The ethics of citizenship

Originally posted by jaguar
I'm swiss, british and australian. I've lived in all 3. I've been to Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, Indonesia in SE Asia alone. I'm not talking the tourist routes either. Don't try and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

You were the one who said something about helping people being fiscally irresponsible, not me. I found the idea farcical. You said yourself you survived on charitable handouts, surely they were kinda useful? Why not give back?

I pick my causes based on what I feel are the most pressing situations and issues, I don't feel poverty in America is, ever was, or ever will be anywhere near the most important.

Also, you don't add up. How the hell does one go from having a personal secretary, which implies a fairly impressive job title, to abject poverty. Concept of saving and investment never enter your consciousness?

I did meen In but in retrospect there was something freudian about that.

I never said you didn't know what you are talking about. In fact, I agreed with you when you said that Americans are myopic. Why are you getting so defensive?

What I said is that throwing wads of money at a problem is not always the answer; that SOME people would consider that fiscally irresponsible. Certainly, many charities do fine work, and I am not trying to tell you which ones you should contribute to - that's a matter of personal conscience. In my case, I am simply looking for ways to solve root causes. This is my way of "giving back," trying to find ways so others won't have to go through what I did.

If you'd go back and read my post where I explained what happened to me, I mentioned that I spent 3 years becoming more and more incapacitated and that for the last year before I discovered what was wrong, I had no longer been able to work. I then spent a frustrating year trying to get back into the work place without medical treatment. After that I finally resigned myself to asking for government help. It took 4 years to get it. Sure, I had savings and investments. I had enough to last me 4 years with no money coming in. Most Americans don't even have that much in reserve. The final two years with no money were far from easy.

You said your heritage is part Swiss. So is mine. My family came from the Entlebuch area outside Luzern. Do you mind me asking which part of Switzerland your relatives came from?