The rich would love nothing more than for everyone move up an income or wealth level. It is ridiculous to think the the richest 1% want to hold others down and are the supposed oppressors of all other financial groups. The intense protest against wealthy groups as the cause of those that 'don't have' is becoming a disgusting show of irresponsibility and a demonstration of ignorance at the best.
Contrary to what most people believe, the rich didn't get rich because they were able to borrow money, were better educated, or somehow privileged. A very high percentage of the wealthiest of people were not college educated, not well connected and started from nothing.
The disparity between the rich and poor is not a new thing and it will not end regardless of how much they are protested. The Occupy Wall Street protest are getting the attention of the media, the police and the distracted but it is hard to see where they are effecting the behavior of the rich. There is the possibility that protesting against wealthy individuals and companies could have the negative implication of causing them to further retreat with their cash.
Unless one rich individual loses his wealth and one poor man is there to then gain it, there will be a disparity between individuals. For entire classes of wealth to shift this would require the rich to lose their money all at the same time and then have the 'less fortunate' be there at that precise moment ready, willing and able to gain. Even an organized redistribution would require managing those that don't have to suddenly be prepared to be in a position to have wealth thrust onto them and then keep it.
If you go back 3000 years, you will find disparity of wealth between classes and you will also see periods of the poor being instigated to protest the wealthiest. Go back only 100 years in American history to the days of Dupont, Ford and Carnegie and you will see enterprising men amassing massive wealth during unbelievably tough economies because of the risk they were willing to take, their actions and their ability to stay focused at times that were very difficult.
Go back only a quarter of a decade and you can find story after story of wealth being created not due to inheritance, or bank loans but because of their enterprising efforts. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, both quit college, started businesses in garages, without the help of banks and in search of doing something extraordinary become billionaires. How about billionaire Oprah coming from nothing? Or how about Michael Moore, a big advocate of Occupy Wall Street coming from working class and creating a net worth of $50m.
ABC News recently reported, "an all-time high 70 percent of this year's richest people in the world list are self-made; up from 55 percent in 1997." 67% of all billionaires started off with nothing. Most 'self-made' millionaires have been bankrupt or close to bankrupt more than three times? Jeff Bezos, with a net worth of $19.1 billion, got his start selling books.
Carlos Slim Helú, richest in the world self-made from the telecom business.
John Jacob Astor, (net worth of $110.1 billion in today's dollars) a German immigrant who made a fortune trading furs and Chinese imports. Andrew Carnegie, net worth of $281.2b in today's dollars started as textile mill bobbin boy.
The difference between the rich and the poor is significant, and the disparity goes far beyond their wealth. There is a monster gap in their actions, their thinking and their persistence to see things through.
Here are some things I have noticed from studying the wealthy:
1) The rich don't protest they produce. They invest time, energy and efforts and producing products and services people want and need.
2) The rich don't point fingers and blame others; they point people, money and efforts toward moving their targets forward.
3) The rich don't talk about what can't be done, instead they invest time and money in figuring out how to get things done. Whether it was building pyramids, cars, trains, theme parks, computers, social media or space travel the rich even risked bankruptcy in many cases to make that which had never been done a reality.
4) The richest of the rich don't believe in impossibilities. It is the idea of doing something extraordinary, something unique, not money, that moves these people in the beginning.
5) The very rich think expansively not in scarcity. Poor people think in limits and the very wealthy just don't think in shortages.
If you want to really get the attention of the rich - get rich. I assure you that the rich would like nothing more than to see all income and wealth levels improve their financial conditions.
You can protest the rich, you can blame them, and you can ridicule them but there is no proof anywhere in history that these actions will somehow resolve the disparity issue.
Grant Cardone, Author of The 10X Rule