bowenc1994 wrote: I wouldn't say its the system that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich, I would say it is the mindset of the people you are around. I grew up pretty poor, living in my grandmother's basement sharing a room with my two siblings. Got my own room at 16 when my parents finally got their stuff together and ascended to the working middle class. I was the first one to go to college in my family and although they are of course happy for me and everything, I could sense some underlying resentment in some of my relatives. Unhappy people will try and keep the people around them on the same playing field. The rich stay rich because each generation sets aside enough money to where the next one will not have to worry. It's just up to that next generation to live within their means. That's the key to being happy and not being "poor" if you're not loaded with money. I work full time making only 8 buucks an hour for now, but I keep a roof over my head and stay happy because I know I can't excessively spend. It's all about discipline.
I agree that misery loves company. And definetly, it is about discipline as well.
However, moving up or down in the financial ladder depends on having fair rules, so everyone has an equal chance. But how is it fair when big banking can go bankrupt and be saved by government (and thus by the poor who pay taxes), or when the Federal Reserve can make money out of thin air to manipulate inflation, prices, and even politics?
Doesn't it bother you that the taxes deducted from you paycheck go to bailouts for companies "too big to fail"?
The author implies that both Lincoln and JFK were planning to take money management out of private hands and put it back in government hands. But alas both were killed...
It just that I don't think as negatively about money and debt.
