Quote from 489:
I was NOT born into the 1%. My mother escaped from a communist country and came to America at age 16 without speaking English or a penny to her name. My father is a first generation American and the first person in our family to attend college.
I attended public school and a state university and worked several jobs in school and during the summer to help my parents pay for my education; I graduated with a BS in Finance.
I have accumulated wealth because I have worked my ass off for 20+ years, saved my money, slowly built non-leveraged investments in real estate and a broad based equity & option portfolio, deferred compensation and reinvested in my company. If I make bad investment decisions I own the loss and have no pension; if I make good investment decisions the gov't gets to tax me another 15% on the ordinary income that has already been taxed.
I love my kids and will provide them with a good education as long as they major in a marketable discipline. They will not inherit any money in their youth, and will not get anything if they prove themselves fiscally irresponsible. Frankly, they have no idea how much we are worth. Any tax policy or 'redistribution' of wealth will only drive my money to places that are legally untouchable.
I join the fight to reward hard working savers, investors, and entrepreneurs. I stand with the 1%.