Rich vs. Poor?

Question

Why do so many conservatives think that being poor automatically means you are lazy? Isn't it possible that some very hard working people are poor, and some rich people are lazy? Why don't you realize that some people are in difficult circumstances that are hard to overcome? And that some people get rich by taking advantage of others to get rich because they are greedy, not hard working.

Doc- You misinterpreted my Q. I have heard a lot of people on here say that poor people are lazy. I know not all poor people are democrats and not all rich people are republicans. Some people are lazy, but some are hard workers and still poor, like yourself. I was just trying to point out that people are wrong when they think poor people are always poor because they are lazy. Some people abuse welfare, some people get stuck in the system, and some people really do need help. No one person fits any mold perfectly. I knew a guy that was very conservative, but he was getting disability and working under the table too. He hated the people in his apartment building who had 4 kids and leached off welfare, but he had no problem doing it himself. I just think some people have no idea how systematic and cyclical poverty can be.

Answer 1

More Americans than ever are living in poverty, living without health care, paying more for housing and for the costs of our public education. And real wages are falling.

Real median earnings of full-time working males fell nearly 2 percent last year, according to the Census Bureau, while the real wages of working women fell by 1.3 percent. Despite that, real median household income did manage to rise slightly last year, though that small gain was the first increase in household income since 1999.

So what has been keeping our middle class afloat in the face of rapidly rising costs? American families have been living on, as well as in, their homes. More than one-third of homeowners are spending more than 30 percent of their income on the cost of housing, a level that pushes the edge of affordability. Nationwide median home values from 2000-2005 jumped 32 percent, and homeowners have been pulling equity out of their houses in order to keep up with escalating tuition bills, health care costs and energy costs.

But not everyone is so lucky. The number of Americans without health coverage rose by 1.3 million last year, up to 46.6 million, according to the Census Bureau. What's worse, more than one in 10 American children are now uninsured. Fewer employers than ever are providing health care to their employees and those who are still lucky enough to receive employer-provided coverage are paying a much larger share: The Kaiser family foundation says the cost of family health insurance, in fact, is up 87 percent since 2000.

The same holds true at the pharmacy. Prices for the most popular brand-name prescription drugs this year rose substantially higher than the annual inflation rate, as has been the case every year this decade. The AARP concluded prices for the top 193 drugs climbed 6.3 percent over the last 12 months ending in June 2006, while inflation went up 3.8 percent. Generic drugs, however, rose 0.4 percent over that period of time.

The costs of higher education are also hurting middle-class families like never before. In this increasingly credentialed society, the total cost of tuition, fees, room and board at four-year public colleges and universities has ballooned 44 percent over the past four years. And the proportion of family income it takes to pay for college is growing for families everywhere. The biggest jump, according to the National Center for Higher Education, is in Ohio, where college costs now take 42 percent of the average family budget, up from 28 percent in the early 1990s.

Our dependency on foreign oil is also hamstringing working men and women. Gasoline prices are back on the decline (for now), but many Americans this summer were shelling out double what they used to pay to drive their cars. And gas prices now, while lower than at their peak in August, are still about 60 percent higher than in January 2001.

Perhaps one of our nation's leading business magazines would like to create something called a Forbes or Fortune 250 Million list, which would reveal the dire financial pressures that our public policies have produced for working men and women and their families. It's time for all of us to focus on that deep chasm we have allowed to open between the wealthiest Americans and the middle class and those who aspire to it.

Otherwise, there will be 250 million casualties in what has become nothing less than class warfare.

Answer 2

I am a conservative, I've worked all of my life. I entered the job market long before I was 16. I had very few options available to me upon graduation from high school. I floundered for several years and made one bad decision after another. With very few options left, I enlisted in the Navy. There, I stayed for twenty years. I fought in Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm and Somalia. I lost friends in all of those places and in Haiti and Lebanon too. I stayed because without an education or a bankrole to back me, the best I could hope for was to retire and get a pension. That pension is all of $944 a month. And I am taxed on it. I have to pay for my health care insurance just as everyone else does and I can't afford eye or dental. I live in a double wide and my van has over 166,000 miles on it. I went back to school and got a degree and still can't use it. I now own a small business and amazingly enough, as I write this, I am still working. I've been working since 7:30 this morning. I will be at it until shortly after 11 this evening. I'm a conservative, I am poor and I am not lazy. I ask nothing from you in the way of a hand out. Still, when I look around me, my poor neighbors refuse to work the hours I work, and demand the government do something to help them.
Conversely, my in-laws are democrats. They are wealthy. They were born into money and have (in my opinion) never put in a solid day's work in their entire lives. He has a doctorate from Harvard and a bachelors from Princeton. She's a masters from Michigan State. They are not greedy, nor are they "lazy." They can afford to not work so hard.
Bottom line here is, I think your generalizations are off the mark.
Most people are poor because they make poor decisions. Strong possibility that no one ever taught them how to emulate those who are successful. So many around me, are too busy shooting themselves in the foot trying to separate themselves from the rest of society. You can't tell them they're wrong about anything. Especially about the way they raise their kids or spend their money (our tax dollars). And, they're all democrats, looking for that free handout.

Answer 3

I would just say not to judge anyone on their wealth. I know plenty of people who were just born into nothing. No father around, mother turns to drugs. No good role-model. Heck if the parents can't even take care of themselves...how is the child to learn by observation. No emphasis on education. No true connection to a healthy hard-working environment. Like it or not, most of us are a product of our environment. My dad came over when he was 18 from Europe to attend college here against the will of his parents. He was poor as dirt but now through ambition, hard ( i mean hard) work, he's very wealthy and can affort to put that into his family and have time to spend with his children and instill in them how to work hard. Poor people who are lazy most likely come off that way because they are blaming the world for their situation and are almost paralyzed because they don't have the awareness and knowledge of how to get out of poverty. Kind of like being severely depressed...you don't know how to function anymore, you come across as lazy, but really you just don't know how to overcome it. I think poverty is more relatable to lack of education (and I mean having a good example) than laziness.

Answer 4

Your premise of some being hard working, but still poor does have merit. The point that some people are just greedy and become rich also has merit. That said, the ideas of poor because of laziness also holds merit. Becoming rich because of hard work and doing without to attain the desired results is also true. I think that being fair to all, as well as being honest to all is the best thing to do. No one situation fits everyone.

Answer 5

The Republicans are just the opposite of Robin Hood , They give to the rich and take from the poor. Most rich people inherited their money from relatives that worked and the Democrat all work that is the way God meant to be. You earn your own supper.
I think the Republicans are just realizing what has been going on and they choice in the race that they preferred people that the no worked no do nothing Republican that worked 2 day work week and played golf the other part of the week, needed to go and that is where they sent them , right out the door.

Answer 6

because many of the "circumstances" were created by the poor person themselves...how is it that some people can be born into a poor and make many right choices and succeeds in life...i think there are alot of lazy rich people too...but being rich isn't a bad thing either...besides being poor or rich has nothing to do with quality or happiness in life...there are many poor people who are happy and unhappy...there are many rich people who are happy and unhappy...greed is a kind of disease in both...i was born into a poor family, raised by a single mother, i am the first to graduate from college in my family...i didn't make alot of bad choices...i am not rich but i am doing better than my parents...and that makes them and me happy...i hope my children will make good choices too...besides how many hand outs do people need before they can become self sufficient...how many billions of dollars has Africa received and it is still poor...hand outs is NOT the answer...education is NOT the answer...we need workers in all areas of work not just educated ones....we should have a system where people can advance in life if they work hard...or if they choose not to they should be content with what they have or able to do...

Answer 7

Do you not realize that in America poverty is a choice? I will admit that there are a few, very few, extenuating circumstances, such as mental illness, but unless you have an extreme disorder, you make choices involving just how successful you will be. I have yet to meet a poor person whom did not make that choice, and whom is not lazy. In addition every single rich person has earned every cent that they have made. Could you please name a situation in which they have not?

Nicki - Robin Hood was a thief. His intent may have been good in his own mind, but he was a thief none-the-less. It is a good thing that the republicans are not like Robin Hood.

Now, don't get me wrong. I sympathize with the poor, if they are in an extenuating circumstance, and, especially their children. However we must realize that many people are poor because they are lazy.

Answer 8

It ain't about working hard, it's about setting a goal and having the discipline to achieve it. If being rich was easy, everyone would be. Who wants to be poor? The poor are unwilling, and yes, it IS a choice in this country, to make the sacrifices needed to better themselves. That, is what the "rich" define as lazy, not how many hours they put into a work day.

Answer 9

Well said. I know both kinds of people. Hard working people that have two jobs and are poor and rich people that are lazy. No one should ever assume a poor person is lazy.

Answer 10

True...perfect example are those in the military. They work very hard and put their lives on the line everyday for very little pay. Most are living below the poverty line. This is also true for police officers and fireman. America insists on paying certain people, i.e. actors, sports stars, outragous sums of money while leaving those who truely deserve it out in the cold.

Answer 11

pretty loaded question.

i don't think many are refering to poeple that are poor in a sense, but poor mentally.

a college student is "poor" but i wouldn't venture to say a college student is poor in a mental sense.

i think when someone links poor with laziness, they are meaning the culture of the poor idiots who want the government to take care of all their needs no matter what.

but to explain it at every reference would be impossible.

maybe there should be a new word for it?

i am in college, but i wouldn't consider myself "poor" just "broke" or "lack of money"