In my continuing quest to try and understand the ever changing “definition” of rich, I heard a comment yesterday that stopped me in my tracks. I have been trying find that magical figure of what other people think rich is and I was not expecting to hear “$50,000.” This wasn’t some crazed “entitled”, this was someone I knew for some time.

This got me thinking of other conversations I had with people who always seemed to complain about being “broke.”  Some of their financial issues probably could have been resolved by a few simple changes in lifestyle (a little less eating out, giving up a few beers, quit smoking, ect.), others could be handled by setting up a budget and watching what they spent their money on. My suggestion of finding a part-time job met with the most resistance.

It’s all left me so confused, the American Dream of working hard and becoming successful, seems now to be looked down upon. I’ve seen it happen to successful people of color, they are treated like sellouts. So will I be looked up to if I quit my part-time job(s), stop paying my mortgage, get behind of my bills, and complain about not having any money?

One of the hots topics of late has been taxes and the “Stimulus” package. The average tax payer is going to get $13 a week back. What a joke. Tell me how $13 a week is going to stimulate the economy? I feel like I’m banging my head up against a wall when I talk about needing to do something about the current tax system. I hear things like the government won’t want to give up the power and control it has. But I also hear stories of how the current tax system punishes those trying to succeed.

I listened intently as I was told about the long hours being put in, 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. This individual just wanted to succeed and do better for himself. Long hours to be able to pay his mortgage on time, to provide for his family and to try and be able to put money aside for later in life. This individual did do better in 2008, than he did in 2007. All of his hard work was rewarded by a HIGH TAX BRACKET! It was all he could do to contain himself. “I worked very hard to earn that money and now the government wants to take more of it to give to lazy people who prefer to live off the government?” “I give money to my church and charities that I choose to give to, why am I being forced to give to those who refuse to do for them self?”

How can I console him? Should I tell him to quit paying his mortgage so he can get bailed out? That would get some of his hard earned money back. How can he continue to encourage his children to work hard?

How can WE stop this madness? It’s insane. We need to be rewarding those who work hard, instead of kicking them in the balls.

See what the hell you are letting happen?!?

All right boys and girls today’s history lesson is obviously something you government educated slugs didn’t have in your curriculum – FDR’s New Deal – it where many of the “short term” (that means temporary) fixes were enacted to try and bring this country out of the Depression.

The New Deal came in two parts, the first part implemented banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, agricultural programs, and industrial reform (the National Recovery Administration, NRA), and the end of the gold standard and Prohibition. So maybe we need more banking reform laws to fix banks? I see the phrase “work relief” – I wonder if that was supposed to mean sit on your ass, pop a bunch of illegitimate kids out and expect the government to support you? Was coming off the gold standard really the right thing to do?

The second part of the New Deal brought us the likes of the Social Security System, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Fannie Mae among other things. What’s wrong with that picture? Let’s see, broke, inmates running the prison, and broke.

Okay, those are just the high points, you’ve got Google, Wikipedia and the public library, go educate yourself. You will probably find that most economists believed the New Deal delayed economic recovery and you want MORE of the same? Unfortunately, the only thing that pulled this country out of the Depression was the second World War and it’s war machine. I’m not advocating war, far from it. Ramming more government regulations down businesses throats will only stifle them, not create more jobs.

Welcome to the USSA, you are about to get exactly what you wanted, change…

On a side note, I heard an interesting suggestion on these converter boxes for Digital TV transition, why not ask people who can afford to buy a box (but may not need one) but it and donate it to someone who needs it. Why can’t we help our neighbors out? Why do are so many people hell bent on becoming communists?