If You're Poor, Who's Responsible For It?

I'm going to bet that this article author did her homework on the numbers, but I think the article is a bit misleading.

First off, she goes into little jabs against the Bush administration. Fair enough, but she doesn't mention the tax increases during the Clinton administration. She also does not state how much taxes are paid by these wealthy people. Some of them pay more in taxes in a year then you or I will make in a lifetime. Another example that she likes to use is the following:

BUSH’S TAX CUTS GIVE a 2-child family earning $1 million an extra $86,722—or Harvard tuition, room, board, and an iMac G5 for both kids.

A 2-CHILD family earning $50,000 gets $2,050—or 1/5 the cost of public college for one kid.

While this is is most likely true, (I don't want to research it that hard), what she does not show is that the poorer family is eligible for grants that the richer family is not.

My main point about this article isn't the slant or the facts and figures in it. My main point that I would like to raise is that if you are poor, unless you have some disability preventing you from working, you are poor because you don't have any drive. There, I said it. I don't want to sound like an asshole (even though I know I will end up sounding like one anyways), but if you are poor, there's literally an infinite amount of things you can do to raise yourself out of poverty. Night classes, working overtime, government job programs, the list goes on and on.

I have been poor. DIRT poor. When I was growing up, my family lived in a VERY small 2 bedroom home and we got by with my mother working 16 hour days and my father working whenever he could. During rougher times, we got government help with food and such. Government cheese and peanut butter SUCKS! My mother went to school and my father turned out to be a loser flake. My mother made her life better by making herself more marketable and therefore making her pay higher.

I did the same thing. I worked at HP making little money, but always remembering the job skills that I learned. I taught myself computers back when they weren't cool. I taught myself troubleshooting skills. I read everything I could get my hands on. I then went to college. I dropped out after a year because my aunt needed financial help. I worked my way up through the ranks of various companies, gathering job skills that are in demand now. I now sit in an air conditioned office building making enough money to be able to afford the nice 4 bedroom home with 3 cars and a theater room.

If you are poor, it is your fault. When I was poor, it was my fault. I had no job skills to offer an employer and certainly couldn't command a nice, above average salary. That's not to say that one can't have a crippling financial disaster. Sudden, massive medical bills are something that could very well crush anyone, but there's always a way around things.

This is the greatest country in the world, you have every opportunity to make your life as good as you want it. But that's they key phrase, "as good as you want it". If you have no desire, no drive, no heart, you'll never make more then minimum wage at best and never get to the point where you are comfortable and aren't worried about things financially. People still come from all over the world to the land of opportunity. They come here because they know that if they work hard, put their nose to the grindstone and pay attention, America can make every one of their dreams come true. Clean air, college education for their children, modern home, more food then they know what to do with, it's all ripe for the taking, but you have to earn it first. If you can't make it here, where do you suppose that you're going to go to make a life for yourself? No one is going to hand you anything. MTV Cribs is a perfect example of this way of thinking. Now from time to time, you'll see someone who inherited their fortune, but the vast majority earned their homes, cars, and other luxury items. Professional athletes, Music stars, and others honed their craft, worked out, did whatever it took to get to the top of their profession, and it paid off for them.

So get off your ass, study in college, hone a craft, write a catchy tune, come up with a new invention, and have some drive, and I promise, you'll soon be living a life that only America can provide.


Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com