Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:59:55 +0000 From: "Frank Pawlak" <fpawlak@execpc.com> To: Wes Peters <wes@obie.softweyr.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lifestyles of the rich and shameless (no longer US Immigration) Message-ID: <980619005955.ZM16456@darkstar.connect.com> In-Reply-To: Wes Peters <wes@obie.softweyr.com> "Lifestyles of the rich and shameless (no longer US Immigration)" (Jun 17, 3:26pm) References: <199806172126.PAA28370@obie.softweyr.com>
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On Jun 17, 3:26pm, Wes Peters wrote: > Subject: Lifestyles of the rich and shameless (no longer US Immigration) > Wes Peters celverly scripted: > > > Except the government was systematically destroying "America-as-it-was" and > > > creating the suburban welfare state we now enjoy. Of coure in the 1950's > > > it was far too early to see the damage they had done. > > Frank Pawlak wrote: > > I take it that you are referring to the systematic way that the rich got richer > > and the poor got poorer, the disappearance of the middle class through tax law > > changes? I agree "America today" is not "America-as it was" then. sigh! > > Pretty much, except the poor actually got richer, too. Try explaining > to a refugee in West Africa that living in a brick building with > electricity, running water, and two televisions is poverty. Most > "Americans" completely fail to understand that our "lower middle > class" lifestyle in indistinguishable from "rich" to much of the > world. Agreed, but that is all relative. Indeed there are third world countries where the general population is worse off than here in the States. That probably holds for most countries. What we waste, others could live off of just fine. But, poverty is poverty, and poverty in the midst of riches is unconscionable regardless of where it occurs. In any country where 20% of the population owns 80% of the nation's wealth there is a problem. That is exactly the case here in the USA. > > The fact that the biggest day-to-day concern in my life right now > is the horrid traffic I drive through going to and from work shows > what an easy life I have. It doesn't even stop me from driving my > daughter to my mother's house, through 60 miles of commute-time > traffic, once a week. I kvetch about this constantly, and denigrate > the "leadership vacuum" in my fiar state (Utah) that led to this > mess, but I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else I know. Believed > me, I've lived a *lot* of places (in the USA), and if I knew of > something better, I'd just move there. My skills are pretty > portable, and much in demand. ;^) Problems, problems!! Life does throw a bad hair day at us now and again, doesn't it. Be glad for your circumstances, there are plenty of others in this country that would take your place and feel that they did not have a thing to bitch about. Regards, Frank > > -- > "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" > > Wes Peters Softweyr LLC > http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com >-- End of excerpt from Wes Peters To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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