The Rich Get Richer......

by VioletAnai 33 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  VioletAnai

  http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_36095.asp

  I think you know where I'm headed with this......

  I just don't understand how many praise our economic system and yet it leaves millions behind. It denies many necessities from many people all for the sake of the comforts of the rich nations.

  Nations work as separate entities in most cases, except when borders are threatened then alliances are made. Nations should really be thinking about the future and working together to make things happen. Money is what drives people, but at the rate we are going, money is going to be worthless in a few years. What will all we cushioned nations do then? A fear for my comfort zone is getting larger and larger.
• 

  RubyTuesday

  I believe it will change and is changing....for the worst. There will be no middle class in America. You will either be very wealthy or very poor.
• 

  expatbrit

  Violet:

  To paraphrase Hobbes: "the life of man is nasty, brutish, and short." This is the natural state of human existence. Without economic and political systems, we would all be in the same state as people in the poorest of countries.

  The reason people praise our economic system is that it allows millions to get ahead from this natural state. Granted, millions have not yet benefitted in this way, but they are merely in the same state as they would be if the economic system did not exist. The glass is half full, not half empty.

  The glass is also filling. The rich are indeed getting richer. But so are the poor (or, if you wish, the poor are getting less poor). Less people are starving now then 20 or 30 years ago. Medical science continues to improve the average health of everyone. Slowly, globalisation is having a beneficial effect. Nations are indeed starting to work together to benefit all. This is the principle of enlightened self-interest at work.

  Money will not be worthless in a few years. I don't know how you have reached that conclusion.

  The world is getting better, not worse, despite what the doomsayers say to enhance their own power by playing on the fears of others.

  Expatbrit
• 

  Francois

  I think it's not nearly as bad as that report makes it out to be.

  For one thing, the most important one, the story was based on a report issued by the United Nations. Now consider the source. The UN is, as a whole, a professional, full-time basher of the United States. It is dominated by third world nations of socialist bent (and cant) who would love to see the collapse of the entire system of western democracy.

  So when I see a report from the UN being quoted as the "authority" for any description of conditions specific to any part of the world, race, nation or what-have-you I usually take it with a large grain of salt.

  The UN has been as I have described for years and years, and under King Kofi, known to have Imperial ambitions, this trend has accelerated.

  Always consider the source.

  $0.02

  francois
• 

  Bang

  How can I say?

  "Harder for a rich man" is surely not an understatement. Possession and poverty are mystery.

  Babylon is about possession. I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring. [Is 14.22] Mine, yours, and the temptation and the desire.

  Embracing poverty is just too radical for many people, just as it was too radical for them two thousand years ago - those who go away sad are not those who do not accept a particular religion - it is those who pass up opportunities to both give, and embrace poverty, with faith that it is o.k., we're richer even, in another way, now and/or in the next life - we can have this faith in God now, because we are alive. This is to be poor "in spirit" - to embrace the poverty, and not just goods - this is to 'fear' Him, like Indiana Jones when he stepped out into the canyon. "Let go" ,"use the force", however you want to say it - "Fear Him" - get into it, do it - "Follow Me".

  People already know this stuff inside - when they personally see monks or some kindly mormons, or whoever, their hearts are lightened by the radical nature of what they are doing. Many are attracted to jwism because it appears to be radical in this way - it's a trap that it's not. Saints are applauded for giving yet being both poor and happy. St Francis is still applauded for his ways of giving to the robbers and the hungry wolf and for loving nature and talking to the birds and walking free about the earth. Even in his own time people virtually kissed the ground he walked on, declaring him to be holy in their eyes.

  But possession runs so deep that even all the spiritual heroes are dismissed in the preference to sleep on the thought that with God all things are possible, rather than whoever does not give up all he has cannot be My disciple. The latter is the call to Adventure and become the hero - the former a reassurance. The innate desire to possess, with all the associated burdens, has people listening out for the reassurance seeking the spiritual shelters for possessions. How do we know which religion has the true God and what is the true religion with the absolute truth? How can we buy this ? Even our sayings reflect it all - "I don't buy it".

  We know the answer and we were told the way, and our hearts 'pick up on it'. Who are these that fly as clouds? Know you the great paths of the clouds.

  Bang

  Edited by - Bang on 24 July 2002 19:54:53
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Just be thankfull you are in a country where you can change your economic status. Here, if you bust your ass, you can do anything you want. You not stuck in some caste and have opportunities that few others have.

  Remember, Capitalism rewards those who do things.
• 

  Bang

  Rewards with what? For doing what?

  Bang
• 

  Carmel

  "The poor amongst us" ain't necessarily those with no gold. Me thinks dear Jesus had a different "poor" in mind. Frankly, I thing capitalism is as blameworthy as other "isms" when it comes to ecnomic values. I forsee the time when purely materialistic economic systems will have to give way to a more enlightened distribution of resources. Not in my lifetime, mind you, but ultimately, humanity will gavitate toward methodologies that no longer ruin the environment and dissallow abject poverty juxtaposed to opulence for the few.

  carmel
• 

  Bendrr

  I just don't understand how many praise our economic system and yet it leaves millions behind. It denies many necessities from many people all for the sake of the comforts of the rich nations.

  Our economic system isn't denying necessities to the poor because it doesn't owe them in the first place. I do agree with the last phrase though, in a way. This country is spending way too much on foreign aid (foreign welfare) when it could and should be used to care for Americans in need. Or not even taxed and spent in the first place.

  However it is definitely not the Government's constitutional responsibility to "re-distribute" wealth. I'll tell you what's wrong with our economic system. It's the fact that the top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the taxes (according to the IRS' 1999 figures) and that top 50% is those who earn $52,000 or more. While we shoulder that 96% tax burden, many in the bottom half can expect to get tax refund checks for more money than they paid in.

  Oh yeah, that's fair!

  Federal and state welfare programs pay for housing, food, medical expenses, utilities, transportation, even car repairs. There are resources out there to get job training and even college classes for those on welfare, tax credits for employers who hire welfare recipients, and employers everywhere who complain that they can't find anyone to work for them. There are private charities in addition to the government programs.

  Sure there are those who have a legitimate need for the assistance available, but they are the minority among the vast "welfare-for-life" crowd who were born into it, expect to live on it, and expect to pass it on to the next generation.

  Mike.
• 

  Bang

  Wow Mike,

  Did you ever think that people don't like doing the same type of work to make the same type of society that you do? And what about that land your ass is sitting on, wasn't it stolen from people after murders and the like? So where are you at now after paying money to the descendants of killers and thieves? And you want other people to do the same thing - they don't even know why they don't want to do that stuff - they just don't want to.

  Bang

  Edited by - Bang on 24 July 2002 20:15:6