Entitlements

[Californiaman]

Why is it in the last dozen years or so, more and more Americans believe that through the government that they are entitled to:

Universal Health Care

To Own a Home

A Job

Food

Higher Education

A New Car

[The Mick]

I cant speak for all but I don't believe most feel entitled to but want to continue to be able to afford these things as prices grow and pay checks don't

[Californiaman]

Yeah, I can agree with the point that most want to be able to afford these things as prices increase and paychecks stay stagnant. I've seen it first hand, but it doesn't mean I have to have it.

I guess I'm becoming the angry white male I dreaded becoming when I was younger.

I'm getting sick of seeing people who make less money than my wife and I do (85K together) buying houses and driving around in Cadillacs, BMWs and Mercedes Benz.

That's what's happened.

We didn't qualify for FHA and what we did qualify for would have resulted in a tricky mortgage. We chose to pass on it. We rent.

The first real thing we've purchased since getting married in '98, is her '08 Honda Accord.

It's crazy. Maybe I'm just venting.

I live in Santa Barbara County and we have some of the most expensive real estate in the nation.

It's almost comical how much a four bedroom home costs.

[The Mick]

I hear you. I'ts a status thing I guess. I had a guy that worked for me when I was running a warehouse who constantly complained about diapers and formula for his kids. but had a new Cadillac he couldn't afford and was going to put a DVD player in it. All I could do was shake my head.

[vagabond]

@Californiaman

 

Your two posts don't seem to be related to each other. To me, there's a distinct difference between the right to affordable health care and the "right" to drive a Cadillac CTS around. The difference being, of course, that one you need to live, and the other you don't. Asking someone why they feel entitled to health care should feel a lot like asking them if they feel entitled to live, because it's mostly one in the same. Same thing with "home ownership," a job, food, and higher education. Yes, I believe everyone is entitled to higher education of some sort. It doesn't have to be a 4 year degree, but I think a high school diploma or a GED are no longer sufficient for the vast majority of people.

 

I put it in quotes because I believe everyone should have a safe and healthy place to live, but that doesn't necessarily mean owning a house, especially a house you know you can't afford. I don't know when renting/living in a smaller house suddenly became not an option for people. I grew up sharing a room with my older brother, my two little sisters shared a bedroom, and my older sister had her own room. My parents drove the same oldsmobile station wagon around for 8 years before they got a newer car. I don't know when bad money management became the norm for America, but it appears that it has.

 

Again, I don't see how your two posts correlate. I don't think anyone is claiming that everyone deserves a Cadillac or a BMW or a 5 BR/3.5bath 2 story house, but I think people are claiming that everyone deserves a job to support themselves and their family with, everyone deserves health care, everyone deserves to be fed, and everyone deserves the opportunity to receive a higher education that is becoming more and more necessary in today's modern work force. I don't see the problem with these claims, inherently. I mean, isn't that why people are so proud of America? Because our standard of life is so high? And shouldn't it be that everyone should at least possess the standard of living? Because I mean, if they aren't, aren't they living sub-standard lives and, to use the old conservative motto, how is that fair?

[KSG_Standard]

Vagabond, I too was once a student...I thought about how unfair life was...some people were starving while other people got rich...some people seemed to have everything, while other people seem to have nothing. It is terribly unfair! It's been that way for thousands of years, there have always been poor people, in every society. America has had a "war on poverty" for 40 years and poverty is winning. You can't create a world where everybody ends up on top, or where everybody gets whatever it is that they think they are "owed", how could we ever afford to pay for it?

 

What you don't seem to understand is that the top earners in the US, are paying more than 60% of all the taxes already. How much more should they pay? You can't seem to answer that question. You said in a previous post that the "rich" should just pay whatever the government tells them to pay. (paraphrased) What if the government said that I should have to pay 70% or 80% of my money in taxes? Would that be okay with you? What if was your money? How much should you have to pay?

 

Could it be that there is another way to provide for people's well being without high taxes and lots of government assistance? It seems, looking back at our history, as well as the history of the rest of the western world, that lower taxes for everyone, leads to private sector economic development and economic development in the private sector leads to greater employment and better lives for more people. One day you'll be out of school and you'll be a tax payer, I'll bet that your attitude changes some then.

[Tim Plains]

Universal Health Care

To Own a Home

A Job

Food

Higher Education

A New Car

Sounds like Canada...:-

By the way, I drive an '05 Civic coupe.

[Californiaman]

That's alright Jocko.

I guess I'm just venting.

There aren't a lot of opportunities for me as a school teacher in my area.

Sadly I'm forced to continue working as a substitute or leave the area. Leaving the area will be hard. But I have to look elsewhere now.

Glad things are working out now.

Hey, lets do a Gibson Forum Calender.