What are the politics of the 'fat cats?'
Lead Summary

By
-
By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
For years, we have heard that the Republicans are the rich people, the greedy people, always pushing around the working person. I decided to check it out.
I used the Forbes’ lists – both U.S. and international – to find the richest. Then, I looked up their politics.
The first seven on the list, including the Arnault family of France and Carlos Slim of Mexico, would have to be put in the Democrat column if in the U.S. or in the liberal column if elsewhere. Their combined net worth is $566 billion, just slightly over half a trillion dollars.
Next come the right-wing Koch Brothers, clocking in at $60 billion each or a total of $120 billion. Then comes Larry Ellison, who we will put in the right-wing column at $58.5 billion.
The rest of the top 15, starting with Michael Bloomberg, are definitely left leaning with one exception and are worth a combined $192.5 billion. That one exception is Jim Walton (No. 14) worth $46.4 billion.
So, we end up with $759 billion in the left-leaning column and $225 billion in the right-wing column. However, that is just the first 15.
We would have to reach all the way down to No. 23 to find the most notorious of the left-wing crowd, George Soros, who is worth $8 billion and is probably more focused on destroying our way of life than any other.
But there is more. Private Americans’ net worth is somewhere between $95 and $100 trillion. The companies controlled by the left-leaning people on the list are worth between $3 trillion and $5 trillion of this and employ about 3 percent of the U.S. workforce that is employed by large companies.
Not reaching the heights of the uber-rich, we would have to say Hollywood – with its vast influence and decent wealth levels – is definitely left-leaning.
Although not conclusive in terms of where the fat cats are, I think we can safely say they are not necessarily in the right-wing camp as they were many years ago.
Among our own friends and acquaintances, we do know some with considerable wealth (I would categorize their net worth at $3 million and up – that seems considerable to me). I can certainly say all of them without exception are left-leaning in their politics.
My personal experience indicates that the right-wing folks are worth less than $20,000 and are largely rural, or, perhaps surprisingly, millennials, often with heavy college debt. In fact, many of these millennials have already gone through a liberal stage – while in college – and quickly switched sides when they got out and started looking for a decent job and began noticing the federal and state deductions from their modest paychecks.
So, what makes a person lean left or lean right? I don’t think it is money. I still think it is their willingness to believe the government is the solution to society’s problems balanced with their willingness to give up their freedoms in order to avail themselves of government solutions.
The right-wing people I know are fiercely independent and want to stay that way no matter what. Those willing to let the government step into their lives do not seem to value independence so much.
I think the proxy for this, although not completely reliable, is city dweller vs. suburban or rural dweller. Particularly those who live in big cities are used to lots and lots of government services.
In the country or small towns, this dependency is not so pronounced. To me, this is far more of a predictor of one’s political inclinations than the size of their bank accounts.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.
HCP columnist
For years, we have heard that the Republicans are the rich people, the greedy people, always pushing around the working person. I decided to check it out.
I used the Forbes’ lists – both U.S. and international – to find the richest. Then, I looked up their politics.
The first seven on the list, including the Arnault family of France and Carlos Slim of Mexico, would have to be put in the Democrat column if in the U.S. or in the liberal column if elsewhere. Their combined net worth is $566 billion, just slightly over half a trillion dollars.
Next come the right-wing Koch Brothers, clocking in at $60 billion each or a total of $120 billion. Then comes Larry Ellison, who we will put in the right-wing column at $58.5 billion.
The rest of the top 15, starting with Michael Bloomberg, are definitely left leaning with one exception and are worth a combined $192.5 billion. That one exception is Jim Walton (No. 14) worth $46.4 billion.
So, we end up with $759 billion in the left-leaning column and $225 billion in the right-wing column. However, that is just the first 15.
We would have to reach all the way down to No. 23 to find the most notorious of the left-wing crowd, George Soros, who is worth $8 billion and is probably more focused on destroying our way of life than any other.
But there is more. Private Americans’ net worth is somewhere between $95 and $100 trillion. The companies controlled by the left-leaning people on the list are worth between $3 trillion and $5 trillion of this and employ about 3 percent of the U.S. workforce that is employed by large companies.
Not reaching the heights of the uber-rich, we would have to say Hollywood – with its vast influence and decent wealth levels – is definitely left-leaning.
Although not conclusive in terms of where the fat cats are, I think we can safely say they are not necessarily in the right-wing camp as they were many years ago.
Among our own friends and acquaintances, we do know some with considerable wealth (I would categorize their net worth at $3 million and up – that seems considerable to me). I can certainly say all of them without exception are left-leaning in their politics.
My personal experience indicates that the right-wing folks are worth less than $20,000 and are largely rural, or, perhaps surprisingly, millennials, often with heavy college debt. In fact, many of these millennials have already gone through a liberal stage – while in college – and quickly switched sides when they got out and started looking for a decent job and began noticing the federal and state deductions from their modest paychecks.
So, what makes a person lean left or lean right? I don’t think it is money. I still think it is their willingness to believe the government is the solution to society’s problems balanced with their willingness to give up their freedoms in order to avail themselves of government solutions.
The right-wing people I know are fiercely independent and want to stay that way no matter what. Those willing to let the government step into their lives do not seem to value independence so much.
I think the proxy for this, although not completely reliable, is city dweller vs. suburban or rural dweller. Particularly those who live in big cities are used to lots and lots of government services.
In the country or small towns, this dependency is not so pronounced. To me, this is far more of a predictor of one’s political inclinations than the size of their bank accounts.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.