A word about wealth

I've seen several threads recently dealing with the issue of "Fat Cats in the US" - and how the system isn't fair, and how we are all being cheated, and how awful it all is and well, you get the idea.

I guess I'm no spring chicken, and I'm now of an age where I can say things like - I use to hear this kind of crap a lot in college back in the 80s, when everyone seemed to be distributing copies of The Socialist Worker, and muttering doom laden prophecies about "the system" and "bosses who treat workers like slaves".

In fact I was one of those people.

But then I graduated, and started working - hard. I am still working hard to achieve what I consider to be a reaosnable standard of living, I don't regard myself as particularly wealthy, but I can buy pretty much whatever I want, I have a nice home on the edge of the desert with a large pool, nice cars, and take lots of vacations - sure, I don't have a big yacht or a private jet, and yes I got reamed in the stock market crash just like (almost) everyone else, so maybe I'm sipping some Kool Aid, but if so, it still tastes pretty good.

I look around me at friends and colleagues for some of the inevitable comparisons - the father of one friend just built a palatial home in southern Illinois on 20 acres of land and he's retiring at 55, another retired at 52 and purchased a large house on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i, not to mention him buying his daughter's $300k house for her in cash. These people received no inheritance, they didn't work on Wall Street, they never cheated anyone in a business deal, and every penny they have came from a life of hard work and fiscal conservatism - they achieved, they saved, and they retired early to live out a long and relaxed retirement.

I don't point these things out to boast or to mock the poor or try to pretend they don't exist, I offer it merely as a counter-point to all the negativity I see spilling out on these boards day after day. Quite honestly it's a mosh pit of self destruction and depression, and I think we could use some balance, call it a reality check to remind you that an awful lot of people have an awfully good life - it isn't just the Madoffs of this world who are smoking the cigars and sipping champagne by the pool. Raging against the machine can be a lot of fun, but not if it colors your actions as you grow older and sets you on a path of self-destruction. It's healthy to question and to doubt, but understand that genuine ability and hard work can and does yield a very good life for those possessed of those faculties.

You just have to look at the options, make your choice in life, and stop blaming others if you don't make it. The choice is simple, and it's yours.

Ok - where did I put that asbestos body suit......

reply to post by Retseh


What about 2 illegal wars that the state made?
What about the illegal FIAT currency system?
What about the illegal income tax?
What about the trillions robbed from the public to give to the banksters?
What about the CIA selling/importing coc aine and opium from Asia,Afghanistan and south America?
What about CFR,IMF and Trilateral commission running the foreign policy and white-house NOT Americans?
What about the government giving corporations tax breaks while exporting jobs over seas?
What about 80% of the wealth in america is owned by the top 20% of the population?
What about 25% of the wealth in america is owned by the top 1% of the population?
What about 5 corporations that own most of not almost all of the media?

reply to post by John_Rodger_Cornman


All those things may or may not have some validity, but the point is that they have not prevented millions of US residents from enjoying an incredibly privileged lifestyle.

Other nations who have not been so encumbered by such inequalities continue to flounder both socially and financially.

How many nations trust their citizens sufficiently to buy an assault style weapon with nothing more than a driver's licence, how many trust their citizens THAT much. Show me a European nation that is unable, by law, to restrict what its residents are able to say, or that is unable to make the use of certain words or phrases an offence punishable by law.

You choose which nation creates an environment that best ensures the success and happiness of its residents. How about our main competitors - China with its open restrictions on Internet usage and free speech, or our other big competitor, India, with its openly racist caste system which dooms children to a social class from birth, not ot mention its millions of impoverished farm workers.

Lauding the incredible life that can be had here may not be a popular notion hereabouts, and I certainly can't be accused of posting popularist threads, but I do think I post the truth and here it is.

reply to post by John_Rodger_Cornman


It all boils down to whether or not you want to feel like a victim or feel like a challenger. Either you wish to challenge the obstacles and overcome them, or you want an excuse for why your life is not satisfying to you. Sure - the U.S. is not perfect - no one has suggested it is, or that there are not things that should be changed. However, those who wish to play the victim will never run out of reasons for why they are not happy in their life. And those who wish to challenge the obstacles in front of them will never run out of challenges.

A victim will never be happy, but a challenger will always be looking for the next hurdle - the next opportunity to succeed.

I had a much longer point-by-point post... but it all can be condensed to the above. Each of those points has been beat to death by both 'sides' in many other threads.

reply to post by Aim64C


We are in violent agreement.

The negativity and the "it's all someone elses fault" mantra hits you like a tide of depression every time you open a thread on here.

Teenage angst and insecurity maybe? Is ATS turning into Facebook?