Overheard recently:



“Poor people can’t afford to change lanes.”



The individual who said the words was well-dressed and seemed not to understand car insurance, head checks, or mirrors, all of which are available to people able to afford them.

I’m not sure whether or not he thought that people not in his income bracket--which I’m assuming was quite high-- planned their driving excursions using certain routes that would not require lane changes or if he was just thought that he was like Bruce Willis’ character in “Unbreakable.”  (If you haven’t seen the film “Unbreakable,” Bruce Willis survives a train de-railing and is thought to be immortal.)



His comments angered the woman that he was with at the time. Apparently, she wasn’t in the top 2% of the population that could afford to make lane changes. But nothing she said could make him understand that his wealth was by luck, chance, and circumstance or that his comments made no sense whatsoever.



There is not only a disconnect between the haves and the have-nots in the United States; there’s a huge disconnect between the middle class and the wealthiest Americans. The only contact that the wealthiest Americans seem to have with anyone who is not of their social class is when the wealthy have to utilize the services of the middle or lower classes.



That’s it.



I don’t think that the wealthy are the best tippers in the world. Most of them, if they have been rich their entire lives, have no idea what it’s like to worry about health care, paying bills, or figuring out how to afford to send their children to college.



Many of the wealthiest Americans complain about those who need social services because the wealthy Americans don’t have social services. They complain about being over-burdened by taxes and seem to be able to walk past homeless people in the street with their eyes closed to what’s around them.



Unemployment means nothing to them because not only can they afford to change lanes, they can afford not to work.



There are the wealthy individuals who understand the importance of giving back the world; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated billions of dollars to those in need. Oprah Winfrey is another philanthropist. (A list of more philanthropists can be found HERE.) But the most generous philanthropists seem to be in the minority.



Let’s be honest; if you’re not in the 2% of the American population who is earning more than $1 million a year, there is no reason that you should not be in support of President Obama’s proposal to tax the nation’s wealthiest individuals at 30%.