How does income inequality hurt ANYONE

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnR

What about the kids that were stoned all the way through high school and did not challenge themselves enough to chase education or skills and now cannot advance beyond the lousy job. Or their work ethic is too poor to keep one?

The problem is that the balance is lost, for every good example you have you have there are bad example too. Now out of "fairness" and not taking sides or wanting to make someone feel bad, everyone gets the opportunity not to chase opportunity. it is not sustainable.

Yes - the company that shipped a 1000 jobs overseas is part to blame, just as the 1000 kids that never chased the dream.

Most of us have worked the $4 per hour minimum wage job and we worked on skills, education, or chased opportunity to move beyond that.

Used to be that if you worked hard enough on your self you could improve your lot & luck in life, that message is getting lost.

"What about the kids that were stoned all the way through high school and did not challenge themselves "

Bingo.

Even in college, I knew plenty of very smart kids who drank every day and picked easy majors that required little work and offered little job prospects. Those people are all struggling today, and there's nothing wrong or unfair about that. And I'll help them when I can, but here are limits to the level of sacrifice I'm willing to make for people who freely chose to make stupid decisions.

"Used to be that if you worked hard enough on your self you could improve your lot & luck in life"

Of course it's still that way, and it's not all that hard. Get th ebest grades you can get. If you cannot afford college, get a good paying job at a place like UPS and go to school part time, working towards a degree, or larn a trade, or join the military.

Nebe, did you see those looters in Baltimore? Half naked, drugged out of their minds, underwear halfway up theiur back, covered in tattoos, can't speak English. Sorry, don't tell me I caused any of that while coaching Little League and going to church on Sundays, I don't want to hear that crap.

SOme peole, of course, are poor because of bad luck, and nothing else. I want those peopple to get all the help they need. Most, in my estimation, are por because they (and probably their parents) freely chose to make stupid decisions. Much of the responsibility fo rthat, should lie with them. We need programs in place to help more people better themselves, no doubt. But no matter how many times they say it on MSNBC, we ain't fixing this by throwing other people's monet at it.