NO ONE Owes YOU Anything
There is much discussion on the current socioeconomic malaise in this country. There are people who strongly argue that the reason for this current malaise is that the wealthier classes are greedy and are squeezing out the middle classes. There are others who staunchly contend that those in the lower socioeconomic rungs are oppressed by the wealthier classes. A few go so far as to advocate a newer and improved socioeconomic class system where income is more evenly distributed.
Yes, there are those who love to blame others for their socioeconomic quagmire. They maintain that they cannot succeed because society is holding them down. However, despite the current socioeconomic fiasco, there are THOSE who are still making successes out of themselves.They refuse to listen to naysayers who strongly assert that one cannot possibly become successful in this economy.
There are those who proclaim that they are poor because of the wealth. They maintain that NO ONE should be wealthy at all while there are poor people. Yet, many poor people in the United States are content with their lives the way it is. If they weren't, they would make the sacritices to educated and better themselves. Many poor people in this country are passive regarding their fates. They feel that there is nothing they can do to better their situation.
Yet these are the same people who protest when programs are cut. They are the same people who decry those in their same neighborhood who do make better lives. They are the same people who disencourage their younger people from pursuing higher education so that the latter can have a better life. They are the same people who tell their children not to have aspirations but to just settle for the crumbs of life.
Let's be factual, many people are poor in the United States because of negative thinking combined with a passive mentality. Many think that those who are more socioeconomically affluent OWE them a better life. Well, NO ONE owes anyone anything. People need to get up off their assets in order to make a better life for themselves. Do you agree?Good evening, Ms. Williams. I hope you do not mind if I toss in my two cents.
“The American Dream” is rooted in the idea of upward mobility, the notion that individuals and families can escape the confines of poverty and disadvantage through hard work and perseverance. However, this dream has been turned into today’s economic nightmare.
To say “many people are poor in the United States because of negative thinking combined with a passive mentality” is to repeat a common theme. It is heard frequently and always with plenty of assertions and assumptions but it is never supported by any verifiable data. This statement is only true because of its blatant and narrow-minded vagueness. It falsely implies that with enough positive motivation poverty would be eradicated.
Sadly, this sentiment ignores the more widespread and the more serious causes. It would be far more accurate to say that many millions more are poor in the United States because the many tools and skills needed to escape poverty are beyond their reach no matter how positively motivated they may be. While some like to focus on “negative thinking” and “passive mentality,” millions of Americans remain poor because they have little choice.
The lack of motivation and effort is not the major cause of poverty so there is little point to dwelling on it. Investigators have found that “children who were born to families at the top of the income structure have the highest probability of being in the highest income strata as adults, while those born at the bottom have the highest probability of being poor as adults.” {1}
The Wolff study in 2012 established, “In 2010, the average white household in American had almost 20 times as much total wealth as the average African-American household, and more than 70 times as much wealth as the average Latino household. If we exclude home equity from the calculations and consider only financial wealth, the ratios are more than 100:1.” {2} The distribution of wealth in the US is so skewed, the poorest among us would have to increase their financial wealth 100 times and they would still be ranked among the lowest 20% of the population. This is the negative incentive that is built into our economic system.
Other experts say, “children growing up in low-income families face many challenges that children from more advantaged families do not. These children are more likely to experience multiple family transitions, move frequently, and change schools. The schools they attend are less well funded, and the neighborhoods they live in are more disadvantaged. The parents of these children have fewer resources to invest in them and, as a consequence, their homes have fewer cognitively-stimulating materials, and their parents invest less in their education. The stress of living in poverty and struggling to meet daily needs can also impair parenting.” {3} Among these most formidable obstacles, “negative thinking combined with a passive mentality” is so insignificant that it is not even mentioned.
The US economic model has been designed by the rich and for the rich. It forces all wealth to gravitate from the lowest levels of society upward into the pockets of those at the top. Therefore, the wealthiest Americans do not remain wealthy because they are positively motivated, work harder, or are better educated. They become wealthier merely because they are at the top. The obvious conclusion is that there is far less wealth circulating at the lowest levels of our society to benefit all of the most highly motivated. It should be obvious what will happen in America when all of the nation’s wealth becomes concentrated in the top 20%.
{1} Isaacs, Julia B.; Sawhill, Isabel V.; Haskins, Ron. 2008. Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
{2} Wolff, E. N. (2012). The Asset Price Meltdown and the Wealth of the Middle Class. New York: New York University.
{3} http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_909.htmlRB,
May you always enjoy the blessing of your progeny and make time to follow your bliss.
Are you seriously criticizing poor people for not being clairvoyants? Really? Really?
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