Unfortunately, many people today feel a strong sense of ENTITLEMENT. And that is the root of many of society's problems.
I know someone who hoards food from the food pantries and then sells it at flea markets. When the food pantries he collects from are told about his actions, they say "we can't stop giving him food". Yet they continue to say they're short food. I don't understand this at all.
Unlike we're being told, "rich" people aren't the problem. They're paying PLENTY of taxes. I KNOW that there are PLENTY of people out there who just don't feel like they have to contribute to their own upkeep. Somehow that's become the government's responsibility. But they need to know that the government's money is simply just the taxpayers' money. And we have finite resources.
It's not a matter of "turning off the tv" and burying your head in the sand to avoid these problems. They affect all of us eventually.
See, I disagree. And I know a lot of "rich" people who completely disagree. Most of the people I know who fall into the "rich" category say that in a way, they are the problem. They don't think they are paying enough in taxes. Which of course is soemthing that they can't change, but its something that they think needs to be changed. They think that the CEOs of many of the large corporations are selfish and don't care about anything but making money. They think that corporations and the wealthy need to be contributing more because in the end, most of them are probably working no harder (or work even less) than those who are making a middle class income (especially teachers, social workers, police, etc). But many of these individuals I know who fall into this category are also physicians who believe in health care equality and are completely willing to take a paycut if thats what is necessary to get us to that point. So they might just have a different mindset and different set of values.
I agree that people need to live within their means but I do not think its correct to say that the "rich" are not at least some of the problem.
But entitlement is also a huge issue. And I see it on these boards ALL THE TIME!
I do try my best not to judge people though because I don't know the specifics of their finances or family. If someone did not know about my medical situation, they would probably think that my paretns don't know how to manage their money because we do struggle some months (especially at the beginning of the year and in july when our insurance kicks back to the beginning). But my mom has a business and finance degree, my grandpa is an accountant. My parents both watch their money closely.....but we are struggling right now adn no, we are not living beyond our means.
Yes there are people who abuse the system when it comes to social program (just like there are wealthy who abuse the system so that they dont have to pay) but I HATE it when everyone is lumped together. This is why so many people who DO need help (food stamps, medicaid, etc) are so reluctant to get it because of the judgment and stigma attached to it.
The problem is, as a society in this country, we are becoming much more selfish, much more entitled and as a whole, we dont care about anyone but ourselves. Until the mentality changes back to the fact that we ALL need to do our part, nothing is going to change.
I pretty much the abnormality around here though. the poor folks who come to my church are actually lower middle class working poor. they pay taxes like every one else. They aren't driving Cadillacs escapades, most have chevy's that are 7 years old, most have one adult who has lost their jobs and are hanging on to stay in the house they have and they darn sure aren't going to the world every year. So no, I generally don't get mad at their life, au contraire I thank God daily that I am not in their situation.
I can join you in being an abnormality I guess. The poor people, or the people struggling that I know are hard working individuals who are in bad situations. Divorce, medical bills, unemployment, etc. They have kids on the free lunch program, they have medi-cal, they qualify for more assistance. Some do have "newer" cars but many of them bought cars with cash before they had financial problems. They were the people who stayed out of debt by doing all the right things but situations out of their control got the best of them. I thank God everyday that I am not in that situation as well. But I also know that we are one unfrotuante event away from being in that situation. If my dad lost his job, we'd be screwed. Not because we don't budget well, but because we live in a high COL area (not really by choice...its where the job was) and because we have bills that we cant control and its our savings that suffers.
