People think that money means pretty much the same thing to everyone, but that isn't exactly true, for those that have a lot of money, spending money to them, is going to feel different than it will to someone that has little or nothing. So too, for someone that has a lot of money, earning a little bit more money for them, is going to feel a whole lot different than someone that is barely making it, if that.
Take, for instance, a situation in which someone that is worth well over $100 million dollars, and on a blustery day, loses $100 that somehow falls from their hands and proceeds to blow far, far away, that person will not in any way, form, or manner, miss that $100, except in the sense that they might wonder where it went, but the material impact upon their wealth is negligible and not worth even a momentary thought. That same $100 for someone that makes an average salary would probably be sorely missed, because $100 is, for example, the difference between having a really nice night out and having to stay in. On the other hand, someone that is broke, or nearly broke, or really struggling, for that man to lose that $100 would be absolutely devastating, and they would search high and low to recover it.
So too, if you take a rich man and just hand him $100, it's questionable as to whether he would even take it, figuring that there must be strings attached, or it's some sort of setup, so he probably would just pass it by. On the other hand, an average man would smile and take it, perhaps verifying first that it truly is a gift. Then, for the very poor man, this $100 would represent for him, an opportunity to get some food, or clothes, or something of real value, and he would very much appreciate it and would thereby utilize it in a manner that would give him the greatest satisfaction.
In all these cases, it is the same $100, either received or taken, but the viewpoint and the effect of such is significantly magnified depending upon that person's financial status. America is a very rich country of which, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics the median wage for all workers in the four quarter of 2017, for a 40-hour workweek, was $44,564 per year. Obviously, depending upon the cost of living in the city that a given person resides in, as well as debts, health, and other assorted issues, this $44,564 may go quite far and may not go as far, but certainly, this number represents enough on a basic level, that all those people working should have sufficient food, shelter, and their preference of the accouterments that Americans like to have.
The thing is, America has as reported by census.gov, a grave situation in which "In 2016 there were 40.6 million people in poverty." This signifies what people pretty much already know, that there is a huge disparity in wealth between the very rich and the very poor, of which, the sheer massive numbers of over 40 million people in America living in poverty in this the greatest and richest nation the world has ever known, is truly shameful.
There are ways to rectify and for the government to assist and to aid those that are impoverished in which the obvious ones would be to tax the very rich far more, and especially to tax estates at a rate that reflects that dead people don't actually utilize money in the afterworld. Additionally, the government needs to make it a priority to provide direct aid, direct subsidies, direct money, direct housing, all that is necessary, so that everyone that labors a 40-hour workweek, receives, in effect, a living wage, and for those that will not and cannot labor, a true safety net that demonstrates the graciousness that the rich, and this government of the people, for the people, and by the people, at a minimum owe the poor.