Interesting read, Dana. I think it's not just the wealthy who look down on the poor, but society in general. Xenophobics R Us! This attitude is helped along greatly by the large numbers of racial minorities in today's American and British societies - something ancient Rome didn't have to contend with.
The modern day poor come conveniently color coded. Of course, plenty of white people are poor, as well, but in the US at least, the stereotypical poor person is the African American welfare queen. This person is mostly mythical, but some people seem to run into her all the time - often at the supermarket checkout where she can be found buying filet mignon, lobster, and caviar with her food stamps card. The Welfare Queen's best friend seems to be the illegal immigrant who also got on the welfare roles the moment she crossed the Rio Grande. I don't know why I see so many hispanic women working as motel maids and the like. I guess they haven't figured out the welfare system yet.
Whites get in on the fun, too - like Adak's disability cheat who was featured on some unknown TV program on some unknown channel at some unknown time in the past. I've heard of other sightings of this individual. Sometimes he's a truck driver somewhere in western Colorado, but my informant can't remember which town he was spotted in or how he managed to con what is a remarkedly difficult system. But never mind, there are thousands more like him out there. Somewhere.
Ancient Rome had it good by comparison. They could just feed their poor to the lions.
