puddingmouse wrote:
Same reason many people in USA do - they think they're richer than they actually are. Or at least they think they might be rich one day, and so they identify with the interests of rich people. It's a very stratified, aspirational society.
But of course.
America is about every person having the opportunity to become wealthy by the work of their own hands. Heavy taxation and other socialist policies actually discourage innovation and creation because the state will take most of what you produce and hand it to people who did nothing.
There is over $3 TRILLION in "American money" overseas. Why is it not in America where it could be creating jobs and opportunity for the masses who are unemployed? It's because the current government wants to heavily tax that money, and those who hold the money prefer to use it in nations with more favorable attitudes towards those in a position to create jobs and opportunities for others.
History proves that lowering taxes increases revenues because it stimulates economic growth. The poor hardly pay any taxes, but they benefit the most from "government programs." The middle class pays the highest percentage of taxes and the "rich" (most of which being entrepreneurs who grew their wealth via hard work, not inheritance) pay the most in taxes but neither group gets hardly anything back in "government programs."
If you want to help the poor, help grow the economy so they can get jobs and be self-sufficient. Don't focus on stealing money from those who have so you can dole it out to those who don't.