Help these "poor" people

[ribengals]

Only here in Massachusettes, home of the kooks in the Liberal left could you find someone who feels guilty about having too much money. This was actually a front page story in the Boston Globe.

Poor Little Rich Kids


From the front page of the Boston Globe-Democrat (http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/29/for_this_club_life_begins_at_50_?mode=PF)comes this truly tragic tale of woe:

When David Ludlow's wife died in a climbing accident 11 years ago, her death transformed him into a multimillionaire: He inherited Vanda Sendzimir's share of her family fortune, a $5 million trust that generates an annual interest of about $300,000. Then a freelance photographer with a passion for social justice issues, the Jamaica Plain man was plunged into a swirl of shock, guilt, and confusion.
"I've always been very left-wing politically and all of a sudden I was living incredible inequality," said Ludlow, 64. "Suddenly I was in the upper 1 percent of the population in terms of wealth, and I felt terrible about that for a long time."


He felt "terrible." Shock, guilt, confusion. How can he possible live with...ALL THIS MONEY?!

Poor David.

He's not alone. It turns out, according to the Globe-Democrat, that there are many other wealthy people just like poor (rich?) Dave, suffering from the infliction of TMI (Too Much Income). There are so many of these "Poor Me" Millionaires that they've actually started their own club: The 50% League. They give away half of their well-gotten gains in order to atone for the sin of success.

Why can't more people be like Frank Butler, a retired chief executive of a subsidiary of Kodak?

"I always dip into principle," Butler, 77, told the Globe-Democrat. He and his wife have a "substantial retirement savings" that is more than enough to pay their bills for the rest of their lives. But Frank also collects an annual pension and Social Security income of $80,000 a year.

I bet all those struggling, low-income workers getting pounded by Social Security taxes are thrilled to know that Frank's giving their money away to make himself feel better about being wealthy. Now THAT'S social justice!

But Frank Butler and his wife aren't just thinking of themselves: "Their goal is to have spent all their wealth by the time they die, leaving no inheritances for their two daughters."

See? He's going to keep his children from suffering by giving their inheritance away first! What a thoughtful guy. After all, why should your children benefit just because you worked hard, invested, took risks, etc? Aren't other people's kids just as entitled to your wealth as your kids are? What--you think your family is special?

No, no, no. They're just strangers who happen to live in your house. Your money is everyone else's money, so give it away! Preferrably to "social justice" organizations that lobby the government to raise taxes on those greedy bastards who try to pass their wealth on to their own kids.

We'll show 'em! Hillary Clinton will put every successful American worker into the 50% League.

Whether they like it or not.


posted by Michael Graham at 5:33 AM (http://thenaturaltruth.blogspot.com/2007/07/poor-little-rich-kids.html) (http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=23684802&postID=4156427995766121226) (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=23684802&postID=4156427995766121226)

<< Back to Blog Listings >> (http://thenaturaltruth.blogspot.com/)






_uacct = "UA-1091358-10"; urchinTracker();

[toyota24]

Only here in Massachusettes, home of the kooks in the Liberal left could you find someone who feels guilty about having too much money. This was actually a front page story in the Boston Globe.

Poor Little Rich Kids


From the front page of the Boston Globe-Democrat (http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/29/for_this_club_life_begins_at_50_?mode=PF)comes this truly tragic tale of woe:

When David Ludlow's wife died in a climbing accident 11 years ago, her death transformed him into a multimillionaire: He inherited Vanda Sendzimir's share of her family fortune, a $5 million trust that generates an annual interest of about $300,000. Then a freelance photographer with a passion for social justice issues, the Jamaica Plain man was plunged into a swirl of shock, guilt, and confusion.
"I've always been very left-wing politically and all of a sudden I was living incredible inequality," said Ludlow, 64. "Suddenly I was in the upper 1 percent of the population in terms of wealth, and I felt terrible about that for a long time."


He felt "terrible." Shock, guilt, confusion. How can he possible live with...ALL THIS MONEY?!

Poor David.

He's not alone. It turns out, according to the Globe-Democrat, that there are many other wealthy people just like poor (rich?) Dave, suffering from the infliction of TMI (Too Much Income). There are so many of these "Poor Me" Millionaires that they've actually started their own club: The 50% League. They give away half of their well-gotten gains in order to atone for the sin of success.

Why can't more people be like Frank Butler, a retired chief executive of a subsidiary of Kodak?

"I always dip into principle," Butler, 77, told the Globe-Democrat. He and his wife have a "substantial retirement savings" that is more than enough to pay their bills for the rest of their lives. But Frank also collects an annual pension and Social Security income of $80,000 a year.

I bet all those struggling, low-income workers getting pounded by Social Security taxes are thrilled to know that Frank's giving their money away to make himself feel better about being wealthy. Now THAT'S social justice!

But Frank Butler and his wife aren't just thinking of themselves: "Their goal is to have spent all their wealth by the time they die, leaving no inheritances for their two daughters."

See? He's going to keep his children from suffering by giving their inheritance away first! What a thoughtful guy. After all, why should your children benefit just because you worked hard, invested, took risks, etc? Aren't other people's kids just as entitled to your wealth as your kids are? What--you think your family is special?

No, no, no. They're just strangers who happen to live in your house. Your money is everyone else's money, so give it away! Preferrably to "social justice" organizations that lobby the government to raise taxes on those greedy bastards who try to pass their wealth on to their own kids.

We'll show 'em! Hillary Clinton will put every successful American worker into the 50% League.

Whether they like it or not.


posted by Michael Graham at 5:33 AM (http://thenaturaltruth.blogspot.com/2007/07/poor-little-rich-kids.html) (http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=23684802&postID=4156427995766121226) (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=23684802&postID=4156427995766121226)

<< Back to Blog Listings >> (http://thenaturaltruth.blogspot.com/)






_uacct = "UA-1091358-10"; urchinTracker();
I am extremely conservative on almost every issue that matters but you might be stretching it a little here. If these people want to give there money away it is there business regardless of why they do it I mean after all it is THERE money. I am sure we would agree on quite a bit but I just think you need to pick your battles. Out of all the STUPID things liberals do why would you nitpick something that is actually commendable!!!

Agreed, roar. If as a liberal, I'm not supposed to tell rich conservatives how to spend their wealth, then who is anyone to tell a liberal with money what they should be doing with it? Part of the benefit of getting rich is that you get the freedom to do things that most people can't, and if someone wants to give back I see nothing wrong with that.

[Joe from Florence]

yea, this whole thing is insulting....to say because he's a liberal he feels guilty with all that money....i don't think being a liberal or conservative have anythig to do with it. He feels guilty because all of a sudden he came into a huge amount of money that he didn't do anything toward earning. He isn't used to that type of windfall. To clasify it as a liberal thing is pretty stupid in my opinion....there are plenty of liberals who are very very very rich and didn't do much to earn the money....look at Al Gore, he's wealthier than most politicians and he is a liberal....Look at John Kerry....very very wealthy because he's married to the heir to the Heinz corporation. Look at half the celebrities in LA, very wealthy and liberals.......you don't see them giving their money back.
The same can be said of conservatives, there are plenty of conservatives who had multi million dollar windfalls and felt guilty by it also.....so to say it's a liberal thing is ridiculous.
If liberals really felt that way, there wouldn't be any running for political offices because they wouldn't have the money to do so.

[toyota24]

yea, this whole thing is insulting....to say because he's a liberal he feels guilty with all that money....i don't think being a liberal or conservative have anythig to do with it. He feels guilty because all of a sudden he came into a huge amount of money that he didn't do anything toward earning. He isn't used to that type of windfall. To clasify it as a liberal thing is pretty stupid in my opinion....there are plenty of liberals who are very very very rich and didn't do much to earn the money....look at Al Gore, he's wealthier than most politicians and he is a liberal....Look at John Kerry....very very wealthy because he's married to the heir to the Heinz corporation. Look at half the celebrities in LA, very wealthy and liberals.......you don't see them giving their money back.
The same can be said of conservatives, there are plenty of conservatives who had multi million dollar windfalls and felt guilty by it also.....so to say it's a liberal thing is ridiculous.
If liberals really felt that way, there wouldn't be any running for political offices because they wouldn't have the money to do so.

Yeah, that's what kind of stinks about this whole discussion. An implication that giving is strictly a liberal thing is nuts. Most of the largely demonized robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie made as much of a hobby out of philanthropy as they did making money. There are lots of groups that I can't stand politically that do a lot of good for people, and I certainly won't berate them for it. The guy in the article walks the walk instead of just running his trap like most "activists". He's not sitting there talking about how the federal governement should redistribute everyone else's wealth, he's doing the real thing himself.

[bensonmum]

Trust me, it's a liberal thing. A conservative who fell into more money than he wanted would begin giving the money to private charities or set up a scholarship fund at a college, and feel really good about it. There would be no guilt at any point. He would be too busy putting the money to good use.