Quote:
Originally Posted by classicman
There is a cost for "not being rich" If you want all that goes with it, you have to make the sacrifices to reap the rewards.
There is no utopia - it doesn't exist. I agree though this doesn't mean we shouldn't work towards this goal, but if you want, you have to earn. Your "I'm entitled to all these wonderful things just because I exist" is a mentality that I disagree with.
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What is the cost for not being rich? Not being able to own a big yatch or an expensive sports car, or not being able to go skiing in Switzerland every year? I'm not even talking about that stuff. I'm talking about people who work their ASS off, and still have trouble affording food and health care and the necessities of life.
People should be able to have a decent job, and if they work hard, they should be paid well enough to afford nutritious food, and since we don't want government health care in this country, then they should be paid enough to afford a GOOD insurance policy that completely covers them and their family (if they have one), and they should be able to afford to buy new clothes/shoes once in a while, and their utilities and a phone, and some kind of transportation (even if it's a bicycle), and to go out to dinner once in a while, maybe once every couple of months, or to see a movie, and they should be paid enough to save a little.
Now I am not stupid. I know that, even if we paid everyone well enough to afford those things, some people still would not manage their money well. But what has gone on in this country for the past 30 years is not about that, it's about people being left completely behind. There IS plenty of money for everyone, if the people at the top would just be a little less greedy.
The truth is, the GAP between the top and bottom has grown horribly over the past 30 years. CEO pay has skyrocketed, while pay for the middle class has remained stagnant or grown very little. Why is it OK with you for the pay to jump so damn much at the top, and to remain the same for everyone else? Don't you see the unfairness of that? Not only that, don't you see the unsustainability of it? I honestly
do not get the reasoning of people like you, who cheer for the uber wealthy, while demonizing the majority of Americans. In this country, CEOs used to earn 30x more than the average worker, which is close to what it is in other countries right now, higher even, NOW, a CEO earns around 500x more. What makes you think that is OK? Why was it OK for Carly Fiorina to walk away from HP with millions of dollars after she ran the company into the ground? Why is it OK for CEOs to take giant sums of money in bonuses while they lay people off and cut their benefits? Good grief!