Xorkoth, first of all, thank you for continuing this discussion in a civil manner.
Second, I empathize with your situation - in fact, a few years ago, I made a conscious decision to largely get out of a very lucrative business in exchange for getting to enjoy a much more satisfying (albeit MUCH lower paying) one - and as a result of that decision combined with living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, I'm not exactly wealthy right now either, despite working nearly a hundred hours a week (while admittedly, I *LOVE* my primary job so much that those 50-ish hours hardly feel like "work").
In any case, YES, I agree with you that many people such as you and me (and many others who may not have had the advantages that you and I were fortunate to have; i.e., upper-middle class to wealthy parents) work our asses off just to pay the bills.
But I still fail to see why any of us should be entitled to reap the rewards of other people's hard work/entrepreneurial spirit/great ideas/good fortune.
During those times in which I had more money than I knew what to do with, I was extremely generous with the money I didn't NEED because I recognized that my 500,000th to 500,020th dollars meant a whole lot less to me than they would to a considerate but unfortunately less-wealthy person who could use those twenty (twenty-one, math nerds

) dollars to buy himself a nice meal, and I'm guessing that you, too, are a non-self-centered human being who would also CHOOSE to help out the less fortunate.
Do I look down with scorn at the many multimillionaires I see hoarding their wealth, when they know goddamn well that they could help a whole lot of people who try to contribute, but who, through no fault of their own, were born into circumstances less fortunate than ours (or theirs)?
Sure.
But, in my opinion, rich people should have the FREEDOM to be selfish assholes.
Because by using that "tax the rich to the hilt because they can afford it" reasoning, that takes away their FREEDOM, and, in my opinion, FREEDOM is more important than ANYTHING.
Good discussion, and thanks again to those of you who are keeping it civil.