Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, February 24, 2011 11:30:15 AM
Capitalism, which is unavoidable, is a system in which people use the resources they have to create more resources. As long as the Sun is shining, this will continue to be possible. There is nothing wrong with this. It is a good thing. But here we are, once again, being hit with
another story from the Left bemoaning that rich people continue to make more than poor people. What's the alternative, really? The alternative is that the rich people stop making money. That would be disastrous, including for the poor. Yes, if a person has one dollar and another has ten, the person with ten dollars is going to have eleven dollars and the other is going to have $1.10 if they both make a 10% return on their investment. What is the problem with that???
Of course the rich are getting richer. That is because, first of all, they are still doing the things that made them rich in the first place. If they got rich in high-paying jobs, and they are still in those jobs – SURPRISE! – they are still getting paid. Secondly, almost all of them invest their money in ways that will earn even more money. That is good, because it means they are investing in companies and ventures in ways that allow other people to earn a living and perhaps get rich, too, and it is paying off. Thirdly, they tend to have good financial habits, such as not spending more money than they make.
If things are really getting worse for the poor, it can often be due to bad decisions. If you are poor and you take out loans to pay for things, you are spending money on paying interest. Payday loans are the worst. Then there's credit card debt, and all of the other ways people keep themselves poor.
Stories like this are meant to foment class envy and make us believe that there is a growing gap between the "rich" and "poor". Don't believe it. There is growing SPECTRUM. As there should be. Why should the rich stop getting richer? Should they stop working and sit on their money? That won't be good for anyone.
Most rich people are rich because they have provided something other people highly value, or a high number of people value enough to pay for it. This is all voluntary on the part of all participants. Now, it is true that the more power we cede to government and concentrate in federal government, the more the rich can unjustly manipulate the system to their benefit - to do things like get tax money for their business, which is taken by force from others. But this is a good reason for limiting government and for federalism, and against socialism and centralizing goverment.
The poor of today don't have to be the poor of tomorrow. They can be middle-class or even rich. We have countless examples of people who have come to this country with nothing and have become middle-class or even rich, and even more examples of their children doing so. Students currently counted as poor will likely not be poor a few years down the road. The poor in this country have access to "free" or "inexpensive" (in quotes because these are usually subsidized by others) housing, clothing, transportation, food, medical care, communications, education (including community and state colleges), libraries, fire protection, police protection, legal representation, recreation and entertainment, and many other things.
A child currently listed as poor will almost certainly not be poor very long into his or her life as an adult as long as he or she follows a few rules:
1) Avoid crime
2) Avoid substance abuse
3) Get regular exercise, eat right
4) Complete high shool, and go as far in education/training as personally possible without delaying employment
5) Take the best honest job offered, and do not do anything to get fired or quit until a better job is secured; seek promotions
6) Spend less than you make, avoiding financing/loans; use the surplus to save, invest, and insure
7) Don't raise babies out of wedlock; don't marry until finished with education (undergrad level) - and marry someone who also follows these rules; don't divorce.
8) Join a community - whether a religious congregation or some service or fraternal organization, where people cooperate to help each other and network.
Almost every adult over the age of 25 listed as "poor" in the USA didn't follow these rules.
We also hear often about a "war on the middle-class", which is apparently even less successful than the war on poverty. The truth is, when comparing apples to apples, the middle class is doing much better financially and with quality of life than decades ago.
The Left wants us to think that someone else making more money than us is stealing it - unless, of course, they are a unionized government employee or a Hollywood celebrity or George Soros. The Left also wants to see the solution to this problem as giving federal government more power. Don't believe it. That does hurt the middle class and the poor.