I think you're being a little harsh on the wealthy. Many times the wealthy were in the "poor house" at some point in their lives. But they worked hard, busting their
working 60+ hours a week to get where they are now. Then there are some poor people that are that way because they don't give a damn. They would rather sit on their butts collecting welfare than actually try to find a job.
For example, when I was going to grad school, I was working for a temp agency washing dishes for 20 hours a week in addition to taking classes, working in the lab etc. for another 40+ hours a week while living out of my car and eating bologna sandwiches. But this was all so I could earn a good living when I graduated. Then a few years ago I let a couple and their children rent out part of my home. At first I thought they had some hardships and I wanted to provide them a way to get out of the problems they were in. I soon found out, however, that they were just abusing my hospitality. They couldn't hold down any jobs they picked up (mostly because they didn't want to do what they were doing, and so would just fail to show up one day), and they'd spend their evenings drinking themselves stupid while the children were left unattended (except for me). The children were also suffering; their parents could care less how they did at school, so the kids' grades suffered, and some of the children displayed unhealthy behavior (what my mom would've called "acting out") like drawing on the walls (all of them were older than 5; the worst graffiti was from the 13 yr old daughter
), poking holes in the garage door, etc. just to get some attention (negative attention is better than no attention). And to top it off, the parents were claiming I was charging too much for rent, when I was merely charging them the added cost of utilities plus a little extra for "wear-and-tear" (their rent was less than any 1 bedroom apartment in town and that covered use of 3 bedrooms, kitchen, washer, dryer, 1 stall in the garage, and all utilities).
So who is greedier? The person that works for their money and may not want to give it to those that would just squander it, or the people that feel they are entitled to getting anything they want merely for existing without trying to work to earn for said items. It's sad, though, that there are those in government and in the media that try to drum up the class envy and make it seem that everybody that is wealthy must have gotten their money through greed, trampling on the backs of the poor. And similarly the poor are held up as miserably wretches who are poor from no fault of their own and that everyone should feel sorry for.
Granted there are those that came into their wealth either by being born into it, marrying into it, or just being lucky that do not really appreciate the value of money yet expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. Likewise, there are poor people that are that way for a legitimate reason like being too old to work anymore, having a mental illness, through a disaster in their lives, etc. that society should be charitable towards. But its wrong to generalize and say that all wealthy are greedy too.
Community Forum
Topic: Why are some of the well off people more greedy? (Read 4872 times)
August 09, 2009, 04:48:17 pm
