Are Rich kids somehow smarter, better looking, and more moral and ethical than your kids?

Some "rich kids" are smarter, better looking, more moral and ethical than those from less affluent homes, and some of the most brilliant, beautiful, successful, and conscientious people have come from blue collar families that struggled to make ends meet. Just because your parents have a massive sum in their bank accounts doesn't mean that you are morally bankrupt, and just because you are from a less advantaged home doesn't mean that you can't be spoiled and selfish.

Sometimes I feel like society creates a pair of glasses much like the 3-D ones that people put on before they go into special effects movies so that everyone can ooh, awe or boo at the same things at the same time; like we view everything through the lens of stereotypes and never dare to take the glasses off and just see things for ourselves. As I answered in your last question, I am a "rich kid," and despite my privileged background I am not a vapid, self-indulged, narcissistic brat. I am 17 and have paid my own taxes for the past two years, and I also just pledged to donate all my fellowship money in the memory of a friend to the Boys and Girls Club. By the way, I just found out that even though the money has only been in my bank account for a little over a week and will be donated in its entirety, I will still be taxed for the entire fellowship amount just the same as I would if I kept it. It doesn't affect my decision, but I think it's a shame that the state of California, the state that has nose-dived into disaster because of failing to live within its means, takes a greedy bite out of me for doing a good deed. C'est la vie.

There are some exorbitant tax breaks given, but in actuality, the wealthiest already pay a massive amount in taxes in every year, and personally I think society as a whole would benefit more if instead of taxing at such astronomical rates they set up even more incentives for charitable contributions. Privately run organizations almost always run more smoothly than ones choked by the red tape of governmental bureaucracy, and some of the wealthiest people are the most generous. Warren Buffet pledged to donate 85% of his wealth to the Gates Foundation; Ted Turner donated $1 billion to charities; Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt donated nearly 1/3 of their salaries; and Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono were named as the people of the year by Time Magazine a few years ago because of their passionate, dedicated giving and activism. I'd much rather have $1 billion go to charities than to fund state or government expenditures such as the special elections of 2003 that cost California a fortune to give people who never bothered to to vote the first go around a second shot, or the bridge to nowhere. I mean, the government can't account for $24.5 billion from 2003. So, um, yeah, I think I'd rather have the money be given directly to schools, shelters, head start, music programs and the like instead of being milked out with a tax bucket and left to spoil.

I wish that instead of people focusing on the image (not the reality of who she actually is) of Paris Hilton and thinking that people like her who come from wealthy families never have to work, and are selfish and corrupt knew more about kids like Sasha Spielberg, the daughter of the billionaire Steven Spielberg who is immensely bright, articulate, motivated and talented. She went to an extremely academically rigorous school and did exceptionally well, and is one of the founders of an organization for high school students in LA to use their art work exhibitions to fundraise for charitable causes. Or the Kennedy-Shriver family who founded the Peace Corps and Best Buddies and didn't laze about because of their blue blood, and whose grandchildren, the Schwarzeneggers, are lovely church-going kids who volunteer locally and abroad.

Take off the glasses, people.

~ Pax / Peace

Paris Hilton has been rich all her life and she's not smart, pretty, or moral! She's just another Hollywood sl ut with a sex tape. I agree that these selfish and corrupt families don't deserve any more than the average American. It's pathetic that they get better schools when they don't even need them. They just inherit all their parents money with no work!

No they could not be smarter, better looking or more moral and ethical than my kid.

http://www.dreamindemon.com/2009/07/08/kelsey-lans...

Are you kidding me? After attending public school for a significant portion of my life, I'm here to tell you that a lot of rich kids are filthy, conceited, and flat out stupid.

Well, of course!

Don't you realize that these people have achieved their success in life entirely through hard work and superior abilities. There is no sort of advantages or preferential treatment at all.

And anyone who is poor or unsuccessful has no one to blame but themselves. All they need is to have the right values and work hard. This is the land of equal opportunity! There's no reason everyone can't be as rich and successful as me.

The wealthy are the ones who drive the economy. They run businesses and create jobs. By letting us keep all our money, we promise that we will do much wiser things with it than your elected government ever would. And, it will eventually trickle down to you, really, I promise, at least a little bit of it.