Why so many of the poor remain poor

There will always be the have's and have not's. Some may inherit their wealth, but most have 'worked' and invested 'wisely' for it. Before WWII, most Americans were POOR. Most did not have jobs. The majority of folks considered to be middle-class and above today came from that background. Most did not get a 'free ride.' c.i.

The statement that 1.5% of millionairs inherited their wealth is an interesting statistic but it needs a link. Exactly who came up with the statistic?

I agree with you McGentrix on both your points.

1. A majority of people with money earned it through hard work.

2. Screw the poor. They are undeserving lazy bastards. Losers one and all.

Two interesting "stats" on inherited wealth:

(For these the term "Affluent" is defind as someone with assets of at least $100,000 but less the $1,000,000 and "Affluent" and "Millionare" are seperated into two different groups.)








http://www.americasaves.org/back_page/underestimate_wealth.cfm


There is obviously some inheritance going on but apparently people tend to greatly over-estimate the value and effects of it.

I'd guess that jealousy of another's wealth is pretty natural for us. The idea that simply working hard will make one rich is foolish. You have to work hard at the right things and have a bit of good luck thrown in. Making the right choices when opportunities appear is key. There are some people that see few of those opportunities for sure but to decide that everyone that does see them and makes the right choices is crooked smacks of sour grapes to me.

I (sadly, for I've been a confirmed skiver the last couple of years) do more work than my boss, who makes twice what I do. The guy who cleans the place up, on the other hand, works much harder than I do, and makes a lot less. So there's where part of the perception comes in. Not every corporation or institution rewards hard work alone.

Also -- who are the most visible rich people in our society? Celebs -- movie stars and athletes who, we are told over and over again, make obscene wads of cash for doing things most of us, were we capable, would do for next to nothing, or at least think we would. Most people don't actually know any millionaires, and so go by what they see on the squawk box. By the same card, I do know some quite wealthy people who neither inherited the money nor did they work very hard for it; they were simply willing to go into an odious business filled with individuals of very low ethical standards and who produce nothing of value. Stockbrokers, this Bud's for you.



But my question is... why are you bothered by the ranting of someone who is so obviously a loser?

The rich get their money by earning it; by inheriting it; by marrying into it; and by stealing it from others.

McG -- your take on this issue reinforces my opinion that you are an unfeeling, unempathetic jerkoff.

Frankly, I don't know what the huge attraction about being rich is. Certainly, I have thought about it -- and I guess at times I've even hoped for it. But I can think of a half dozen things that enter my reverie before "rich."

I am not especially envious of the rich -- although they do tend to play at courses not easily available to me. The courses I do play, though, are more than adequate for my game -- and if my regular courses constitute 95% of my playing time, so be it. I enjoy the occasional outting at a major course all that much more when it comes my way.

I think some of the envy displayed toward the rich is ugly. But not nearly as ugly as the sentiments expressed by our host here in this thread, the ever inappropriate, McGentrix -- who obviously has to look down on others in order to compensate for some inadequacy.

Hummmm...I wonder what it is???

Bear

That was the worst post I've ever seen you make.

attack the article, Frank, not me.

Frank why is that the worst post I've ever made?

I resent it when the poor get dissected this way.

Yeah, Frank, It's not necessary to attack McG. Personal attacks are not appreciated by anybody. c.i.

Are we sure some of that "hard work" and "luck" is achieved through crass opportunism? I'm not convinced that most millionaires got their money, if not inherited or inherited, by unscrupulous means and I'm sure none of them would admit any ill goten gains. I consistently work with these people and unreported cash, for instance, in a hidden safe is not out of the ordinary. Just an instance and they respect my confidentiality so I won't name any names but for those who have amassed wealth through entirely ethical and scrupulous means, my hat is off to you.

LW, Thank you! Just kidding; we're not 'wealthy' by any stretch of the imagination, but we are 'comfortable.' c.i.

Yes, let's seperate out the obscenely wealthy from the guilt-free comfortable.

Well, I got my ass reamed out for insulting McG -- so I will issue an immediate apology.

Blaming the poor for being poor disgusts me -- and should disgust anyone with even a modicum of empathy for the many people who are poor not because of laziness -- but because the old saw about all men (or people) being born equal is baloney.

Some people never will have the smarts to compete successfully for the money. They will always be the pawn the rich use to make themselves richer while spitting out platitudes about creating jobs and allowing money to "trickle down" to the peons who make their wealth possible.

Some people will never have the disposition to compete successfully for the money. Their sense of dignity and concern for their fellow human being will never allow them to run roughshod over others in order to line their pockets no matter the cost to the rest of humanity - or to any other individual.

My mother was poor and my mother worked like a goddam slave all her life. She did an honest days work -- often for much less than an honest day's pay, because much of the work she did could be done by any other person who had to quit school and go out to work after the third grade -- a condition that afflicted many people of her age and condition when she grew up.

She was poor, but she was proud. And although she didn't have lots of education, she surely was intelligent enough not to look down on others who are less fortunate the way others, with much better educational opportunities, see fit to do.

I find it reprehensible that anyone can be as callous toward the poor as some of the people I've seem posting here, but, following the rules of the site, I guess I have to find a more moderate way to express my scorn.

I'll think of a way.

In the meantime, loathe as I am to do this -- I apologize for my intemperate remarks -- if not with complete sincerity to the object of my anger - certainly for the people who run and participate in this forum. My remarks were ill-advised.

McGentrix- You wrote:



I think that the problem with that statement is that it is painted with much too broad a brush. It IS true that some people remain poor because of poor choices, but there are probably just as many cases of people who have done their best, but life just did not work out for them.

Frank Apisa- You wrote:



I think that this statment too, is much too broad. The implicit assumption is that the gain of one necessitates the loss to another. I think that is a
very pessimistic outlook concerning your evaluation of humanity. Yes, it is true that SOME people will run over everyone to get what they want, but IMO it is callous to think that most people who make a lot of money do it in that way.

Are you familiar with the concept of win-win?

Frank, Thank you. You're not the only one that can get hot under the collar; most of us have a sensitive spot that can rile us very easily. I'm no different. I appreciate your apology to McG. You know by now that I'm not a big fan of Mr/s McG, because we disagree on principal on many issues, but I've tried to stay on topic when I participate in any forum he is on. I also agree with you; most poor people do not stay poor from lack of working very hard. You and I have the same background; our mother raised four children on welfare. Our mother was naive about many things, did not have much formal education, but she was stoic. When my siblings and I discuss our mother at our quarterly get-togethers, we are surprised at how she was able to survive through the depression years, during WWII, and after. I have been able to put our 'poorness' into perspective from my many travels around this world. My life has changed from barely enough to eat to our ability to donate to charities that provides food and shelter to the poor. We are indeed 'lucky.' c.i.

In the very long or the very short view, the gain of one absolutely does necessitate the loss to another. Ultimately, there are finite quantities of resources in the world, and a great deal of competition for those resources. Did you know that the past three years are the first since the green revolution in which all of the world's grain, if divided equally between all of the people in world, would not have been adequate to feed them (and this includes grains that are currently fed to livestock)?

Granted, this is a somewhat more macroscopic take on the topic, but it still holds: everybody cannot be wealthy -- or even obtain a standard of living that is generally deemed acceptable in the western world. All material gain ultimately comes at the expense of someone or something.

Frank, I hold no ill-will, and thanks for standing up like that.

we all have sad stories. My mom grew up on a farm in West Virginia. she never saw indoor plumbing until she was 16. My dad's parents ran a boarding house in the same town. My father was career military and always provided us with what we needed. Me being the youngest, I never really saw the bad times.

I now have made something of myself. I paid (well, am paying) for my own education, I am in the bottom part of middle class, but I feel that I have what I need.