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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (318811)	1/5/2007 7:28:36 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575583

Do you know any poor people? I suspect not. Not only do I know some, I'm related to some. I've got a cousin who married a woman who is good for spending money and suing people. Thats it. She browbeat my cousin into putting her name on the little family farm he inherited from his mothers side of the family. She borrowed against the farm and they ultimately lost it. The lawsuits - once she was in line at Walmart and a clerk pitched a set of keys to the next one - while passing over her head it brushed her hair. She claimed it hit her head and injured her and sued Walmart. Another time she went with one of her high school age daughter's on a school visit to a nearby college. While there she tripped on a sidewalk and got a lawsuit out of that. This isn't a poor person; she's a con artist. I've got another cousin who hasn't worked in over 30 years. He seldom even leaves the house he inherited from his parents. The only work he ever did was janitor work. I don't know why - he's intelligent and perfectly capable of doing lots of things. I don't understand why he would rather sit at home and not work but thats what he does. He owns a house. How does that make him poor? Since he lives paycheck to paycheck, he couldn't pay his December rent. So he moved into his car. He finally landed a somewhat permanent temp job in a warehouse about two weeks ago. However, at the rate he is paid, he figures it will take two months to get up the security deposit and first month's rent. What is missing here is his family and friends. Ah, you said he has no family. Some folks have no family or friends but most do. And most people get help from their family or friends at times like that - its one of the reasons families are so important to society. I did not have family who supported me and I would never ask a friend for help. My parents both died when I was young. As a matter of fact, I paid a relative's rent payment just today. They've given me a little of it and will be paying me back over a few weeks - mostly, I think anyway. Course, this guy might not have any family or friends (except the one that give you a lottery ticket). Or he may have ruined the relationships by past exploitation. I had the impression they were dead but I am not sure. The point that I was trying to make is that there are a lot of people out there who don't have anyone to fall back on. You assume someone poor has family whose well off. Well that's not always the case. Plus, I do have a cousin whose a doctor and another who is a biochemist.......both are well off. We have a good relationship but I would never ask them for money. You may not realize it but having to scrape by for a while may be very valuable at teaching the virtue of saving for a rainy day - some people only learn lessons the hard way. Now I know you'd say he can't save - he lives from paycheck to paycheck. But the fact is most people really can save if they really try. Man, you can live on beans and rice etc and never eat even fast food, you don't smoke, you don't buy lottery tickets, etc. It's possible to do. Of course, that's all possible but then one day you need to have your wisdom teeth taken out or you need a root canal or an appendectomy and you have no dental or medical insurance. What happens then? You can't ignore these things.......you will only get sicker. And yet we don't care and we make up stories like the one you created which is that their lot in life is improving and that's more than good enough, ignoring the fact that the rich who already have very satisfying lives are moving up much faster. Frankly, from experience, I know its not good enough. You have a problem with the fact that life isn't fair. That life can be hard. But it always has been and always will be. This is why traditional family values and traditional work ethic, thrift, and personal responsibility values are so important. You're talking about the ideal........an urban myth in Americana. It doesn't exist nearly as much as you seem to think. What you don't get is that if you hire govt bureaucrats and pay them a nice salary with good benefits to follow around the people who don't live by the right values, they'll never learn to do so. Furthermore, you'll erode the values of many many more people so that the number of people who need a govt bureaucrat to follow them around picking them up over and over mushrooms. It took years for the first cousin I mentioned to be demoralized by his worthless wife, but it finally happened. There are 37 million Americans whose lives are marginalized because people like you feel its abhorrent to create a safety net for them but its more than okay to blow a trillion dollars on an Iraq. The more you create a great liberal safety net, the more people there will be who will rely on it. And what's wrong with that? Why do people have to be stressed out all the time? No one...absolutely no one gains from living that way. How this guy was able to keep up his positive outlook was beyond me. You may not believe this but some people who live on the street are happy too. Some people don't feel the need for much security in their life. Its a puzzle to me why but thats the way it is. However, I do know that every time he lands on the street the more damage he does to his body and his well being. Dental apptments become non existent. I had another SI liberal tell me one time how important dental care was - the government should provide everybody with dental insurance he said. Meanwhile I haven't had a dental appt since at least 1998. Whats the matter with me? Probably much more than you think. You do know that doctors now believe that what goes on in your mouth with your teeth and gums effects the rest of your body; that good health starts in your mouth. You do know that gingivitis is a serious disease of the gums that many people don't know they have and is the major reason why people lose their teeth. You do know that you can have multiple cavities and not feel a thing. I have had several cavities none of which ever hurt. I'd get to your dentist asap.