I accidentally got involved in Facebook argument the other day.  I know better than to argue with people who disagree vehemently with my position as I can never change that person’s mind. NEVER. If a person is passionate about an issue they are committed. They do, however, think that they can change yours. The argument will begin with the pretense of reasoned argument and end with taunts and name-calling.  I avoid these types of arguments as much as I can.

I stepped into this particular pile of shit because I thought I was replying to someone I knew, and probably agreed with. The post had the following statement: Why do you hate the rich? I answered the question with another question: Why do the rich hate us? There are billionaires out there that make more money than they know how to spend, why don’t they give this money to the poor and middle class so that everyone can enjoy a better life.  Today’s rich live in the greatest luxury known to humanity so even if they were taxed more, they would continue to enjoy the good life with little, if any, discernible change in how they live.

As I thought I was talking to my largely liberal friends, who would disagree? Yet, the disagreeing comments came.  When I checked the names of my opponents, I realized these were not people I knew and I should move on without comment.  I need to make a small confession here. I like to argue politics.  It is fun.  Or it used to be. I remember in college that I would go to a bar with people of varying political beliefs. We would drink and argue, but even though drink was involved we were mostly respectful of other people’s opinion, we listened and occasionally minds were changed.

Facebook arguments, if you haven’t been in one, aren’t friendly bar room arguments.  And that alone is saying a lot. I would rather argue with blind drunk political partisan in a bar than a completely sober person on Facebook.  Facebook arguments are savage hand-to-hand combat followed by the full nuclear arsenal raining down on the wounded bodies strewn across a bloody battlefield. It is bloody to participate in, impossible to win and thus pointless to respond.

But if I were to respond this is what I would say.

The crux of their argument wasn’t even an argument, it was a question: why did I care about how the rich spent their money.  It was their money and they earned it. This is where I disagree. What happens is that a company receives profit and the leaders of the company decide to divide the money between the people who are employed at the company.  The people who divide the pot are also the big wage earners. Low income earners are not invited to this particular table.   

It should be no surprise to anyone that the people dividing up the pie are the same people taking the biggest slice of the pie. The perverse side effect of this type of distribution is that high earners demand more and more money because their wages keep increasing and in order for companies to stay competitive they must pay their top earners more while the lower income earners wages are stagnant and there is little pressure to give this group more money. In fact, the top wage earners have abandoned their low wage-earning peers by putting more and more pressure on the lower income earners through automation and out-sourcing. So, while everyone at a company contributed to creating the profit, the top wage earners decided to take the lion’s share of the money claiming that the market made them do it. They personally had nothing to do with this skewed distribution, we are only following the dictates of the market.  If it was up to us, we would happily pay more money to low wage earners but, the market, you know must have its way.

Which brings me back to my question: Why do the rich hate us.  They take an unequal portion of the profits. They drive down global wages. They allow low income earners, people who by the way work a full-time job, to live in precarious economic situation while they live in luxury. They work to limit access to good public services for low income people. They are contemptuous of everyone who makes less money than them. Why do they hate us so?