be sayin that just cause your rich you aint lazy.

Answer 9

Governments today haven't forgotten what the French did to their aristocracy. They try and 'balance' things a bit.
When one thinks about it, the game of land possession is only that -a game. One may try and get others to believe that 'God' ordained it to them...but deep down everyone knows they stole, hustled it, you name it.
If the rule is 'might makes right' well, then...the wealthy and powerful (by virtue of militia, etc, to uphold their claim to possession) had best take heed. The power of the lowly French peasantry gillotined ALL the wealthy and powerful while they told themselves that 'it could never happen!'

Answer 10

Isn't it obvious. People work hard and just make there bills in the mean time they see the wealthy drive big cars, live in huge homes, take vacations all the time, while paying the people who make this possible for them just barely enough to survive on. Its not that there evil its that they are indifferent to the world around them.

Answer 11

Yep, that pretty much sums up his agenda. He has allowed more Visas for foreign actually Muslim students than any before. He has immensely increased welfare and recipients by being the job killer that he is. He hasn't done anything for the middle class but kill jobs.