[markdown]

I'm curious about why he would even need insurance. Someone of his skill, who has presumably received a six figure salary for decade(s?).

He would be in the wealthiest 1% of the entire world population, yet needs donations. What does that mean for the billions of others?

[mgkimsal]

read the comment about his life in chicago - giving money to bands as one example. he's spent much of his life helping the larger communities around him - php and music are just two that have been mentioned.

We've got no idea what Richard earned, but saying "six figures" can make it sound fabulously wealthy. $999,999 is six figures. So is $100,000. $100k in suburban Chicago raising a family is quite possible, but likely isn't going to leave a whole lot of room for savings. He may have had moderate savings that were wiped out in 2008. He may have had savings and needed to drain those to pay for another medical situation in his family earlier. We just don't know the details.

1%? Hardly. Someone earning $100k might be in the top 10% - http://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-money-do-the-top-in... - still obviously towards the top, but the phrase "1%" has other "occupy" connotations that simply don'y apply to Richard.

[markdown]

> 1%? Hardly. Someone earning $100k might be in the top 10%

I said top 1% of the world, not US. Someone earning $100,000 is probably in the top 0.1% actually.

But yeah, the rest of your comment is fair. I wasn't being judgemental about his request for donations; Merely pointing out how disturbing it is that despite his relative wealth, he needed help. This isn't a jab at him, but at the state of the world we live in.

[mgkimsal]

ah.