I recently watched this movie "The company men" where they talk 'bout some rich corporate guys who lost their job and how it affects their mentality as well as others attitude toward them. The point is : it's tough, f-cking tough. I went through IMDB and saw many comments that people think there is no need to feel sympathy for those guys (as they just changed the status from rich to middle-class only, they're not poor yet). Then I saw this comment - which I found very insightful

Empathy is a human emotion, and requires a little bit of humanity in order to feel it.

The very fact that seeing another man with wealth and riches automatically removes YOUR humanity explains why you didn’t like the movie. All it really tells us, though, is that you’re undeserving of the wealth and riches you loathe and envy. I’ve had money (lots of it) and I’ve had none (for extended periods of time), and I can tell you first hand that money does NOT give a person some super-human strength or talents. You complain about small bills and keeping a roof over your head, but you fail to understand that with the large income comes massively larger bills and a vastly more expensive roof, which also magnifies the cost and stress required to hold onto it. When you lose something, you feel loss. That’s a human emotion.

People are people, and those in nice houses driving fancy cars have emotions, too. If your jealousy strips you of your humanity, you are imagining that money is something it’s not. I think if you can’t find empathy for wealthy people who are really struggling, you’ve never bothered to imagine yourself as wealthy. That to me is the greatest tragedy, because being human means being the best of what you’re capable of, and that’s a whole lot bigger than you think.

It's not easy for not-rich people (myself included) to feel sympathy for the rich guys. But I guess it's a good attitude : )