The wealth gap & other ills.... Warning: long and could make you sick

[Wifezilla]

 

[enjoy the ride]

Indeed life is not fair but people can be. There is no uncontrollable factors in people's behavior to others. Life did not give that man a $98,000 bonus- man did.
A child complaining about a smaller share of the cake is not the right analogy. That is competetive nattering although the "deprived" child may feel the pain.
Having one child starving while another is made fat is a better comparison. A person who is less talented or not as driven or frankly socially inept should not be deprived of basic needs if they put in the effort to have that.
Having great inequalities in opportunities causes social unrest. I'm am not talking communism where everyone shares equally- I'm talking about the kind of inequality that has someone working full time and more but at a less than wonderful job can actually not have enough to feed their family, much less provide shelter and education to their children. That is certain "not fair."
There is a great difference in acknowledging someone elses's feeling and condoning robbery.
Theworst kind of attitude is dangerous, like that Goldman-Sachs CEO who said he was doing god's work by accumulating an obscene amount of money in part by taking a life saver offered by the taxpayers because some of the wealth would trickle down and employ others. The "let them eat cake" philosophy of life. And look at the result to the originator of that famous line.
As I said before, I don't really care about a person who equates worth with wealth but I do care deeply that everyone who wants a job should be able to have one that covers basic needs and should have the respect of the society that benefits from his work.

 

[me&thegals]

I so completely agree with enjoy the ride!!!

I have no jealousy towards my family members who own sailboats and have lakefront property. They are wonderful people and spend time working at the free medical clinic in their town. If I were starving, they would help me.

So, life isn't fair and we all get that.

But, when some people are truly suffering and others have bonuses SHRUNKEN to an amount of $ I can only dream of earning with TWO incomes, maybe things are getting a bit skewed.

My kids nitpick over who gets the larger portion of whatever treat. I tease them that I will need to get out my farmer's market scale to make it dead equal. I also tell them life is not that fair. But, I would never consider giving one child the whole cake, making the other child have none and call it good.

Life is not fair, but EVERYone should have basic needs met. If they can work for them, that is great for us all. If they cannot, then I feel we should help them meet those needs.

And, as already mentioned, the larger the gap gets between rich and poor, historically, the more unstable society becomes.

I don't WANT a yacht, but if I worked hard and still couldn't buy enough food or have health insurance, I would start looking closely at those who own the yachts (for example) and wondering if their jobs are REALLY worth 1000s of times more than the hard work I do each day.

Some may say, "Then go back to school and DO "XYZ" that earns the big bucks." I personally believe anybody working hard in society should earn enough to pay for what that society believes to be essential. In America, that is food, clothing, shelter and health insurance.

And I don't believe Golden Parachute Boy should take SO much from the company that my company lays off 100s of employees in order to have enough $ to make him his golden parachute.

 

[hikerchick]

It's very simple. If you want what he has, do what he does. If you can't or won't, you are not entitled to it. Sometimes you have to do more than simply "work hard." You have to work smart, educate yourself, make sacrifices, etc. to get those jobs that pay 100K bonuses. These people didn't just luck into these jobs. They worked for them. How can anyone begrudge that? if wealth is that important to you, go get it. It it is not, then I don't see what the problem is. We make our choices and life and accept the consequences. Isn't that part of being self-sufficient? Making your own choices and accepting the consequences?

 

[FarmerChick]

yea it is funny how we all do differ so much.
yet so in tune on other areas of our lives like being SS....lol


my family we are allowed to speak our feelings and it is understood that what is being said is important to the individual...and they are heard. We don't get jealous of others problems--even if those issues don't happen to "sound" like a problem to the others.

I mean, having a giant bonus money problem being cut, is terrible for the indiviudal and still could invoke jealousy and other feelings when it is heard. But in our famiy, everyone lives their own lives and have their own personal problems, all are allowed out in the open without judgement.

I say whatever your personal income---it is your right to have it and spend as you like.

Not everyone wants to be frugal in this world. And the world is not fair, and it never will be. And for those making a million analogies of "fairness"--well make as many as you wish, but again, the world will never be fair. Because mankind can never be fair and equal. It will not and can never happen that I can see. Reality does bite sometimes.

dynamics within a family is so important I guess when discussing what is appropriate and not.

 

[FarmerChick]

It's very simple. If you want what he has, do what he does. If you can't or won't, you are not entitled to it. Sometimes you have to do more than simply "work hard." You have to work smart, educate yourself, make sacrifices, etc. to get those jobs that pay 100K bonuses. These people didn't just luck into these jobs. They worked for them. How can anyone begrudge that? if wealth is that important to you, go get it. It it is not, then I don't see what the problem is. We make our choices and life and accept the consequences. Isn't that part of being self-sufficient? Making your own choices and accepting the consequences?

Good and fair post! I agree.

 

[enjoy the ride]

It's very simple. If you want what he has, do what he does. If you can't or won't, you are not entitled to it. Sometimes you have to do more than simply "work hard." You have to work smart, educate yourself, make sacrifices, etc. to get those jobs that pay 100K bonuses. These people didn't just luck into these jobs. They worked for them. How can anyone begrudge that? if wealth is that important to you, go get it. It it is not, then I don't see what the problem is. We make our choices and life and accept the consequences. Isn't that part of being self-sufficient? Making your own choices and accepting the consequences?

NO- it's nowhere near that easy. If a person is a great nurse but a poor investor, should they be deprived of shelter? If the best they can do is flip burgers, then should we just let his children starve? If a person does great carpentry and loves doing that, should that make him a target to be driven like a donkey to make money for the owner? The owner may profit but not by reducing others to slavery. The carpenter deserves a reasonble return on his work.
The problem is that there are fewer and fewer decent jobs for people in general. For every job holder who can screw money out of the populace, there are thousands of people who have to supply the work to get him the money and recieve less and less as he gets more and more.

Again and again- it is not that someone earns a bonus that is the issue (and in my years of experience, bonuses frequently go to persons who did not work particularly hard,) it's that clever viciousness and self-interest seems to have arrived at a point that it's now considered a virtue. Too much stepping on other people's hands in climbing for more and more.

Society derives much more benefit from plumbers than from those whose life consists of accumulating for themselves.

 

[On Our own]

Wow. Again, just Wow.

And it explains alot about how we got to this point when I hear these discussions. Please go back and read my second post. This is not about fair or about how his poor feelings are hurt or how he is suffering. That was his bonus his salary is 5 million a year. If he can't make do on that then Serenity is right he needs to hand around here a while.

No life is not fair, but how is it that a paper pusher can make millions while a surgeon, more school, worse hours, higher intelligence can make less? This isn't about earning what is rightfully yours it is about a system getting so skewed that you can "earn" what is rightfully some one else's and then call it fair.

This is serious "let them eat cake" territory and the only thing keeping it that way is the astonishing ability they have to continue to get us all to fight over that last scrap of bread utterly convinced that if we were smart enough we'd be on top too. That's magic. How do they keep us at each other's throat? I know d*** well how they do it but that would start another fight.

Think about this as doorways. When you walk through a building where many of the doors are open you may not even notice how many are open for you, or even really notice those that some one else held open for you. But, when every door is closed and some are locked or there are people holding them shut, you are well aware of every door.

 

[FarmerChick]

I think we kinda combined a few issues into the thread.

The man deserves to complain...it is his right in life. I guess "he thought" he was in good enough company of people that he could open up a bit.

No one deserves a total fair shake in life. It doesn't happen.

A nurse making a decent salary and has money troubles. Then "she/he" must do what she must to survive. A carpenter is in the same boat, same with a CEO of a company etc. A laborer is in the same boat---I AM IN THIS BOAT---we all are. Your location for housing costs, your insuance costs etc. could be a factor. Heck people in Hawaii are leaving for the mainland cause they can not afford to live there....that is a huge step. In country travel must happen also if you want to change your life sometimes. It is up to the person to help themselves as much as they can!!

Life is scary...has been and always will be.

Your profession, your age, your gender, your career path, your crappy $10 hr job...etc. IS LIFE! No one is going to change that any time soon.


How many million times have we all said Life Isn't Fair---well start believing it.

 

[Big Daddy]

Wow. Again, just Wow.



This is serious "let them eat cake" territory and the only thing keeping it that way is the astonishing ability they have to continue to get us all to fight over that last scrap of bread utterly convinced that if we were smart enough we'd be on top too. That's magic. How do they keep us at each other's throat? I know d*** well how they do it but that would start another fight.

Think about this as doorways. When you walk through a building where many of the doors are open you may not even notice how many are open for you, or even really notice those that some one else held open for you. But, when every door is closed and some are locked or there are people holding them shut, you are well aware of every door.

Good points and a great analogy.