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Do people really DESERVE to be poor?
Posted by josephgelb • 12/30/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: global issues, homeless, homeless people, hunger, poor people, poverty
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User Comments
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No... -
i agree no..
because it gives more stress when you cant feed yourself or your family.. or provided them wuth what they need.. but yeah unless you choose to live in that life style then i dont think any one deserved to be poor. everuopne shouldhavesome place to call home or something to call there own ya know. -
Everyone deserves a roof over their head, food, education, cleanliness and medical care. Everyone, rich or poor, should know the difference between wants and needs (Maslow?) and spend accordingly. Some people spend beyond their means and get what they deserve in the end...but they should never be without the basics. -
Bernard Madoff deserves to be poor.-
Amen, brother! He deserves to be poor AND rot in hell! Too bad it doesn't exist! -
Agreed!
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Do people ever really deserve to be rich? No more so than poor in most cases, barring despots like the one Sati cited. And probably no less either. Riches could be the worst thing one can have if such cannot use them for good. Best to be neither rich nor poor, but enough to apply one's self to the best good one can do. -
"Deserve" is a funny word, and one that's wreaked a lot of havoc in our society, as pseudo-self-help movements taught us all to "affirm" that we "deserved" things that bore no relationship to our realities. Does it make us feel better that someone starved to death in the street if he "deserved" it? Does being convinced that we "deserve" to live like kings matter in the least if we have poverty-level incomes (or none at all)?
Any question about what people deserve always raises the question in my mind, "Deserve from whom?" -
The rich people I know deserve to be rich. The poor people I know deserve to be poor.-
What makes a person "deserve" to be rich?
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Hard work. Really, really hard work.
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So do people who work 12 hours a day digging ditches or cleaning bathrooms in large office buildings deserve to be rich?
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If a man does not work, he will have no bread...
If a fool spends unwisely, he and his money is quickly departed...
If a man doesn't ask he won't receive - but ask anyways, just to consume it upon his own lust... -
Some people not only deserve to be poor but have earned their position of being poor.
There are those , in third world nations for instance, who work harder everyday than I likely ever have and remain poor. They may not deserve it but they live in a nation or under a government that will keep them poor. -
Corollary, do the shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank really deserve to be rich? -
All people deserve is to have their basic needs met, anything else gets them into trouble
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I disagree. All people deserve the opportunity to meet their basic needs but not to have their basic needs met for them.
Obvious exceptions, children, handicap... -
But why are those exceptions?
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rfburnhertz....My basic needs are met and I do just fine thank you
and my basic needs are met by me and no one else but me, so I don't understand your comment. -
I have the ability, I have the resources to meet my own needs. If I refuse to take advantage of that ability and available resources and I instead look to family, government, church etc..., then I deserve to be poor.
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But what makes a person who lacks those abilities "deserving" of someone else's contribution?
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Maybe they(children, handicapped people etc.)don't nesessarily deserve someone else's contribution. But just for the sake of helping those unable to care for themselves, we SHOULD. It's not about deserving. It's about moral obligation to those less fortunate than ourselves. -
Yes! I agree Juenelle.
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I agree, hatingtherain. It's the use of the word "deserve" and what it really means (and to whom) that I'm trying to get at.
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rfburnhertz....Ahh YES I fully agree with that.
Thanks for the clarification. -
When it comes to America and other countries not drastically effected by phamon, and war distruction, I tend to find that those who are "poor" for an extended amount of time, are so out of making bad decisions or lacking motivation. I know things happen and some have more access to resources than others, but there is no acception to the fact that hard work and deligence only pays off when you've applied enough of it to your situation. -
I feel some people do deserve to be poor. If you're stupid with money, time and time again, don't expect me to feel for you. -
I have known too many people that work their butts off and yet still are considered poor! Sometimes it has nothing to do with how hard someone works, or the circumstances of birth, etc. etc. it just is...
For instance: medical needs may completely wipe out someone's hard earned life savings and they may loose everything of monetary value, is that deserved? I would hardly think so...
But then again on the other side of the coin, someone throws a football well, or can cry on cue makes millions in one year, is that deserved. Again... I would hardly think so..
But that is the way things are as of now... until people get their priorities in order!-
There are people who are unfortunate, which I feel for... but then there are people who are given many opportunities and ruin them... those types, I obviously, don't feel for.
Depends on the circumstance for sure. -
@powerkor:
Yes that is very true, I have seen people completely throw everything to the wind and not care that they have bills to pay and kids to feed.
Some just plain choose to live off the good hearts and donations of others so they don't have to work. -
When life hands you lemons, theres nothing to do but make some lemonade
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What about when life hands you cyanide, powerkor?
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then you make cyaniade
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MadameX,
Taking your cyanide question in a metaphoric sense, what I did was label the bottle, put it on the shelf, and worked around it.
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I have to go with Lightening Hopkins "It's a sin to be rich and a low down shame to be poor" -
I know poor people who have had just bad luck, those people I try to help where I can. I also know people who are poor and just sit on their fat arse sponging off people and waiting for the next hand out, sad thing is they get it! and the ones who try to better thing and improve the bad hand they were dealt get nothing.
The world sucks and spongers/moochers suck even more!-
Moochers: I'll agree with you there.
About the world in general: I don't see it that way. The universe we live in is a place of wonder and beauty at every scale - IMO. People can be difficult to deal with, but I've learned that I can be difficult for others to get along with, too - it may even out.
And, once in a while, I've run into people who are genuinely caring and prudently helpful.
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I believe in the concept of a rising tide raises all boats. The more money that people are able to earn across the whole population, the more they are able to jumpstart the economy and make things run. When more people are employed it is more of an incentive to train people for new jobs than job programs. People deserve a chance to work, earn, and improve their station. The idea of permanent unemployment being at a fixed level to benefit business is just as bad as welfare.
There is no deserving, the concept of deserving is self serving. People ddon't deserve anything. This is because those at the bottom will look for a handout and those at the top will assume they deserve their position in life without reason. Plenty of people who are rich and poor don't "deserve" to be there.
Permanent fixed unemployment, not having fruits and vegetables in poor neighborhoods, bad schools, rampant imprisonment, not supporting local businesses inside poorer areas, are examples of how poor people don't get what they deserve.
It is better for the majority to be rich than poor, though. -
i suppose if that's true then the corollary, "people really don't deserve to be rich", is true too.
huh ... what a fine mess this is.-
Mess?
I doubt that humanity would be better off if we were all alike.
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I deserve to be rich, more seriously, with blogging you make friends, and when they are hard up agin it you wish it were not so, the worse if their lives are going by them and all the possibilities with it. Poverty is an evil. -
For that matter, to people deserve to be rich?
I don't see a problem with being poor. Or rich. It depends on what you do with it.
I am 'poor' by some America standards: and I deserve to be. I made choices which I knew would result in my making substantially less money than I might have otherwise. The tradeoffs include- A better life for my family
- No vacations to Disneyland or house on the lake, but quite a bit of time with mom and dad
- Over a dozen cousins nearby
- My kids' cousins - not mine
- Low crime, low pollution community
- Better use of my time and abilities
- Opportunities to research and blog about what's fun and important - from my point of view
- A better life for my family
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I think the question is framed incorrectly.
We shouldn't be talking about "poor" because poor is subjective. The question should be "Does anyone deserve to live in abject poverty"? And to that, the answer is clearly no. Everyone deserves the basic living necessities of food, shelter, potable water, safety and medical care.
Beyond that, no one really deserves anything, up to and including five homes and a private jet.-
Good point.
On the other hand, I don't see a problem with someone having five homes and a private jet - even if a helicopter got thrown into the deal. -
No one, Anok? What would you say of a person, for instance, of able body, above average intelligence and sound mind who simply opted not to seek employment, ever, nor to take any action to build his own home or grow his own food. Would you say that person "deserved" to have someone produce the basic necessities of life for him and deliver them to his feet? Or are you talking more about ACCESS to those basics?
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I am not using deserve as a form of greedy entitlement, Tiffany.
But yes, even an able bodied person should not starve to death or live in abject poverty. Of course, that said, there aren't too many places with abject poverty where a person's ability to work makes much of a difference, and that's the point. -
With pervasive abject poverty, perhaps. I suspect that there are people living that way everywhere. I know that there are in Chicago.
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"On the other hand, I don't see a problem with someone having five homes and a private jet - even if a helicopter got thrown into the deal"
Norski, what about not storing up treasures on earth? -
I disagree. Some people deserve abject poverty, just like some deserve immense wealth.
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Rich? Poor?
The discussion has been about these terms of conventional wealth: which is quite all right.
I suggest another way of being 'rich:' having family connections. In that sense, I'm 'rich,' and wouldn't trade my children and extended family for any amount of money (or stocks, bonds - whatever).
People without blood relations - or whose family is intolerable - still have the option of becoming immersed in their communities.
I feel a ramble or rant coming on - and will mercifully stop. -
In an ideal society which provides equal opportunity to everyone--people only deserve to be limited by their physical and mental capacity.
Unfortunately, even in the free-est of present societies, the odds are tremendously stacked in favor of those in privileged positions and power, so arguably most people don't deserve their present condition since the system is loaded against them to begin with.-
"people only deserve to be limited by their physical and mental capacity."
So then are you saying that a person who lacks the physical or mental capacity to earn a living "deserves" to starve? -
It's not a condemnation, but the fact that we cannot simply expect them to compete with regular folks for the same opportunities. Nothing stops individuals with capacity and resources from helping or assisting them if they wish.
Note that this view holds everything else equal and presumes that society is really fair.
Unfortunately, present society (take your pick) is patently unfair even to the physically and mentally fittest of people. It's influence and politics that stack the odds, not ability.
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To answer this question would be really depend on the person situations and the on which term 'poor' being describe..
If I'm a workaholic and I'm working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for money.. I don't deserve to be poor in wealth, but I do deserve to be poor in free-time.
If I'm a lazy person who is unemployed and just sit around all day and really depending that someone will give me donations each day.. than I do deserve to be poor in wealth, but I'm so rich in free-time.. -
I believe in karma and in the ability of a person to create/attract the circumstatnces in ones life. Things should not be seen as black and white. For everything in life there are reasons (only few have grown enough to see what the reasons are)-
Does karma dictate that you get what you deserve? If so, why should someone who doesn't work as hard as I do get the things that I earned for free?
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If the majority of everything can be produced by machinery, that is machines that can produce by themselves what is the true meaning of the work which we are doing. Only a very small portion of what we are doing has any physical value. Less than 1% of any modern economy produces the necessary goods to survive. This is increasingly less and less people as technology drives forward, there is an increasing curve where to manufacture more less people are needed.
There is a giant smokescreen which obscures this called "knowledge work". The majority of this is nonsense, advertising, marketing, legalities, which are mainly moral arguments about how people should live and abstract philosophical statements about the exchange of goods. -
Depends. -
A big NO !!
every human being deserves to be rich....
(in every perspective i mean) -
NO!
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It's about moral obligation to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Less fortunate in what regard? In terms of earthly treasures? I've worked for all my earthly treasures. I fail too see why anyone else can't work for theirs.
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