Forum Post: Why are you poor?
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 19, 2011, 10:37 p.m. EST by THElardbutt
(40)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
So here are the 7 main differences between rich and poor people…
- Rich people believe that they create their lives while poor people believe that life happens to them. Can you see why rich and successful people are able to create amazing results in their life right now?
It is simply because they are in control of their lives. They believe that they are the ones who is responsible for their lives, they are the ones who is creating their future, not the economy or the knowledge or luck.
On the other hand, poor people will always give excuses and blame on the circumstances. When they failed in their business, they will blame the economy, their boss, their family or anything that did not go according to their plan. Whenever you believe that life happens to you, you will lose the power to change and the power to control your future.
Rich people play the money game to win but poor people play the money game just not to lose money. This is a big mindset difference. Have you ever seen people invest in the stock market? Some people are so afraid that they will lose their money and they form a mindset that blocks their creativity. They formed the mindset of ‘investing not to lose the money’. However, rich and successful people know exactly how they need to think in order to win the game of money. Unlike poor people, they will never invest just not to lose the money.
Rich people think and focus on opportunities while poor people focus on obstacles. When you face with problems, what are you focusing on? Are you focusing focusing on the solution and thinking about how you can solve or even turn the situation into opportunity?
Think about this carefully. No matter who you are, you will definitely face with all kinds of choices in your life.Rich people dare to dream big, poor people think small. When I tell my parents that I want to make a million dollar, they will tell me, “Why do you need so much money? You can live a very good lifestyle if you got a job that has a good pay. You don’t need to be a millionaire.”
I don’t know about you, but this statement happens to me all the time. And I definitely believe that poor people will tend to think small while rich people always think big.
To poor people, they will think that rich people are greedy because they always think big. Is it true that you are being greedy if you think big? I don’t know if I buy this, but to me, I’ll think of it as a waste if you’re not using the resources available (your thinking) to you at full.
Don’t you owe it to everyone around you to create a better life for them? Don’t you want your family to live good? So think big and create the abundance lifestyle for these people right now.
- Rich people are committed to their dreams, poor people are just dreaming about their dreams. Yes, this is an obvious one.
If you’re not committed to be rich, you can never be rich. How many times have you heard people say that they want to be rich, but they never do anything about it?
This is the mentality of poor people. They will just think about how good it is going to be if they are rich, but they will never do anything about their dreams. They know that they cannot afford a luxury car if they have a low pay job. The thing is, they never do anything to change it.
On the contrary, rich and successful people are committed toward their dreams. They will do whatever it takes, in the boundary or moral and ethics of course, to achieve their dreams.
- Rich people associate with rich and successful people. Poor people will associate with poor people. Do you have any rich friends? Or all of your friends are poor?
I’m not suggesting that you need to stop making friends with poor people, what I’m suggesting it, try to get to know more about rich people. The more you mix with them, the more you will think like them. And if you think like them, you will start to create amazing results just like them.
If most of your friends are poor and their working salary all are below, $2,000, you will be having the same range of salary most of the time. However, if you associate with rich people who are making $2,000 in just a day, you will start to see the possibility of what you can accomplish in your life.
And this will change your thinking of what you can achieve in your life. $2,000 will become a small amount for you once you changed your mindset about money.
- Rich people good learners while poor people think that they have learned everything in the world. One of the fastest ways to be financially abundance is to learn directly from people who have already achieved this status.
And if you’re not willing to learn, you will never be able to be successful. If you want to get the best pay, you must be the best. And the only way you can be the best is to learn from the best and learn to be the best.
You now know what are the 7 main differences between rich and poor people. Do what rich people do and try to avoid the adopting the mindset and habits of the poor.
This will guarantee you a financial abundance lifestyle.
I'm poor because I can't bribe the sec to look the other way when I control monopolies on certain types of business
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
I'm all for ppl working but jobs are needed
Of course there will be those that will not do for themselves because they do not want to take responsibility for themselves and what they have done to get where they are now. Those people feel entitled to charity. DO NOT let that cloud the issue though, sometimes there are cases where people ARE trying to help themselves and those people are stigmatized by those that have come to feel that they are entitled to charity. People who are trying to help themselves are penalized for trying to do the right thing!!!!
Ohh, I left off something from the last post!
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
-- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766
How can a poor person get a head start when they have an idea but no resources to start or back it up though?
A generous, dedicated spirit will always be rewarded. A dedicated spirit with an idea is already in the top 1% of the population. The hard times, the beginning, will always be the best time.
[Removed]
If you really think that's why you're poor, I'm not surprised that you're poor. Here, let me help you out: your poverty also isn't because of sunspots or that Elvis died.
Well acording to you the 99 percent is poor though I run my own small business and make enough to get by.
How are you helping the economy get better though? Have you hired anyone lately?
Yes
I am glad to hear that! OWS lacks a solid foundation though. I support the idea, but I cannot support the cause..
Get a job.
I do have a job you get one. I don't need one.
Official unemployment is around 9 percent (1 in 11). Actual unemployment is around 20% (1 in 5). Check the Bureau of Labor Statistics for details. And please pony up some jobs, Mr. Job-Creator.
I'm poor because the government didn't use taxpayer money to bail me out after I crashed the global economy.
I think you've missed a major point. Rich people have capital to lose. Poor people don't. Rich people are Rich. Poor people are Poor.
If you're Rich, you're Fortunate. Nothing else. It has nothing to do with mindset or what have you. There are millions of entrepreneurial spirits in the world who have never seen a dime for it, and will never see a dime for it.
At the end of the day, Bill Gates is lucky to have been born to a wealthy white family, and not as a poor Chinese girl.
If you are born poor, you are trained to think poor. The only thing that drives someone not top be poor is the ability to problem solve and never give up!
What's "The Top"? What does that even mean? We all die in the end. We all share exactly the same fate. The Top of What? Exactly?
Wealth isn't random. Fortune and chance play a part, but without the right choices and talents, chance will pass you by.
Entrepreneurs take risk. That means things don't work out at times, in fact many times.
What was the name of that guy who lost his election and said he'd gotten his money the old-fashioned way....he'd inherited it.
Fortune and chance...getting the right relatives can be random.
It can be, but going around thinking that success is just happenstance is a sure way to never see success.
Necessary but not sufficient: that is the key bit of logic to remember.
Of course, if you are John Raese, he became wealthy/successful enough to run for senate by picking the right parents.
I worked hard and am proud of what I achieved, but the self richeousness of many of these posts is off putting. Wealth often is random. Failure is not always due to bad behavior. There are handicaps that aren't visible and there are circumstances beyond an individual's control.
Many Enron employees were very vain about how smart they were, how successful, and had no idea that their company had died until they day they were told to leave. Job gone. Go away.
Wealth is typically not random. Failure is also typically not random. Yes, both can be, both they are both typically not.
Okay, get away from absolutes and we get into the area of reality.
It was partly good work and planning on my part, but also partly good fortune, that I had the right health care and benefits the first time I got cancer. And the second. And the third.
As a result, life is good now and I'm not bankrupt. But I don't go around claiming that a good outcome is all due to my personal brilliance and diligence. There was a significant amount of dumb luck involved in getting that job and staying with it.
And if someone had the same health situation in a slightly different circumstance, they'd be poor. If they were alive, of course. You can't get chemo in an emergency room, so people do die from lack of health care.
That's b.s. about dying for lack of healthcare, at least because we don't make it available. Now, people that die because they have such poor functioning that they don't access what's there for them, that no doubt occurs. For many people, it isn't about the safety net, it's simply about them.
It really isn't like you say. The difference between your situation and doom isn't as tenuous as you suggest. All sorts of qualities come to bear that sustain us. Qualities of resilience and qualities of functioning result in an ability to rebound and a depth of relationships.to help as we need it. It isn't random. Poor aren't just victims of happenstance generally. It's a pervasive pattern of attitudes and actions.
You are incorrect, unfortunately. Chronic disorders can go untreated or undertreated, and people can and do die as a result of lack of access to care. If it is an emergency, they must be treated. If it is not an emergency, it varies by state whether there is anything for them, or not.
No, I'm not. The same lack of functioning that makes people poor is the same lack of functioning that leads you to not even take the medications you have sitting right there on the counter. The rate at which poor people comply with the medical regime put there right in front of them is low and that leads to poor outcomes. To resolve it, we wouldn't need to hire more doctors or build more hospitals, we'd need to hire 250,000 nannies and make them official wards of the state.
If you don't have health care, you don't get a chance to get the medicines. Not everyone is eligible for health care in all states, even if they are completely impoverished.
Even with Medicaid, big gaps remain. If a child has asthma, and the older, less expensive meds do not work for him, he does not get the better ones if the family cannot pay for it. This is from a nurse friend who works in the office of a pulmonary specialist.
Yeah, you do. Medicaid is a giant program and is just part of free medicine in America. True, free care isn't the complete menu of everything that's possible. But the program is extensive nonetheless. More people die from their own functioning than die from being denied anything. It's about nannies, not healthcare. And unless you're willing to suspend their freedom and make them wards of the state, it won't change. You can put the damn drug on the counter and still, compliance will be terrible. You can make an appointment, but then you still have to show up.
Life is a game of Texas Hold'Em. Sometimes you look down at your hand and you have Ace King On Suit. Sometimes you look at that hand and it's Seven Two Off Suit. You have no control over that. You do have control over what you do with it. It is possible to win with seven two. It's possible to lose with ace king. You have to know what to do with your cards when you get them. The reality is though, if you keep getting dealt a seven two, you're probably gonna lose.
I'm poor because I can't give millions of dollars to lobbyists to sway govt to pass legislation to give my coompany or corporation substantial advantages over others
I'm poor because I don't have the means to steal trillions of taxpayer money to fix my failing business.
Some people don't want financial abundance - they would just like to pay their bills and have time with family or to do things they enjoy like breathe the air - feel the sun on their face, or read a book - (or not be so stressed about losing their job everyday that their hair is falling out) don't need much but freedom - people like you just want to take that away so you can live like kings with lots of stuff to measure your existence that's the real difference between people like you and me - you will never understand you only know greed - and consider kindness a weakness - you measure the world by productivity, material things, and what others can do for you... we're like a different species on this planet - yours will probably survive and that's the real tragedy of it all - the beauty of this world will be lost and trampled by you
Another multilevel marketing or ponzi scheme.
I consider this a great opportunity to help others by removing corporate money from our political process. I even drafted a constitutional amendment to facilitate this process:
http://www.nycga.net/groups/political-and-electoral-reform/docs/amendment-28-to-the-constitution-of-the-united-states-of-america
……………………………………………………………
(Original Signature of Member)
112th CONGRESS 1st SESSION
H. J. RES. _
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to clarify the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations, limited liability companies or other corporate entities established by the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
The CITIZENS of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, through _ introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on _
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to clarify the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations, limited liability companies or other corporate entities established by the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state and to expressly exclude corporations, limited liability companies or other corporate entities established by the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state from the rights given to natural persons by the Constitution of the United States, prohibit corporate spending in all elections, and affirm the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations and to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures.
Resolved by the CITIZENS of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and presented to the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within twelve [12] months after the date of its submission for ratification:
“ARTICLE—
“SECTION 1. We the people who ordain and establish the rights protected by the Constitution of the United States to be the rights of natural persons and do not extend to corporations, limited liability companies, or other private entities established for business purposes or to promote business interests under the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state.
“SECTION 2. The words people, person, or citizen as used in this Constitution do not include corporations, limited liability companies and other private entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state.
“SECTION 3. Such corporations, limited liability companies and other private entities established under law are subject to regulation by the people through the legislative process, through their elected State and Federal representatives so long as such regulations are consistent with the powers of Congress and the States under this Constitution and do not limit the freedom of the press.
“SECTION 4. Such corporations, limited liability companies and other private entities shall be prohibited from making contributions or expenditures to any candidate for public office or publicly elected official, any legislation before the Congress, the Senate or the people.
“SECTION 5. Congress and the States shall have the power to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own spending, and to authorize the establishment of political committees to receive, spend, and publicly disclose the sources of those contributions and expenditures.
“SECTION 6. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to limit the people’s rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free exercise of religion, freedom of association and all such other rights of the people, which rights are inalienable.”.
Are you aware of www.getmoneyout.org and www.movetoamend.org
We do need a Constitutional Amendment to limit all campaign finance to public finance for every level of government.
I have read amendments and I believe one didn't actually have any amendment written and the other was insufficient to do what was needed.
Why don't these two organization support the amendment posted or a similar version so we can all be happy together :-)
My fundamental disagreement with your proposed Amendment is that it allows for private campaign contributions. The regulation of private campaign contributions has utterly failed. Thus my suggestion is that all campaign financing be limited to public financing that is paid for with our tax dollars. Thus no one has the right to purchase political influence. Each of the organizations is addressing a part of this issue and I agree with you that they don't cover enough of the base to make a substantive difference.
That will have to be done by a second amendment. What this amendment does is preclude all funding from essentially all corporations or entities that are created like, I don't know, Political Actions Committees, Political Committees. People can still donate the the PACs or Political Committees but they can't contribute to the candidate.
Regulation of amounts can be legislated but if you take away private funding then will have to implement public funding. I have no issue with this and think that if we get corporate and special interest money out of politics we gain control again and can then pass intelligent legislation.
This first step is something we can get done. If you think you can take private money completely out of politics I am happy to help. Draft a bill.
PS the domain is http://www.getmoneyout.com/ not .org
As to drafting a bill: In my estimation, creating a forum for grassroots input from all over the country could generate a powerful document as well as open up a national discussion on this issue. For implementation and passage a National referendum would have to be held. Our current legislators are incapable of carrying this through since most are indentured servants of their largest donors..
Thanks for your response and correction. What you suggest is exactly what our current campaign finance laws have attempted to regulate. Before Citizens United corporations have always found a way to package their donations as private donations. We had corporate takeover of our government long before Citizens United. That SCOTUS ruling just made it legal! So public finance is the only answer since it will allow men and women of integrity and vision to enter our governing system. Money will take the back seat and no influence peddling will be marketed by our candidates during our election process.
Public finance is not the only answer. This narrows the scope of solutions. The problem, as I see it, the purchasing of elections and legislation by private entities. If I am correct in this then it is removing their ability to do so that is the solution in the long term.
The reason these laws are on the books and good ones have been overturned is because attorneys are often pretty myopic in their views and lack the ability to frame the argument in such a way the the the Court can find in their favor.
Laws have been ruled on for the last 200 years here in the United States as to their Constitutionality; the Constitution is the benchmark so change the benchmark instead of trying to get something to meet it.
Take the common denominator out of the equation, remove the Courts from deciding this by making the language plain that excludes completely corporations and other private entities from participating in any aspect of the political process.
They were never meant to be able to participate in the firs place.
how come? the amendment will stop it from hapening for ever; why not use it?
Was that an infomercial?
I hate those things.
I think a major difference is that many rich people have no morals so they don't mind stepping on others and exploiting them to make a buck. Lets face it, much of the wealth these corporations are bringing in come off of someone else's back. Many corporations have factories in third world dictatorship countries that exploit the workers by paying them barely enough to buy a bag of rice for their family. Some companies were even caught having child labor factories.
Rich people I have run into often can be ambitious and driven, but many of them also have less holding them back from increasing their profit margins. They will hire workers at 8 an hr in this country and work them like they were paying them 15. Then when they are tired of paying "so much" they will outsource the job and increase their margins. Lets face it, likely most of the 1% are, some where in the line of production and sales, supporting or involved in making other people's lives hell.
Ahhhh, someone who understands, life isn't an infomercial.
Refreshing.
Personally, I'm lazy and self indulgent, but I know for a fact that a lot of rich people are lazy and self indulgent too, so that can't be the reason I'm poor.
but the people with money became lazy after they were first industrious. You just choose to be poor and lazy. Thats your choice.
Unless they inherited it. And even if they didn't there is no particular correspondence between hard work and especially socially useful work and the amount one is compensated for it. If hard useful work were all that mattered all teachers would be millionaires. But one of the richest people in the nation owes his fortuned to having founded a greeting card company. To me that's not particularly a great example of how wonderful the market is in appropriately rewarding hard work.
Compensation is a function of supply and demand. That's life. Alter that fundamental, and you wander off into killing fields at the worst, and the arbitrary dictates of corrupt beareaucrats at best. What you think is "socially useful" doesnt matter.
I may value one thing, you another. Who cares,? Should we listen to what you value? NO. Or what I value? No way. The market should determine. All the market represents is a collective judgment of what prices should be. That is a representative democracy and freedom in action.
I really can't relate to that level of mean spiritedness. Do you go to church? What would Jesus do? I know that Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple and hung out with whores and other undesirables. That's the kind of society I'm for. I guess you'd call me a secular primative Christian.
Mean spiritedness is when a bureaucrat gets to determine, for example: the value of a gallon of gas, the value of a coronary bypass surgery, the price of a college education, the value of a person sweeping a floor, or the value of a house.
If the bureaucrat overvalues the commodity, there is an oversupply, if the beareucrat undervalues the commodity, there is a shortage.
This is why price controls fail, as in NYC rent control and attempts to set energy prices at artificial lows.
Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, et al. are fairy tales for adults, with blood trailing behind them.
The invisible hand of the market is impartial, and treats all the same. If you have a favorite cause, support it by all means, just dont force others to do so at the point of a gun.
You are primitive, I agree.
I am tired of paying for what others value. How about you pay for what I value? But, since I am moral, I would never do think. Because you are amoral, you WOULD do that to me.
wait .... bureaucrats belong to corporations in fact most go back to them after sitting on those boards and most got put there by the corporations by money and influence on the politician that appointed them? - you know the whole revolving door - that happens between the corporations and our government - I guess the lard butt agrees with us after all - the government has been corrupted and the corporations are amoral and they're dictating ruining our society. The invisible hand forcing you is some monopoly with the power to seat those bureaucracies - this is what we're fighting - Oh good we can finally all agree on something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, Elf!
Certainly the history of actually existing Christianity is not especially consistent with the historical Jesus of the gospels. But it is possible to buy into the golden rule with also agreeing with the mass murders which are a part of actually existing Christianity. Really, that's what I see OWS being all about, a modern secular version of first century Christianity.
Why are you poor? is a question that couldn't possibly be answered with the 7 main differences between rich and poor people in the above post. The answers to that question are too numerous and nuanced on an individual basis to be able to sort it out here fairly. Silly question, silly answer. And why try to hash this out here when the focus should be on prosecuting the criminals running our government?
they were not answers either; they were consequences of being poor and consequences of being rich.
Why am I not rich? Because I don't want to be rich.
You write this like everyone who is poor is upset because they're not rich. You're wrong. They realize that they don't need the huge excess of money and simply want to live their life comfortably. And you act like this is something that is to be avoided.
I don't need a huge amount of money. I don't want to make millions of dollars. I merely wish to be able to provide my family with enough food to keep their bellies full, a roof to keep them dry, blankets to keep them warm, an education to give them the knowledge they need and the freedom to do the work which makes them happy, be it a farmer or doctor, vacuum cleaner salesman or lawyer.
So then, if I and many people who are poor are of this understanding, then perhaps it is YOU who is misunderstanding the differences of the rich and the poor. It's not the poor who are confused and wrong, it is the rich. Let's go back through your list and see if we can't make some corrections...
Some people think that life is what they make it. Some people believe life is what happens to them only. But the truth is in the middle. Some of your life is the direct result of the decisions you make while some of it is in response to the decisions others make. Every decision you make has an effect on other people, either directly or indirectly. How you respond to things that happen to you is very important and something some poor people need to realize and change so that some of the situations they are faced with turn out not as bad as the situation could possibly bad. However, when making decisions based solely on the idea that life is because of your decisions, you often neglect to consider the trampling effect you will have on other people's lives and this is something that the rich you speak of should be more attentive to when making their decisions.
You're looking at the extremes again. While it is true for some people on both sides, a great many people are not trying to make a ton of money while also not trying to simply not lose. Their goal is a different one, perhaps making just enough to keep them alive in their retirement years. My own parents would be a good example. Unafraid to lose money but not wanting nor aiming to make millions. The REAL difference however is that rich people can AFFORD to lose a lot of money and continue to take the risk while poor people can afford to only lose big once before they're out of the game.
This one is just false. Poor people do not simply focus on the obstacles, they are focusing on their solutions as well. The difference is that rich people have more options when trying to find solutions to their problems. Sometimes for poor people the only options are to not eat or not have electricity for a month. Poor people's problems can seem far more threatening than a rich person's.
This is simply a repeat of my statement above. Who says thinking big means thinking rich?? Just because you don't have any real dreams apart from money (which I wouldn't even count as really being a dream) doesn't mean I don't. I don't need to be rich to be happy. My aim is to be the happiest I can be but that does NOT include being rich. My dreams are HUGE (and I mean that) but they do not involve being rich in the slightest. I only want enough money to carry out my dreams. I understand getting enough may be difficult but my dreams are worth it to me.
Rich people are the only ones committed to their dreams?? This statement is purely ridiculous and again assuming that the only dream people have is to be rich. Also, this statement: "They will do whatever it takes, in the boundary or moral and ethics of course, to achieve their dreams." makes me laugh. Ponzi scheme anyone? A $550 fine on Goldman Sachs? Part of the reason many poorer people are angry is because of some rich people doing highly unethical / immoral things and getting away with it.
People associate with people they have things in common with or work closely with. I happen to have some very rich friends and some extremely poor friends. I fall somewhere in between but am much closer to the poor side than the rich side. I see the things my rich friends do which make them a ton of money. I know if I wanted, I could do that too. However, that is not my dream. If I were to do what they do, I'd be living their dream, not my own. I do not think the way they think because I do not dream the way they dream.
I am poor. I am highly intelligent and I learn new things literally every day. My hobby is reading textbooks. Yep, that's right, those boring things you probably hated to have to read for university. I enjoy them. I'm always learning. It would be naive and block-headed, indeed a sign of a lack of intelligence in general, to believe that only rich people are good learners.
So now you know the truth of your seven statements (now correctly labeled 1-7).
If poor people dont mind being poor, good for them! OWS, exists on a false predicate,that the poor are being robbed by others. Most often, they never even tried. Why would they if they don't mind being poor?
Congrats on reading your copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad I read that book too! and you know what doesn't work when you're poor - even that guy had luck fall his way... you're of the opinion that if others aren't stepping on someone else to get ahead that they deserve to have their freedom taken from them? This movement is about - FREEDOM - not becoming wealthy - some of us just want the ability to pursue happiness - not have corporations reaching into my pockets via my own government to take away my freedoms day by day. Legislating that we purchase private goods - ignoring monopolies and price-setting, allowing them to disolve internet neutrality, sending troops to war for war profiteers and private contracts giving away our taxes, making sweetheart deals and contracts that we pay for. Let's not get side-tracked here - I'm calling you out I think you lie - you're also oblivious to what freedom means. Freedom does not mean giving a private company the freedom to pollute my water supply nor the air I breathe. This is about private corporations and banks diminishing the value of human life - diminishing human worth - to justify the fact that corporations have no consciousnesses nor the ability to choose moral or ethical decisions over profit. I don't want your dirty money - I don't want to buy stocks - I want you with your dirty money to stay the hell away from my government and keep your hands off the legislature. We all know how corporations operate - they would roll over the rights of the people to get whatever will make their fat asses even richer - but you have to devalue human worth first to do so by calling us lazier and unintelligent - making it seem like we deserve what you do to us - after you pay off the politicians pay off the media to distribute your propaganda and destroy our way of life (congrats I see it's working) - but we're calling you out - this is me taking action to prevent it - making my own destiny and preventing people like you from taking ownership and of my country while you feel entitled to do so - because somehow we sat by and let you - now we're not - this is us fighting back - see we are taking your advice!!!
Very well said, elf. Sadly, your sentiment is lost on the psychopaths that currently dominate this nation. They were psychopaths back in the late 1800's when children had to be rescued from them with the child labor laws and they are psychopaths now when our freedoms need to be rescued from them. Capitalism is not their principle, it is an excuse for their appalling behavior.
A fluffola of half truths that have next to nothing to do with reality. Did you take a weekend course in metaphysics?
Wealthy people have it passed down from there parents
All I read were generalizations. Did this come out of Rich Dad Poor Dad or something?
I'm poor because rich corporation lobby the government to enforce a minimum wage so that small businesses can't afford me and I'm not aloud to ask for less so I have none. This gives corporations less competition from small business :( screw the corporations and screw the state.
I do agree with THElardbutt!!!
Thank You SP,
What do you think would effectively get this movement off of the ground though. It seems very disorganized. I think this is why OWS is facing so much criticism.
Many people that have a job that pays the base minimal so they can cover their rent or mortage, plus bills, groceries and perhaps a little cash left over is a major goal to get to that point. They have already worked over 40 hours every week so in reality our culture oppresses people to get above water.
Do you feel better about yourself by putting down poor people? Do you really think all 307 million Americans could be rich if they had the right attitude? Do you think there is enough money in the economy for such a fantasy?
This was just vexing to read. The just world fallacy applies.
It don't (Grammatical inaccuracy intended) get much more just than here in the USA. Ask anyone who has come from a Third World country who gets here and makes something of themselves. They are teaching you crap at your university. Question authority? Start with the pea-brained professors.
When you have to point to third world hells to make a relativistic comparison -- "it could be worse!" -- you are not looking forward. I don't want to just be a loud jack ass, so I would like to point you to a book to just consider: The Spirit Level. Give it a look, see what you think. It's actually a good read, and it uses a fair bit of statistics to substantiate it's claims. It hasn't anything to do with religion or spirituality either, spirit level refers to a tool used to determine how level a surface is (didn't know that before I initially read it).
Looked at it through google books. It seemed to go on for pages about the Maslow need hierarchy (withouth even acknowledging that was what it was doing - droning on about a fifty year old truism).
People spend too much time worrying about level playing fields when they should worry about where they are on the field and what they are doing.
Life is not all about money, but OWSers are obsessed with it and their envy that they don't have theirs. Very sad, actually pathetic.
The book addresses that, specifically, the unnecessary drive towards obsession over money. Life shouldn't be all about money, and modest changes in perception could make everyone significantly happier Please give it a chance, I cannot do it justice here, and you can easily skim over concepts you're familiar with. You obviously have a bit of time to engage this topic intelligently, what is there to lose?
Edit: And on what grounds is that to ignore the entirety of the book? That would seem remarkably petty.
I stopped reading this garbage right away. It's a load of Shlt and anyone who buys this is an idiot. There are so many factors at play as to why somebody becomes rich or poor. Luck has the most to do with it, secondly who you are (family wise), what field you go into, how ethical you are or are not... The list goes on. I've seen rich people becomes bums and the opposite.
Ditto. Stopped reading your shit right away. Your name says it all. A rioter. Future resident of Rikers island. Hope you like your new home. At least it is warm.
Rich people cheat the system. How hard is that to understand?
Poor people are parasites sucking off the labor of the productive. How hard is that to understand? Many poor are cheats, lazy, illegal immigrants, alcoholics, drug abusers, whiners, or pampered babies. Or all of the above.
This is how the right wing thinks: only rich people are productive. Think about that next time, conservative construction worker or right wing restaurant worker.
What a tool.
An important factor missing in all these posts: one effect of several forms of brain dysfunction (mental illness) is lack of motivation and difficulty concentrating.
People who have this brain abnormality cannot just buck up and get moving and turn into the person you want them to be. This is very hard for even many health care professionals to understand. To make it worse, this constellation of symptoms often does not respond to treatment. It is often possible to take away the hallucinations, but it does not change the brain function problem in this area.
So, be glad that you had the good fortune to have the capability for ambition and go-getting. You lucked out on your genetics.
Now, I am not saying that everyone who lacks motivation is mentally ill. But many people are poor because they lack normal brain function. And blaming them doesn't change anything, no matter how much you enjoy it.
It is an impossibility for everyone to be rich. You need poor people to keep rich people rich.
does money equal rich?
What you are giving there are consequences not reasons why people are poor. I suggest you change the title to : "the consequences of being rich and poor". Rich people "think big" because they can afford to do so, and I am not sure what you mean by "think big", finding more and more immoral ways to take advantage of poor people and enrich yourself is quite a narrow way of thinking.
What you are giving there are consequences not reasons why people are poor. I suggest you change the title to : "the consequences of being rich and poor". Rich people "think big" because they can afford to do so, and I am not sure what you mean by "think big", finding more and more immoral ways to take advantage of poor people and enrich yourself is quite a narrow way of thinking.
When you think big you can't see small and near.
@OP
I dunno........lack of having millions of dollars?
Maybe I just missed that infomercial.
Was it on FLAKESnews?
What does it mean if you do all of these things and do not become rich? Is everybody's current situation in life simply a product of what they deserve?
Blaming the victim is evil and a con scam. I'm not poor because of any mental attitude of mine, I'm poor because i was born into a poor family.
stop being a fucktard apologist for economic inequality, stop blaming the victims, and face the reality that the REASON why poor people are poor is because of the STRUCTURE of society which is inherently RIGGED to create a caste system.
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/THE_99%25_POLITICAL_PARTY
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.followthemoney.org/?gclid=CMbY87bB-qsCFUPt7Qod9HE8mQ
http://maplight.org/us-congress/guide/data/money?9gtype=search&9gkw=list%20of%20campaign%20donations&9gad=6213192521.1&9gag=1786513361&gclid=CP61oYbB-qsCFQFZ7AodcTF0jw
http://www.opensecrets.org/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/our-new-wiki/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/non-violence-evolution-by-paradigm-shift/
Good wealth sharing component: Unconditional Basic income which is a particular form of guaranteed minimum income, which gives all people access to some income irrespective of their current work performance or their past work performance. A guaranteed minimum monthly income in this sense is something which has existed in several European countries for a number of years, but basic income differs from the existing guaranteed minimum income along three dimensions: first, basic income is strictly individual, given to all people on an individual basis irrespective of their household situation; second, it is given to all irrespective of income from other sources (labor income or capital income); third, basic income is not subject to whether people are willing to work or not. It is not restricted to the involuntarily unemployed, but would be paid to everyone, including people who choose not to engage in paid work (for example, housewives, househusbands, volunteers, students, and tramps).
Funding solutions could involve a combination of the following:
I agree with the lottery - a tax on the willing. However, I propse the following:
Just getting started!
I know rich people that are not greedy. The give away at least 10% of what they make they believe the should pay taxes and do. The care about there fellows. They love nothing more then helping others to rise up. I also know greedy sob's that enjoy crushing others and hoard there earnings as though the could take it with them. There are good and bad people every where. At this time the bad are in control.
Are the "poor" greedy for not wanting to pay ANYTHING (not a dime) of their income to support the government?
"Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities." Thomas Jefferson - Inaugural Address
You know, I can't help but wonder if the reason so many people want to be rich is because you can't survive in this world without doing so. As for me, I would like to remain in the middle, working class, just with less stress. I like building things and would love, love, love to work in a sophisticated factory, but not as a manager. I don't respect the management culture.
Nothing wrong to be rich. It is only wrong when the rich pays less tax than the poor.
I'm not complaining that I'm poor, I'm complaining that this society is punishing my poorness by making my life harder than it should be.
In what way? Via food stamps, college loan subsidies, the earned income credit, or Medicaid? Or is it the absence of an income tax that is punishing?
TheLardButt doesn't know why he is poor?
I'm poor because I have 30% of taxes taken out of my paycheck every week, plus pay for life insurance and have medical taken out as well. I'm poor because I pay $1200 a month to daycare so I CAN work.
BINGO!
The government is robbing the productive, while the unproductive lower 45% of the income distribution pay NOTHING in income taX, Or get a givernment subsidy or subsidies in welfare, food stamps, earned income credit and the like.
Why are you rich?
A. you were born to rich parents who gave you a big fat financial start in life
B. you are clever and willing to hurt and manipulate other people at all costs to get ahead (this includes buying whatever evil stocks will catch you a windfall)
C. you were born to rich parents and had the financial means to start your own business and get ahead
D. You were born to rich parents who paid your way through college and gave you the financial means to get ahead
E. you were born to rich parents who sent you to private school where you got a better education and tutors and the financial means to get ahead
F. you stole from other people or stole their ideas
G. had the financial means handed down to carry out someone else's idea
H. Rich parents knew the right people to get you a good internship or a good job
I. You got EXTREMELY lucky and had some luck fall your way and found yourself in the right place at the right time. Like lottery lucky.
J. (A Rare One) - hard work and determination landed you in the right place at the right time - when some extreme luck landed itself your way - like lottery lucky
K. (even rarer) you were genetically more intelligent in mathematics than your counterparts and peers and became an engineer, doctor, or computer software creator
L. You became a celebrity or sports star
These are the only ways that one can become rich - sure there are the exceptions - we all know who Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are (ah but yes falls into K) and also a bit of B - can anyone say Microsoft Monopoly? ...
So if you weren't born rich just man up and step on others people - you too can live like pigs!!!
You will always be poor, like I once was. I had nothing, and now have a net worth of 2 million. Earned it the hard way, just a normal Joe.
Wallow in your poverty. You certainly deserve it, as you come by honestly: through the hard work of stupidity combined with a victim attitude.
Rich people don't like to admit they came from money - they also lie a lot - comes with the territory of stepping on others - I'll bet you're a landlord aren't you lard butt? - invested mommy's money to buy some property and then sat back and watched it come rolling in while you sit on your fat ass - or better yet inherited the property - then you invested that into some little pet project and forget to give credit to your inheritance? Well maybe I'm judging... are you a mathematician? How exactly did you come by your 2 million - since you like to boast - do tell?
Regular job, married, wife has a regular job, stayed married, one house for 25 years, drove old cars, miracle of compounded savings with a few good investments here and there (some bad ones too). Its a very common story, and there are millions of similar stories in this country. Just read any financial magazine, start early, apply yourself, most people can do this.
Common for what time period? - you forget we're not living in the same economy you were - life has vastly changed - look the cost of housing now for people vs their pay or jobs available - I have a modest house, live simply buy nothing extra drive an 8 year old car, work full time and you're telling me I can somehow work my way out of treading water - people don't even have 401k's or pensions anymore the stock market is a roulette table most have lost any savings - they don't have anything extra left after bills - the cost of living and an education is absurdly out of scale with people's wages - my husband can't even find a permanent position he slaves 12 hour days for a pittance and there is a seven year wait list in his company for a permanent job because it's one of the few left that can't go overseas - your idea is of the past - that time has gone - we are living in a whole new reality - you just haven't caught up to it because while you were living in a different time you got ahead - you could not do this now. The other fact is that not sure what a regular job is to you the only ones I know of that pay any good are state jobs - those are going, going, gone soon if they haven't yet. You can't give people advice that's not relative to the reality of this time. Two full time / overtime incomes can't get you ahead - I wait in fear every day that my car will break down and then how will I commute to my job. This is reality for many people - I don't even have cable - I hardly eat. Where can I cut my expenses to get ahead and invest anything? Your generation stole from the future one and now you're witnessing the consequences...the housing market is a perfect example of that - I'd like to see how you could afford a mortgage on today's inflation and wages and then have something extra...you're out of touch with the here and now - today's reality is treading water treading water - oops drowning - ok worked really hard at 2 jobs got my head up again - treading water
I'm not poor. I'm working class.
That point about the parents and the millionaire thing - my point exactly.
The poor will always try to find some sort of scapegoat to their problems because they can't bear to think of themselves as the culprits.
So the recession/depression is a farce and life is going on as great as ever in America today? It's because we're all lazy and excuse makers that the housing market and money lenders from the banks destroyed our economy?
I have worked nearly everyday of my life since I was 16 years old, never expected anything I couldn't get on my own merit and was doing well for myself until our economy crashed in 2007 due to large scale irresponsibility with the nations top banking corporations and their hyper-inflated interest rates and asset prices, diverted loanable funds into the wrong investments, and twisted normally robust financial institutions into unsustainable positions.
This affected my 14 year career as most businesses rely on the mom and pop clients to pay the bills and overhead while the big dog client is where your profits come from. After the bubble burst in Aug. of 2007 small mom and pop shops were cutting spending to make room for the sudden crash of over extended spenders no longer spending and the out of control interest rates that were inevitably going to bring some entrepreneur's to their knees.
At first I wasn't too worried about losing my ad/sales job because I have always bounced back from set backs and I am a resourceful, hard working guy who was confident I'd find my feet and continue on working my way into a comfortable modest life.
Reality is I'm not 20 years old and the opportunities available are the type of jobs you get when you are a younger man, with less need of a good health plan, or a higher wage to sustain an adult lifestyle (I'm not talking about borrowing for housing or vehicles either). I'm not bouncing back like I should, I haven't found a replaceable job that affords me the same structure and foundation that many generations of hardworking middle class Americans had available to them just 5 years ago let alone the job security of my Grandfathers generation who worked 35 years and earned a retirement benefits and senior health plans for their golden years.
Reality is I'm 40 years old with the task of starting over at the bottom in a 20 year old's job opportunity and the turn around and time frame I have to live like my Grandfather did once he retired is slipping further from my future than it was just 6 years ago.
Congratulations for all the accomplishments you have made in your lifetime. Truly. And I'm sorry for your situation right now.
But you are a different type of person then what the original post is describing. Many poor Americans are in the economic situation they are in because they do not have the same hard working ideals as you.
Also, I'm tired of people complaining and yapping about Obama, the current administration, and politicians.
Next time they run for office, DON'T VOTE FOR THEM.
The same people complaining about Obama now are the ones who voted him into power 3 years ago. There is no one but those people to blame.
I see that you are not someone who is blindly accusing people of being lazy and in a poor persons mindset. I also see that you can appreciate real peoples struggles and successes, however you did not answer my first 2 questions.
I am an OWS supporter because even though there are many who are blindly attached to this movement due to the mindset afore mentioned in the OP there really is a need for the US citizens to stand and say we cannot tolerate the greed that conditions the mindset of successful business owners to eventually become irresponsible to the American working force who are grateful to their successes and the opportunities these successful companies provide for us.
It has become increasingly clear that their is a separation of who's responsible for developing a sustainable economy and who is a humble working class citizen that just wants the opportunities that many generations of American men and women before them had.
I trust and put my hard earned money into a banking system so they can borrow it and play in the stock market or loan it to another man or woman and earn a profit from a returned interest and this is a game that we all trusted in to make the economy go round and round...the irresponsible actions of these banks with your's and my hard earn money eventually brought our economy to it's knees despite the warnings of many true American financial moguls who's gratitude for their American dreams come true was looking out for this countries best interest in a long term sustainable economy.
I ask you again is it the lazy and poor who really occupy this movement or is it the hard working frustrated men and women of America who just want to have the same opportunities that their mothers/fathers/grandmothers/grandfathers had?
I won't deny with every anti-establishment movement you have your tin-foil hat wearers and fanatical idealist attached to it, but really I am mad as hell I will be the first generation of American's who are not better off than the generation before them when I retire!!!!
What makes you think anyone who opposes corruption is poor? That is a logical falacy that exposes your agenda. What prevents these 1% and their hired dogs from getting an education? Oh, I forgot, Dan Quail graduated from Harvard - or was it Yale? This might be worth bearing in mind when someone tries to impress you with their Ivy League education.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
"They will do whatever it takes, in the boundary or moral and ethics of course, to achieve their dreams."
This is an ignorant post. Watch Inside Job and then speak.
"Rich people good learners"??? does it really say that??? who wrote this a caveman??? no offense to cavemen....
[Removed]
I'm poor because I haven't made myself rich. I've put myself right where I am. I can't blame anyone for holding me down, and I can't thank anyone for a hand out. I pay my bills and I'm fine where I am for now. Once I'm done with school, and I've made something out of myself, I probably won't be poor.
Alternative plan to hard work, living simply, and saving for the future: remain unemployed, camp out in parks, grow your hair while you have it, and beat a drum during all hours of the night. Maybe the skies will open, the gods will be pleased with the supplications and litanies ("I believe" I believe.... I believe... "That we" That we ... that we "Are makind progress!" are making progress ... are making progress), and the world will be changed.
Yes, that sounds like an "historic" manner in which to assure wealth for you and everyone else ... and everyone else .... and everyone else.
So the recession/depression is a farce and life is going on as great as ever in America today? It's because we're all lazy and excuse makers that the housing market and money lenders from the banks destroyed our economy?
p.s. I hate drum circles - I eat junk food and I love high octane motor vehicles that are probably bad for the environment...and I support the OWS movement even in all of it's indecisive, unorganized, overly idealistic ambiguity.
Detroit under one thousand (1,000)
I assume you own no real property. If so, good for you. Now may be the time to buy as interest rates are at historic lows, and prices are extremely low as well. OWS could buy a thousand homes in Detroit with the 500,000 it amassed, instead of having its moneymen use that money to stay at $700 a night hotels in NYC.
Opportunity abounds in the darkest moments. It is all around us now. Not kidding, you can buy a house in good repair in Detroit for under 1,0000.
OCCUPY DETROIT .
I can hear the whining now, Detroit is a dump. I want to live in NYC, I want I want I want.
It is sad that you only have trollish things to say to people that you consider to be less fortunate than you. You pass a sweeping judgement about people and the state of living they are in.
While I do not come from a family of abundance I do come from the hard working middle class and adhere to the standards I was taught by my parents and grandparents and I always try to work a little harder for my own future. I will be the first generation who will not be better off in my retirement than my parents generation before me...
Your perspective seems to be cast in judgement by your own success and is not relevant to the overall good of economic value or pride the working class has to prop up this nation and all that has stood (you and those who have had the vision to succeed) on the proud shoulders of the humble American working class. With out the proud working class your success would not have been possible.
If greed continues to dominate our politics and our trusted economic icons (who I do cherish for their role in providing opportunities to me and my fellow 99% working class) then go ahead outsource our jobs, take bailouts for your irresponsible banking schemes and run off with my tax money and tell me I'm lazy and I have a poor mindset. You are only hurting yourself in the long run. With out an infrastructure of willing and healthy working class men and women earning fair wages and paying equal tax rates you would not be the privileged 1% who are so proud and deserve to enjoy your success...just please don't outsource my job when you have the chance to do the right thing.
Poor is just a matter of staging... it's all part of the persona.
In a world of opportunity, poor is a conscientious choice.
Another tantrum thread.......................
You haters are fucking stupid.
You think you're going to be part of the 1% ?
How?!
WHAT IS YOUR BRILLIANT PLAN?!
What are you afraid off? You are overflowing with hatred!
I'm just saying, anybody is as likely to become a 1%er as they are of becoming a rock star.
You should not defend the fact that they're screwing everyone because you MIGHT be part of the 1% some day and screw everyone too.
To reach membership in the current 1% one would have to screw those below to join those at the top! My apology and thanks for the clarification.
[Removed]