Quote Originally Posted by caravel View Post
That reminds me of the old "if we didn't buy the cheap products made by child sweatshop workers in the far east, they'd be out of a job..." rationale...
That would apply if the wage I was paying her was low. I pay her about $33-50/hour depending how long it takes her and I give her a bonus every year at Christmas. I even increased her pay a few weeks ago without her ever asking for it because she's done such a good job for so long. I've had jobs that paid me far less than that at various points in my life.

Quote Originally Posted by caravel View Post
Ok it's not quite the same, and I'm not knocking you for having a housekeeper, but well... I suppose what I'm getting at is that I don't think you should need to justify it...
And yet here this thread is. Perhaps it should be a Backroom thread instead of a Frontroom thread, but the sentiments expressed here are not new to me, nor are they surprising. There are biases that equate wealth with laziness and prejudice, when in many cases that is exactly the opposite. Many wealthy people started out from very humble backgrounds, and they worked very hard to earn that wealth. Most of those people remember where they came from and try and live good lives and give back to society.

I do believe that part of this is due to a US-Euro divide. Having experiencing it from both sides, I will say that Europeans have far more of a negative outlook on wealth than Americans. Europe has an association of wealth with an immovable, uncaring aristocracy. That does not exist in the US. Ask people in Europe what class they fall into, and they will answer lower, middle, or upper. Ask people in the US what class they fall into, and they will answer lower-middle, middle, or upper-middle. There is a perception here that everyone is equal regardless of their financial successes. While those perceptions have been strained here in recent years due to the recession, it remains the common sentiment.