In Defense of the Ultra-Wealthy

The most hated group of people in history isn't women.

It isn't African-Americans.

It isn't homosexuals.

And it's not any religious group.

The most hated group of people in history is the ultra-wealthy. It's the top 0.01%.

Now, before you start sending hate mail, please consider the numbers first...

Women represent more than half of the total population. Women aren't even a minority in terms of population. Unless women are discriminating against other women, more than half of the population is being discriminated against due to being female.

African-Americans and LGBT people represent 13% and 4% of the population, respectively, in the United States. And every major religious group represents well more than 0.01% of the population.

Now, I'm not saying that discrimination against these groups doesn't exist. It does. But the fact is, there are simply more poor people in the world to hate the ultra-wealthy.

It's the 99.99% vs. the 0.01%.

Take a peek at a recent headline from Business Insider...

Of course, all this means the ultra-wealthy are really the least-discriminated group in history nominally, since they only represent a small fraction of the population. However, that also means the potential for 99.99% of the population to discriminate against the wealthy.

Truth is, there is and always has been a large gap of wealth inequality that has allowed for this discrimination.

Apparently even God discriminates against the rich.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.- Matthew 19:24

One of the major issues we have in considering discrimination here in America is that we tend to think discrimination is a one-way street. It's not. Discrimination always goes both ways.

Some white people discriminate against blacks. But some black people also discriminate against whites. Need evidence? Ask a black woman how she feels about a black man dating a white woman.

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Some women discriminate against men. And some homosexuals discriminate against heterosexuals. These facts cannot be denied.

Need more evidence to show we tend to think discrimination is a one-way street? Take a look at Merriam-Webster's official definition of "ageism"...

There is very obviously discrimination against youth. Hell, I'd say there's even more discrimination against youth than there is against the elderly. Can you introduce me to a single person over 60 years old who doesn't have some beef with the millennial generation?

Very few are willing to say all this for fear of being called a racist or bigot of some kind or another. But regardless of what people say, everyone knows in the back of their minds that bigotry always goes in both directions.

Denying the ultra-wealthy are a target for discrimination is also denying that jealousy exists. It does.

I do fine. But I wouldn't call myself "ultra-wealthy." Still, I will defend the 0.01% against hate. Because the truth is the wealthy pay for everything.

The top 20% of earners in the United States pay 95% of the taxes. Without these folks, the government would be bankrupt. Without the wealthy, we wouldn't have police, firefighters, schools, a military... none of it. Who would pay for all these things?

Fact is, the wealthy contribute more to society than anyone. And they're the most hated group of people. But I urge you to ignore the hate. F**k them. Don't allow the haters to hold you back from making money. Don't buy into the thinking that "money is the root of all evil." It's not. The root of all evil is humanity itself.

The poor complain that the wealthy don't contribute enough to society. But I'd like to know how they'd feel if the roles were reversed. If today's poor became tomorrow's wealthy, would they contribute as much as they're asking for themselves? I think not.

Until next time,

Luke Burgess

@Lukemburgess on Twitter

As an editor at Energy and Capital, Luke's analysis and market research reaches hundreds of thousands of investors every day. Luke is also the investment director of Angel Publishing's new Secret Stock Files newsletter, which helps investors leverage the future supply/demand imbalance that he believes could be key to a cyclical upswing in the hard asset markets. For more on Luke, go to his editor's page.