My RW coworker says "I just love rich people"

"They pay more taxes than we do. They give lots of money to support the arts, colleges, community service organizations!" And she just gushes on and on.

Sigh. She's a nice lady otherwise and comfortable, but not rich. Every time I see her reading her Wall St. Journal at lunch I shudder. I've tried to counter the tax b.s. by telling her that the working poor may not pay income taxes but their payroll taxes start at dollar one and is proportionately more of their income than the rich.

Any ideas what I should be saying to her?

...in a roundabout manner.

Everyone hates labels.

if the Rich Republicans have their way.

There isn't anything you CAN say to people like that. She's been poisoned, and she likes it.

You might want to tell her it is a good thing to LOVE the rich, because maybe her fawning will result in her being invited to their well-heated homes on cold winter days, when she cannot pay her heating bill!

in a previous life.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=ZYw1o5WkzQ&isbn=1591840694&itm=1

Perfectly Legal: The Secret Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else

FROM THE PUBLISHER
The rapidly widening gulf between the super rich and everyone else is an American tragedy. Pundits have raged about it, but until now, no one has explained exactly how it happened, why it's not a normal part of capitalism, or how much damage it's really causing -- not just to the poor, but to 99 percent of all Americans. Whether your family makes $30,000 or $300,000 a year, you are being robbed because the IRS and other institutions have been systematically corrupted -- under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- to serve the needs of people who make millions.
<snip>

Now Johnston offers a raft of compelling new stories about real people across all areas of society. In Perfectly Legal, you'll meet sleazy accountants and brazen tax cheats, clueless congressmen and crafty lobbyists. You'll meet frustrated IRS agents who have been handcuffed from pursuing the most blatant lawbreakers. And you'll meet ordinary Americans who are struggling to make a decent living but whose future is being undermined in ways they don't even realize. Compared to thirty years ago, every American now lives in a society much less equal and much more fraught with financial risk. Perfectly Legal lays out the details in plain English and shows how we can stop these trends before it's too late.

I thought about telling her about Thomas Frank's book, "What's the Matter with Kansas" but she'd just shrug and say she doesn't live in Kansas.

Yeah, she's getting socked with extremely high taxes now as she lives on the CT shoreline, very prized real estate. She and other neighbors are fighting the taxes tooth and nail. I told her she should just move and save the money. But I hope she doesn't. Let her pay through the nose for her arrogance.I think she'l wind up pretty poor and have to depend on her kids. Sad Republican.

Also get her a copy of "Take the Rich off Welfare." That might open her eyes up.

If that doesn't work, tell her that if she lives paycheck to paycheck, or if her income is not primarily derived from investments, then she is not rich.

i.e. get the fed down to the size where he can drown it in a bathtub...

Local property taxes are skyrocketing because the fed is not helping with issues that are of national import. The states are bearing a brutal burden, except the red states, which get more than they pay in...

Introduce her to the Beattitudes that include...

Blessed are the poor

than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God"

Mark 10:25,26

I promise, she won't notice.

They often fight against taxes. They are behind the support of a flat tax, elimination of the Estate Tax, etc.

They are also behind many 'reform' things. You know:
Social Security 'reform'
Welfare 'reform'
And on and on

More often than not, these 'reforms' destroy these needed Social Programs.

It is nice to see SOME rich people giving back to the community, but a lot of rich people are Misers who care more about their money than their fellow man.

I would ask her for names and stats. While there are many individual donor to many things, what defines "rich?" Every time I look at the donor list of a local museum, say, I see many names, and different categories. If you're rich, and donate enough (tax deductable) you get to go to the govener's ball! And other "special" events. You've proved that you're worthy on the social ladder--the local "A" list. But THAT list is much smaller people wise. Not that I'm against all that, I'm sure it's tedious.
I think she might be thinking of corporations. I'm sure she would be very suprised as to who is donated to what.

unless you want to. I'd just avoid her. I've been fighting the urge to avoid a co-worker with whom I had become friends before finding out she wasn't actually a liberal like the rest of us. After she outed herself, she said she voted for Bush. So I'm standing there in disbelief, being the one who said the (stupid) thing that prompted her to out herself, and this other co-worker who wasn't all flummoxed asked her why, and she said she appreciated his handling of 9/11. At that point I just wanted to run away - which is essentially what I did, withdrawing to my office. I didn't hear what it was, if anything, that she appreciated.

I stewed about it for days but eventually got over it, made a note to self not to make assumptions about people or comments based on those assumptions, and we've since become workout buddies. So the other day we're at the gym, and she comments on this muscle chart on the wall. Isn't it amazing how intricate the human body is, and how remarkable that the one who made us gave us all that stuff. She emphasized that phrase and smiled in a way that made it an obvious crack about my being an atheist.

I just said, "Yeah, bones and muscles and skin - just like all the other animals," and let it slide.

If she says something like your co-worker said, that'll pretty much sew it up for me. I have a hard time hanging around people when their values and attributes that I don't respect begin to outweigh those that I do.

discussions about these issues.

Civil discouse is a key element of democracy.

Engage people in discussion about important issues every chance you get.

I've done enough of that with my mother.

is all your doing and it's time to move on to someone who's willing to think.

big corporations that don't provide health care for employees. They know that we will pay for the healthcare when poor show up at the Emergency Room for treatment. The rich just love her too because she's more than willing to pay their bills and stay poor to keep them rich!

around 40 thousand to 100 thousand a year?

Your coworker is a moron.

and she's asking so little from them and from her government in return.

... "I just love rich people!"

"That's odd. They don't give a shit about you."

from couple mil net worth to major, major patrons-of the Arts buhzillionaires. They have one thing in common. They are each individuals. No different than the many "poor" people I have known, employed, whatever.

Generalizing does no good, folks. Wealthy people are just as fabulous and just as messed up as everybody else.

We shoulld keep in mind the old mantra, with a twist: It's the PERSON, stupid.

Have her read up on Cayman offshore banking. The PUBLIC info is bad enough--the truth would cause riots in our streets.

for a statewide non profit. I mentioned to her that I knew how the rich lived, what their houses were like, where their kids went to school, the help they had in their homes, etc. I observed these people in Greenwich, New Canaan and Litchfield county, Connecticut. These are some of the richest people in our country, if not the world. So I know. You are right; some are ok and some don't know a thing about living in this country for most people. I wanted to say to her that these folks laugh all the way to the bank that people like her vote Republican, but I have to work with her and I'm now in a small office, part time (and semi-retired, like her)so it's difficult to be confrontive.

But little by little, we make our way...

because they get more in services. One guy caught me off guard saying that rich people pay more property taxes but they only get the same police and fire protection as everyone else. Then I realized that was wrong. If they get $500,000 worth of property protected and I get $50,000, then we are not getting the same protection, any more than we pay the same auto insurance for a new bentley and an old clunker.

There are plenty of wealthy Democrats that do indeed contribute to the arts, colleges and the community.

And since the rich are getting a free ride with endless tax breaks on the backs of the rest of America, they better be giving back to society in some way.

Personally, I'd like them to pay their fair share...

Read "Major Barbara". It's a very strange play, but as far as I can remember (it's a while since I read it) it seems to be putting forward the same thesis your friend is, rather more articulately. It's completely insane, but a work of genius, I think.

Can anyone else who's read it comment more accurately on its relevance or lack thereof to the OP?