You know what, you "poor" people?

Exactly! You have the right to decide what to do with your money... So why shouldn't "the rich" have the same rights to do as they please with their money? I'm not accusing you of anything personally, I just posted this to make the general point.

Ted, I agree the rich do have the right to do with their money what they please but they don't have the right to cheat the working people to get rich. A lot of them haven't gotten rich by playing fair. Art

Arkie, and a lot of poor people are just as ready, willing and able to cheat someone. Class does not equal class.

I see. I don't care how the rich spend their money. They earned their funds, they can do whatever they want with it. Why should they feel guilty for having the ability to buy something nice just because someone else can't? If they want to have a big house, they can. People who hate them are just jealous. It's stupid really to care so much about what people are doing with their money, rich or poor. I get what you're saying and i'm right there with ya.

True, people are going to be themselves, no matter their income level. Class warfare is just a socially acceptable form of bigotry.

"Don't worry about what others are doing with their money. it's not your concern." Exactly my point! It seems that if "the poor" spend their money on a few extras, people defend them saying, "they're entitled to a few luxuries", but apparently "the Rich" aren't granted the same rights. I'm not accusing you of anything personally, I wrote this to make the general point.

Yup Spalladino, sadly, institutional bigotry is still alive and well in our society.

Nope, not ranting at all, nor am I jealous. If you get to enjoy a nice 42" HDTV, more power to you! The fact you could get it for a nice price makes it all the better. "what business is it of yours how people spend their money?" This question goes directly to the reason I posted this. It seems the "poor" have the right to spend what money they have, any way they want, but apparently "the Rich" should be judged according to their income.

I'm not accusing you of anything personally, I just posted this to make the general point.

I totally get what you are saying. If some one blew there whole tax income on one tv and crap its fine. But if someone with lots of money spends it, it makes it look like showing of or just blowing money. And people judge them and say "if I had that much money I wouldnt spend it on that".

Anora, I'm suprised at you. You are a pretty intelligent person, how did you miss not only the larger point he was making but also the sarcasm/irony he was using to do it? lol.

by the way, I am one of "those people" and I live in "my project". I got what he was saying perfectly and I wasn't at all offended.

Xfah- I am an intelligent person, but I am also a compassionate person and I found nothing of intelligence in his post. I found no sarcasm either. I found a very offensive and mean statement about poor people based on assumptions. Namaste-Anora

Go You!!!!!

i have a viewppoint of the "middle class" as they call it. we are not rich and we are not poor, we have a family of 4 and make around 50K a year and I am a fulltime student pursing a degree in computers. I go to school with all these people that claim to be poor and get all this grant money to go to school and drive really nice cars and got nice cell phones and anything they want. I am not eligible for any assistance for school because we make too much money.. so im paying for them to go to school and myself to go to school.. when most the people are on every assistance program possible to support there 5 or 6 kids and get there school paid for and then they are the ones disrupting class. When my family needs help maybe for a month, no we cant get it because we made too much money last year.What the hell kinda crap is that?yes once i finish school we will make right at 80-100 thousand a year but until then we may need the help but cant get it because what we made last year. i dont smoke, i dont drink, i dont party, i can barely afford to send my kids to daycare while i am in school. i have a chevy malibu, a good quality car. i have to take a piss test to work and pay for these peoples food stamps and medicaide and welfare but they aint got to take a piss test to recieve them.. wat the hel is that?

but if we lump "the Rich" together, well, that's ok but its NOT okay to do that either...you have IMO poor ppl who are shady slacking scammers and poor ppl who are GENUINELY poor and struggling....flip of the coin you have rich ppl who are greedy, coldhearted and calculated and you have rich ppl who are good, hardworking, caring ppl....

Exactly my point! If we lump "the Poor" all together, it's wrong, but if we lump "the Rich" together, well, that's ok. I'm not accusing you of anything personally, I just posted this to make the general point.

I feel like everyone is one the same playing field when it comes to earning money. Dont like what you are earning invest time and get education. They are giving them away free (I know I got one). I HATE to see people complaining about not having money and they have not done a thing to help themselves. They hate others who have made something of themselves. I am in no way rich or poor. I am working on getting a degree so that I will be comfortable in life. I wish more people would focus there time and make something of themselves. Some people have the appearance of having money because they do without other things you dont see.

If you were rich you'd have things you wanted that you could afford. We all spend our money the way we see fit.

People strive to be rich for a lot of different reasons, just as people are content to be poor for their own reasons. It's the bigotry of lumping everyone in any economic class together that bothers me.

So, if you defend the right of the "poor" to spend their money as they wish.. .do you recognize the same rights for the "rich"?

It angers me as well to see people sucking dry the benefits that people who are ACTUALLY trying to do right and get off the system actually NEED. I get angered because of a person I know who is on SSI un-necessarily, and he is going to get housing for around $35 a month, but I am actually working to care for my family, trying to get off the system, trying to do and be self sufficient, and I will have to pay $650 a month for the SAME apartment that he will get for $35. AND, his utilities will be covered, mine will not. Im not whining, just find it completely wrong!

Also, I feel that EVERYONE should be able to spend their money as they choose...

Not really aiming this at "poor" people as much as those who resent the rights of the "rich" to spend their money how they see fit, but defend those rights of "the poor". I've also found that most people who do live frugally (either out of necessity or choice) usually aren't the ones playing "class warfare" games.

You are so right about the working poor. Me and my husband just cant seem to stay above water sometimes. It is hard. Health care is crazy. Me and my husband do without so that my three girls can have health care. It seems like the more money you have the worse off you are. I do thanks God own my car (sassy). I have had the same car for 10 years. My daughter keeps telling me I NEED a new one but it will have to blow up first. I cant afford a new car payment and insurance on a new car.

Yes, well, try living with a chronic disease and NOT be able to get the assistance you deserve to have! Because I have MS and no one seems to remember (I can walk somewhat normally, but I tire easily; have little physical strength; and have minor cognitive problems, I'm able to work according to SSDI. However, office jobs are few and far between these days, and I am unable to make even my employer remember that i requested special accommodations right from the start. I don't use my disease as an excuse, but after this last relapse, I've realized that I cannot work 60 hours a week--even 25 is too much some weeks! I'm physically poor but not mentally. I can't get into that mentality--I'll whine about how broke I am, but I'd go down dying before I admit to being poor. I grew up in a comfortable lifestyle, and this crap is killing me emotionally! I put on a good front is all.

I am assuming you have attempted to sign up for disability. I know from experience from helping family fill papers out it's an odd process. Some people it takes forever to jump through all the hoops of the system and for others they sail through. According to one case worker I spoke with she said it all depends on the actual medical files and when the diagnosis was. And you still can work on disability, there's a cap.

Scorpiobabes the assistance is not for people who need it while attempting to help themselves up and better their lives and others...it is designed as a loop system. Because if you speak with anyone who lives on public assistance they will inform you that they can only work so many hours and that's if they do work. The system does not help people but makes them become enablers....and I am not speaking of those who are diasbled, or elderly. I know those tax dollars are going to people who deserve the community's assistance. I am speaking of enabling young adults who have become exposed and accustomed to that lifestyle and realize sometimes you can get things for free. As for me I complain about it, but I know deep down all my hard work and frustration does not limit like those who live within those guidelines when they could break free. We should fix the system, but I have a feeling the officials would muck it up even more. You know "break it until it's fixed" ideals.

That's what I was thinking! Some people can 'work' the system better than others (as I found out the hard way!)--it's just a certain mental mindset.

You got it. That's ghetto economics 101. And in the end everyone will suffer from it. The ones who deserve help from within the communities to the people who abuse it that are creating the destruction of a system. They don't care now because it doesn't affect them right now. But one day we will all be on the same page and that is scary. Sad but true.