From owner-freebsd-chat Wed Jun 17 14:26:21 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA10504 for freebsd-chat-outgoing; Wed, 17 Jun 1998 14:26:21 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from obie.softweyr.com ([204.68.178.33]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA10497 for ; Wed, 17 Jun 1998 14:26:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wes@obie.softweyr.com) Received: (from wes@localhost) by obie.softweyr.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id PAA28370; Wed, 17 Jun 1998 15:26:09 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wes) From: Wes Peters Message-Id: <199806172126.PAA28370@obie.softweyr.com> Subject: Lifestyles of the rich and shameless (no longer US Immigration) In-Reply-To: <980617154140.ZM12469@darkstar.connect.com> from Frank Pawlak at "Jun 17, 98 03:41:40 pm" To: fpawlak@execpc.com (Frank Pawlak) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 15:26:08 -0600 (MDT) Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL32 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org 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. 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. ;^) -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message