Oddly enough, I have seen a vast array of reactions from people earning great wealth ... A company I recently interviewed at was owned by an individual who was what I would refer to as a real environmentalist and built his company around his principles, it became very successful and he has (about) the most generous benefits package I have ever seen from a company that is not an oil company; at the same time he donates a ton to charity and is (from my understanding) very active inside the community.

The value systems people hold are as diverse as anything else in our society, and depending on the values people hold will determine how they react to a given situation.

On top of this, people who seek out power for the sake of having power are within all political parties at a very high level; realistically, the Democrats are no better/worse than the Republicans they just convince people of different "Hogwash" to get them to do what they want them to do.

Regardless, I don't always agree with the democrats either. Every major organization in this society does manipulate people to some degree. There is a reason why I wont watch TV.

And if I were to become rich, I would in fact donate much of it to charity for the sake of not becoming like the people I loathe. Perhaps those who do realize this same thing.

I seriously have heard family members vocalize their desire for their parents to die already for their inheritance. Its so messed up.

And then there was a scene from when I was young... We went to visit my grandfathers vacation home in the British Virgin Islands. The place was huge...
Front gate, with a building built around it that my grandmother used as her art studio. You walk in beyond the gate and you walk down stone stairs through a garden that comes out where on one side is the guest house, and on the other side was the massive main house. There was a pool, and a deck built on the side of the mountain overlooking the bay. The whole neighborhood was like this. You go down to the rest of the island, everyone is living in severe poverty. Can't afford clothes... or anything really. It was... greatly saddening. And then there was my grandfather, who would take us out to eat at a restaurant. And would throw a hissy fit if the service was not fast enough for his liking. Would start yelling at the poor employees. Shit like that... can you not see why I have no faith in the rich? I do not think they have the best interests of others in mind.

Yes, he got that money on his own. He did work for it. But in the end it warped his mind. You don't accumulate money through kindness. The more people you step on the further up you go.

That is not entirely true MG. You see money is a great way to reveal what is already inside people's souls. If they are heartless greedy bastards, then when they are rich, they will be even bigger heartless greedy bastards. If they are kind and generous if they became wealthy, they would be even more kind and generous.

This is why "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven ."

This.

The company I work for is owned by a woman, and we do sales of about 140 million a year. She is one of the most generous, and kind people I know.

She was this way when she was dirt poor. Money allows people to be who they really are with little to no consequences. Sorry your grandfather was a dick, but he is not the representative of all rich people.

Awhile back I was introducted to a series of lectures about how the value systems of society have (probably) evolved over time ...

One system which still exists but is slowly dying out (at least in western society) is the pursuit of wealth and power for the sake of having wealth and power, and this seems to be what you're talking about. For the most part the only people who (really) still hold these values could be described as "Old Money," and generations of children raised with no capacity to manage their wealth is leading to their rapid collapse ...

I think it would be beneficially to supplement this definition with some examples

1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 7 7 8 9

Here the median is represented by the first #4 because it is eigth in line. It is halfway in a list of 15 figures.

The mean here is 4 as well (sum of all figures divided by the number of figures ie 15)

In this line

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 7 11 20

Here the median is 1

the mean here is 4.26

(I'm sure you understand already. This is just to clarify for others.)

I'm pretty sure it was winston churchill who also said
"all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely"

I also came upon this little study done by college students who attested that the more money leaders have, the less they are able to understand those below them.

This is why government should not have all the money.

I think they are probably the most trustworthy people to have it at the moment.
My life is good here, and it's because of the gov. I don't trust that money in the hands of the businesses that's for sure.

The government does not have all the money.

I thought this is why you were bitching in the first place?