Economic Stockholm Syndrome or Old-Fashioned Resentment?

Warren Buffet's comments this week about taxing the rich has touched off a fire-storm of controversy among a lot of people I know and I keep trying to figure out why average citizens, making a decent living but far from billionaires, are so angry about the idea of taxing the super-rich at the same rate as the rest of us pay? It's a total mystery to me. I know people who are well-off, making a nice salary and with a good lifestyle, who just get rabid at the notion of millionaires having to pay the same percentage of taxes that made this country prosperous back before all the tax cuts for the uber-wealthy spent us spiraling into the current abysmal situation. I'm starting to think it's a form of economic Stockholm Syndrome. You know, the theory that people who are being abused and oppressed start to identify with their oppressors and act on their behalf? It's baffling.

Years ago when I lived in Texas I had a relationship with a man who was at a place similar to mine in life. I grew up in a medium-sized town in Pennsylvania, graduated from Penn State and was working in the art department of Houston Natural Gas (later Enron.) He grew up in a medium-sized Texas town, graduated from A&M, and was working at another oil company as an engineer. We had a good time together – it was an exciting time to be in Houston – and things were looking positive. But I noticed how often he talked about how poor his family was when he was growing up, how he never had anything, how they were so broke and his parents were so ignorant of niceties, etc. etc. etc. He was very concerned with dressing well and, as my people would say, “putting on airs”. I met his parents and his sister and they were very nice people – pretty much similar to my own family. They had a pleasant, tidy little house and, despite all his comments about how uneducated they were, they seemed perfectly fine to me.

One day during one such conversation, when he was talking about growing up “poor” I said, “Now wait a minute. I grew up with seven siblings. My Dad was a carpenter and my Mom was a full-time mom. You had one sister, your Dad was an oilfield roughneck and your Mom was a beautician. How come you were so much poorer than us?” He didn't have an answer for that.

A couple years later the Oil Bust hit Houston and both of us were laid off from our jobs. Within weeks I saw the difference between us. I wasn't happy about being laid off but I quickly got a temporary job with Pennzoil and then signed up with a few temp agencies and was kept pretty busy. He sent out a couple resumes every day and spent the rest of his time watching television and bemoaning how everything sucked. Within six months he found a job that he viewed as a huge step down and with a substantial cut in pay and I watched his steady decline into bitterness, resentment, and self-pity. The relationship ended and I moved to New England.

What I realized was that he, for whatever reason, saw himself as powerless in the world and completely at the mercy of the Fates. I regarded life as an adventure and, even though I wasn't happy about having to change, sometimes it was exciting and even fun. I don't know what ever became of him but I remember during those dark days how he would complain bitterly that, no matter how hard you worked, life was basically unfair.

I've been thinking about him as I've been listening to the people who oppose the idea of the rich being asked to contribute more. Their attitude is “I work my ass off and other people get something for nothing, it isn't fair.” Their bitterness and resentment against those they view as undeserving seems to be leading them into identification with -- and defense of -- those who would strip them of their last dime if they had the opportunity.

It's a mystery to me. Yes, there are those who abuse the system, but there are children going hungry every day in this country. There are elders who have to choose between medicine and food. There are hundreds of thousands of people who can't afford medical care. And there are those who trade in their old yacht for a new one when the ashtrays are full. I fail to understand why those who are comfortable, though not affluent, prefer to defend the latter and revile the former. What are they thinking?

I still cling to the Christian concept that we must feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the sick – and leave it to God (or whoever) to decide whether they deserve it. I believe this because I grew up believing, as my Mom always said, “We're not poor, we just don't have any money.” There are lots of people with lots and lots of money in this country. Those of us with even a shred of conscience need to ask them to do more.

Thanks for reading.