At some time in the not too distant past, I posited that I was having trouble understanding the attitude of the 1%, most of whom are Republicans and big donors to that party, and including in that group those that tend to be in a position of doing some good in the world but for one reason or another steadfastly refuse to do so.
Since then, I have read a bit of history, especially on the 'gilded age' of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. along with (and comparing to) earlier ages where the class division was in extremis.
I can understand fairly well what the basic motivations for their actions are. It's money and power, which, regardless of published reason or propaganda, is ALWAYS the reason for anti-social behavior. It's the scale that is significant, from the sublime - a kid stealing a lolly from her sibling - to the ridiculous - a hostile takeover, a corporate sellout, a war of aggression - it's all the same. One of my favorite quotes is from a Tom Clancy novel, "A war of aggression is really nothing but an armed robbery writ large." (my other favorite is, "International relations consist largely of one country screwing the other.") But for our purpose, let's concentrate (below the fancy infinity symbol) on the big stuff, but keep it to the consideration of why the top percenters do as they do.
I recently watched a PBS series called 'Earth - The New Wild' which concerned itself with the relationship humans have with the modern environment. In a segment abut the rain forests and potential desertification, the blame for the current rape of the planet's resources is pretty well laid at the feet of the big money interests and the desire for more - more money and control, mostly.
Greed is the basic premise for all this, but the underlying factor is more personal. The program's narrative posits that the reason may be greed, but the people responsible for getting the money will do whatever they want, whatever it takes to get it. And no matter what happens to the planet, or the rest of the humans and other life on it, they JUST DON'T CARE!
The very few hundred wealthiest people on the planet, who control at least 90% of the wealth honestly believe that the money all belongs to them. They will allow the rest of us to have enough to live on, barely, and a few may be allowed to become wealthy in relation to the bottom 99%, but that top 1% will decide who gets what, AFTER they get theirs.
And this is the part that both amazes and reviles me: That top 1% (worldwide, not just in the US) honestly believe they are ENTITLED to it. t's all theirs; the rest of us are mere afterthoughts. It's kind of a modern droit du signeur for a modern age - instead of the right of the king, baron, earl, lord or whoever to rape the peasants wife on the wedding night, it's become the oligarchs and plutocrats right to rape the planet and any people who're not in their elite class.
So, what's to be done? In a democratic republic like the US, or in most of the reasonable democracies of the modern world, a concentrated effort may be mounted by the 99% to regain control of the government by popular vote, and curtail (they'll never eliminate) the oligarchic influences. In the countries that are already controlled by the elite and powered class (the 1%) - Russia, China, Iran, and a lot of Africa come to mind - it'll probably take bloody rebellion, underwritten by other countries, to regain popular control.
And this is something we of the 99% MUST do, if we want the planet to survive. The elites will never go along willingly; they simply can't or won't see the impending doom. Which, if it comes, will destroy them as surely as the rest of us.
The alternative to radical change is simply too horrible to contemplate.