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Even so, op, you can't say that a person who happens to do all that is deserving of being rich. Also, you can't say those who are unable or unwilling to do that aren't deserving of the same amount of resources as anyone else.
In other words, why should my ability to get money (and by extension; resources) be a function of my ability to "answer a phone fast"?
I don't disagree, necessarily, but you come across as though you think this is "the way it should be"...which I don't think is true.
If you arbitrary emphasize certain skills as the root of richness, naturally and rightly so, skills that happen to be in your favor, then those who happen to not have those skills, but others, are likely to do the same. For example, the ability to "put a cap in your ass, and take your ish.."
You see where I'm going with this?
Much of business in various industries comes to service and relationships so things like being responsive do matter. Should it? I don't know, but it does. People are free to complain or they can figure out how to be effective. If I'm calling a business, why wouldn't I as the consumer go with someone that is more responsive?
As a personal example, I tried to contact a guy I know personally for help with a business transaction. He was fairly new in the industry and I called him to try to give him some business. When I hadn't heard back from him several days later, I called somone else and have never called the first guy again.
Why not? Do you know his situation? Do you know the obstacles he faces? Are you saying that your life is comparable to a man who lives in inner city Detroit?
Listen, there is no reason why the life of another should be of interest to me as far as "relating to him" is concerned. There is no need to compare. I have my very own obstacles.
Yes, you finally are getting it. You see, the rich are rich because it all fell out of the sky into their lap. The poor are poor because nothing ever fell out of the sky for them. That's all there is. May as well not try.
Right? It's that very tiresome "bad lot in life" argument that I am sick to death of listening to by the liberal popluation.
You know, this annoys me a little. Because what it really does is ignore the cultural issues that keep education from succeeding in inner cities. I work with an inner city charter school. If you enroll your child, you will have a place no matter what your income is. There are only three requirements: a) You the parent have to make sure your child does his or her homework every night, b) Your child has to adhere to the code of conduct; and c) you the parent have to recognize that the parent is the most important part of a child's education, which means you have to attend teacher conferences and school meetings. If you are working, the school will bend over backwards to accommodate your schedule. And the cost per student is roughly half that of the surrounding school system.
The teachers in this school are all exceptional. Many of them came from other inner city schools and took a pay cut. Why? Because rather than deal with a stultifying bureaucracy that was more about generating excuses and letting poor performers off the hook, they wanted to actually teach. The result? Test scores that rival many well-funded suburban school systems. In short, there's no problem with the kids. There's a huge problem with inner city culture that perpetuates poverty. Until there's a cultural acceptance at work that makes education possible, no amount of funding and programs will do the job.
And this is EXACTLY what should be happening more. It's not in my area. Charter schools are pretty much limited to kids with good grades, kids with rich (at least well off parents,) or they're kids who are one foot from being career criminals and the district is desperately trying to save it's graduation rate.
Right? It's that very tiresome "bad lot in life" argument that I am sick to death of listening to by the liberal popluation.
Well if you were born with millions of dollars you probably are going to have more opportunities and better access than not. The playing field is simply not level. Why is it wrong to advocate that we have better schools, more libraries, and better access to healthcare in our poorer districts. Nobody is saying we need to redistribute wealth to make everyone middle class, but we are saying give poor people the same chances.
- Rich people tend to excercise more to stay healthier and spend less money on health care since they know that if they don't live healthy it will cost them more money.
- Rich people eat healthier to stay healthier to save cost.
- Rich people waste less money on late fees, and other fees that cost them money. Pay bills on time.
- Rich people tend to compare prices before buying items to save money.
Poor people overall don't do what is written above.
If poor people would try to do the same than they will end up with more money!
Though some of what's in the OP is true, it seems to be that people forget about a vicious cycle. Easy to underestimate the forces and influences in another person's life and overestimate the power of your own personality and values. In reality, there is always an interaction between the various aspects of your situation/environment and your personal qualities. To assume that you'd be equally driven to accomplish the same goals under different circumstances and after different life experiences is, ironically, way too simple-minded.
Ideally, yes, people should strive to do their best no matter what. But what happens when you do your best and still get little to no payoff? What happens when this becomes the rule rather than an exception to the rule? What happens when you realize you're taking on much more of a challenge than others your age, and getting less recognition or reward for it... over, and over... and over again?
Only a fool would deny the discouraging effect of such a consistent, apparent lack of incentives.
This seems to be the mantra of the right these days. The rich are smarter, more moral, and harder working than you, so they deserve their slice of the pizza and yours too. There is a shred of truth to this. Most of the wealthier folks work pretty hard, but the rewards are all out of wack.
In the USA, CEO salaries are 200-400 times that of a common worker. Are they 200 times are virtuous and hardworking?
Also, CEO salaries have increase at ~127 times that of the typical worker. Is that more evidence of their moral superiority?
What I read in these numbers is that the top 1% is fleecing the common person and has been for some time. Kind of a reverse Robin Hood situation. I am sure Romney will be fixing all this though...
You will never, ever be wealthy. I guarantee it. You detest wealth too much. You will always be poor.
Someone else said it early in the thread - wealth is more about mindset than money. If you start thinking like a wealthy person, you will naturally follow the correct course to reach that goal. It's really less about specific actions that can be defined in a list of bullet points, and more about how you think of yourself, and of money. If you hate money, you'll never hold onto any of it.
Someone I saw on TV the other day during a business news show made a comment that really struck a chord with me. It wasn't some major proclamation or anything - he said it as part of a larger comment which I don't even remember, and the words that caught my interest weren't really even related to his main point. He said (paraphrasing) that there are two types of people when it comes to how one handles money - consumers and investors. Which are you?
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