What’s rich?

My family (2 adults w/ 3 children) must make about as much money as Big Steve does—a bit over $250K. I think we are rich. We clearly have more materially than we need. More importantly, our kids have opportunities that poor kids don’t. We can afford tutoring and foreign travel and the best of everything from calculators to nutritious fresh food. They have SUCH a leg up over poor kids. Too much.

I think I see this more than some people of our income bracket because we’ve had a lot to do with much less wealthy children and have seen the difference. My kids were in really poor orphanages for half their lives. Even the kids who were adopted went mostly to families less well off than me. I could afford to basically repair all the damage done by 6 years of poverty (and it was not cheap!). Those other kids were great children, but they will never have the opportunities and advantages my kids do; a lot of them might never be able to graduate from high school because neglect and poverty do terrible things to your brain and your ability to cope in the world. I’ve seen it.

The income disparity even within our own country (never mind the rest of the world) angers me; but what makes me more angry is the stupidity and greed of people (not you, Steve) who absolutely cannot see this. The line from the Right that makes me just lose my nut is “But 46% of people in America don’t pay any tax at all!” Guess what, idiots? 46% of Americans have practically NO MONEY. To suggest that they should chip in to the same degree as I should is just repulsive.