OK. I didn’t know that. Thanks for informing me.
James condemns all rich people without qualification - if you are rich, you are condemned. Indeed, James seems to have somewhat of a vendetta against the rich, impugning them on three separate occasions in his epistle:
Ja.1.10-11 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
Ja.2.6b-7 Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
Ja.5.1-6 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
But even Christ did not condemn all rich people:
Mt.19.24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The "eye of a needle" that Christ referred to was a small door located in the major gates to the city. Although difficult, a camel could be forced through one if necessary. Christ's point was that it would be difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, not impossible as is James' contention.
Matthew, one of the twelve, was a tax collector (Mt.9.9), a very high societal position. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and described as "wealthy" (Lk.19.1-9), and subsequently saved. Joseph of Arimathea is described as a "rich man" and a "disciple" (Mt.27.57). Jesus often portrayed God as a rich person in his parables - variously as kings, a vineyard owner, a master with servants who ran his affairs while he journeyed, as farmers, a money lender, a man throwing a "great banquet", the father of the prodigal son, and ironically enough as a "rich man". (See Mt.18.23-34, Mt.20.1-16, Mt.21.33-39, Mt.22.2-14, Mt.24.45-51, Mt.25.14-30, Lk.12.42-48, Lk.15.11-32)
James slanders all rich people and some fellow saints (and indirectly, God also) as condemned simply for being rich. In James' eyes the rich are rich because they are so evil that they are beyond the reach of his legalistic gospel.
Clearly, this is just more evidence that the epistle of James is not canonical.