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QVC Customer Care
Posts: 512
Registered: ‎06-14-2015
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,356
Registered: ‎01-03-2012

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"


@Ms X wrote:

Quite simply, this is what happens when companies would rather hire cheap foreign labor than Americans.  Had enough of this?  I have!


Happened at Disney with their text support team.  They had to train their cheaper replacements and then leave their jobs.  Nice huh?  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"


@Noel7 wrote:

@Mominohio wrote:

@Noel7 wrote:

Billionaires keep getting richer while the middle class is disappearing.

 

THAT is what is wrong, especially since a high percent of our military families are on food stamps .

 

FOR SHAME.  And yet, so many believe those on food stamps don't deserve it.


 

I have to point out that one of the many ways the 'rich get richer' is that those less rich, support them. Voluntarily.

 

Take professional sports, for instance. The  players, the owners get rich because people continue to pay increasingly ridiculous prices for the tickets, the merchandise etc. No one is forced to buy this type of product, it isn't a necessity of life, but people (some who really shouldn't afford it) continue to pay. Those middle class people (and below) could easily say no to this and any number of other 'rich' people offering goods and services that aren't essential to life. But they don't. They create the wealth for these wealthy, it isn't robbed from them.

 

And along the way, those rich folks create huge businesses and many many jobs. Many of them give back to charity and the community, in big ways that serve a lot of people. Many of them develop new technologies and products that revolutionize our existence (think Henry Ford, or any of the tech biggies) What is so wrong with that?

 

And our military families on food stamps is a tragedy. But it isn't the fault of the rich. It is the fault of the government who doesn't allocate what military families deserve, and the people who elect and retain that government and it's representatives, without demanding change.

 

And there are many  on food stamps who don't deserve it. 


*******************************

 

There are no sports figures I know of who are among the super rich.

 

Sorry but I don't agree with any of your other points, either, nor did I say anything is the fault of the rich.


 

You clearly stated that "billionaires get richer while the middle class is disappearing, and THAT is what is wrong".

 

And define 'super rich'. Where I come from, if you make a million bucks a year (and professional athletes make much much more than that) you are super rich. Rich is relative.

 

Then there are the super mega rich who's money goes into the hundreds of millions or the billions, but then again, many have 'earned' the money from investing, inventing, building,or entertaining us. 

 

There will always be disdain for those that enjoy more success than the majority do. As long as it is earned legally, I see no reason to condemn it.

 

 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,457
Registered: ‎04-20-2013

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"


@shoekitty wrote:

Food stamps are not that easy to get.  They have one jumping through hoops with paperwork you cannot imagine.  I had a food program from 1995 to 2006, that supplied groceries  to those caught "inbetween".  Those who had to debate PGE and food, who had to take their kids miles to food kitchens to feed them a few times a week to make ends meet.  I supplied those suffering from illness, medical bills and job loss. 

 

If you loose a job it takes months to get foods stamps if you qualify.  You have to come up with birth certificates, rent recepts, your utility bills, pay check stubs.  You fill out a pile of paperwork, and have to wait for hours for an appt, and to be seen.  Not to mention the humiliation of people knowing your business, especially if you live in a small town.

 

My opinion is this... if you can go through all this to get food stamps, you deserve them.  Not everyone will go though this, if they are going through a few bad months!!  Most people are so humiliated and ashamed to ask for help.  I say give it to them if they ask.  They need it.  Yes, there are those that abuse the system and have NO pride. They are few compared to those who need a little help They are usually the ones that cry the loudest, and complain at every turn.  But if there are kids involved they can't help it if their parents are jerks

 


Maybe it goes state by state but it is quite easy in mine.  I know recipients who have never worked a day in their lives and receive food stamps and much more.  I would never resent someone who s truly needy to be on the program but not those who don't. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,597
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"

[ Edited ]

Not to mention those who are not even citizens who are on WIC and welfare getting money for things they haven't even paid into.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"


@gardensla wrote:

Wage snagnation is killing the middle class.


I believe it has less to do with wages and more to do with living within your means by actually telling yourself NO to unnecessary purchases. I am always astounded at what some people of lower income will buy themselves - clothes, cars, trips etc on credit. I have a friend who I know for a fact lives on $1200 SSD a month but thinks nothing of charging a trip on her credit card. She is planning to go to California this summer for a family reunion. She does not have one cent in the bank for an emergency.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,287
Registered: ‎01-24-2013

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"

I know many people who live paycheck to paycheck and they are not in debt or living beyond their means.

Perhaps the secret shame of the middle class is their disdain for those who are not like them and a lack of understanding and empathy for those who just make enough to get by and are not able to set enough aside in savings .

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"


@Lila Belle wrote:
I know many people who live paycheck to paycheck and they are not in debt or living beyond their means.

Perhaps the secret shame of the middle class is their disdain for those who are not like them and a lack of understanding and empathy for those who just make enough to get by and are not able to set enough aside in savings .


 

I will offer up that the secret shame might just be that many of us have been in positions of poverty and worked our way up and out of it, know it can be done, but want to appear politically correct and don't voice the expectation that  others  do the same.

 

The shame is that when you have achieved, you are supposed to be almost ashamed that you have, excuse all those that don't, and are supposed to relieve your guilt of achieving by giving a pass to those who won't try. 

 

The shame is that more of us don't separate those who truly can't from those that just won't.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,287
Registered: ‎01-24-2013

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"

Looks like I proved my point.
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,616
Registered: ‎10-01-2014

Re: "The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans"

I think if anyone's point was proven, it was that of @Mominohio.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop