Trip to feed store leads to political arguement!

[chickened]

I know you are not suggesting that poor and unemployed people are the result of being less intelligent, lazy, and loose with money, or that wealth is always the product of sweat and brains and honest dealings with money. Right?
There are actually lots of schools of thought on how wealth and economic classes operate. This is due to it being a complex topic with many variables.

This is not how those that are wealthy view their success. I work for some very wealthy people at times.

 

[rufus]

I am. There is no disgrace in being poor; the disgrace is in staying that way. People have to reassess their situation and adapt. One cannot sit around the rest of their life waiting for a factory to re open or for a job to return from overseas. It is not going to happen. They have to move on with their lives.

Unemployment and food stamps is not a career.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Actually, I'd say the disgrace is in conceptualizing fellow humans in such simplistic and demeaning terms.

 

[newfoundland]

Well said punk-a-doodle!

 

[bakerjw]

I have to chime in here. I make very good money for what I do and somehow have managed to become 100% debt free before the age of 50. How did that happen? HARD WORK.

It all started back in the late 80's when I got hired by a high tech firm working in the cleaning room. Electronic assemblies would be received in for repair and I would clean the prior to them going to the technicians for repair. While in that job, I was the head of a family of 4 making $5.50 an hour. I thought to myself, "I would like to be one of those technicians. Their work is pretty cool." So I started going to college with a full load of classes. That is working 40+ hours a week at work, taking a minimum of 12 hours at the local community college, and being the head of a household of 4. Those were long hours and it was a lot of hard work. I got an associates degree and continued learning from there. I am now a system test engineer for the worlds largest system automation companies. Larger than GE. And it is because I invested in myself.

I have a friend who is poor. He dropped out of high school and has worked odd jobs to scrape by for many years. We used to hang out a lot. I urged him for years to go get his GED. I even offered to pay any fees and for books that he needed. He never took me up on it. He opted to remain poor rather than work toward improving his lot in life.

I have another high school friend who was a real pot head. He never did anything with himself after high school. When my son was going to college, his grades were exceptional and he became a member of an honor fraternity. We went to the ceremony and I'll be darned, but my friend John was there. Here was one of the biggest stoners from high school getting into a society of people with good collegiate grade point averages. He worked to get turned around.

Then there is my sister in law. She recently lost here temporary job at a local high tech firm for attendance reasons. All she could do was complain because they never made her a permanent employee. Beer and pot are too important to some people I suppose. I can pretty much guarantee that if she'd had started taking some basic electronics classes at the local tech college, they'd have probably brought her on permanent.

My wife's cousins are also poor. Alcohol and drugs are more important to them than working to get ahead in life. They purposely try to limit how much money they earn so as to get earned income credits. They are leeches on society.

There is a local Chinese restaurant that I frequent. The young couple who run it are there from 10:00AM to 11:00 PM every day of the week. They don't dress in fancy clothes or have an expensive car and house. They work hard and save their money.

Working your way out of poverty isn't impossible. It is hard but not impossible. It takes work and dedication, but there are so many opportunities out there that are passed up because it is easier to remain in your place in life and expect more from those who have worked to become successful. I have sympathy for anyone who is poor and I WILL provide a hand up to those that will accept it and use it, but I see few willing to put forth the effort.

 

[chickened]

Actually, I'd say the disgrace is in conceptualizing fellow humans in such simplistic and demeaning terms.

How would you characterize people that resent the wealthy?

 

[chickened]

I have to chime in here. I make very good money for what I do and somehow have managed to become 100% debt free before the age of 50. How did that happen? HARD WORK.

It all started back in the late 80's when I got hired by a high tech firm working in the cleaning room. Electronic assemblies would be received in for repair and I would clean the prior to them going to the technicians for repair. While in that job, I was the head of a family of 4 making $5.50 an hour. I thought to myself, "I would like to be one of those technicians. Their work is pretty cool." So I started going to college with a full load of classes. That is working 40+ hours a week at work, taking a minimum of 12 hours at the local community college, and being the head of a household of 4. Those were long hours and it was a lot of hard work. I got an associates degree and continued learning from there. I am now a system test engineer for the worlds largest system automation companies. Larger than GE. And it is because I invested in myself.

I have a friend who is poor. He dropped out of high school and has worked odd jobs to scrape by for many years. We used to hang out a lot. I urged him for years to go get his GED. I even offered to pay any fees and for books that he needed. He never took me up on it. He opted to remain poor rather than work toward improving his lot in life.

I have another high school friend who was a real pot head. He never did anything with himself after high school. When my son was going to college, his grades were exceptional and he became a member of an honor fraternity. We went to the ceremony and I'll be darned, but my friend John was there. Here was one of the biggest stoners from high school getting into a society of people with good collegiate grade point averages. He worked to get turned around.

Then there is my sister in law. She recently lost here temporary job at a local high tech firm for attendance reasons. All she could do was complain because they never made her a permanent employee. Beer and pot are too important to some people I suppose. I can pretty much guarantee that if she'd had started taking some basic electronics classes at the local tech college, they'd have probably brought her on permanent.

My wife's cousins are also poor. Alcohol and drugs are more important to them than working to get ahead in life. They purposely try to limit how much money they earn so as to get earned income credits. They are leeches on society.

There is a local Chinese restaurant that I frequent. The young couple who run it are there from 10:00AM to 11:00 PM every day of the week. They don't dress in fancy clothes or have an expensive car and house. They work hard and save their money.

Working your way out of poverty isn't impossible. It is hard but not impossible. It takes work and dedication, but there are so many opportunities out there that are passed up because it is easier to remain in your place in life and expect more from those who have worked to become successful. I have sympathy for anyone who is poor and I WILL provide a hand up to those that will accept it and use it, but I see few willing to put forth the effort.

Imet a man that started out as an orphan selling neckties out of a suitcase at the age of 12. When he passed he was worth about 400 million, owned about a third of the Denny's restuarants in California among other things. One of the things he told me was never be too proud to pick up apenny.

This is still one of the few developed countries where wealth can still be created, the EU has done away with this possibility through its wealth redistribution policies and we have people here trying to implement those policies and my hope is that people will wake up to this and realize wealth is made by hardwork not entitlements.

 

[redhen]

How would you characterize people that resent the wealthy?

I think we know the answer to that..
Seems like its okay as long as its not the other way around..eh?

 

[RHRanch]

Actually, I'd say the disgrace is in conceptualizing fellow humans in such simplistic and demeaning terms.

 

[RunningRabbit]

How would you characterize people that resent the wealthy?

I'm poor and don't resent the wealthy. I resent the sense of entitlement that many of the wealthy have.

That being said, quite a few interesting points have been brought up. I'm poor now, but I start a new "permanent" job at $9.00 an hour, a little under full time work, mon-fri, come December. I did invest in myself (by getting my class B CDL with all endorsements), and the company that I am now working for has told me that when they begin expanding, I'll be transferred to a driving position making $12.50 an hour. full-time. Getting this far wasn't easy at all. I sent out 200+ applications, resumes and had a fair amount of dead end interviews. My tenacity paid off very well, even when the situation felt terribly hopeless.

So I guess, if you don't like your life, then change it. If circumstance prevents this, try to adapt yourself to get more out of it. Inept politicians on both sides have had a hand in screwing up our economy, and I'd rather not lay the blame exclusively on one individual.

Now if I can change my lot, I have the utmost belief that so can everyone. You just have to try and not accept defeat. Easier said than done, I know. But it can be better, regardless of who is running the show!