rodmanstreet: girl genius

greenogry:

thecranium:

thedailywhat:

Controversial Weekend Read: The gap between the rich and the poor is wider than it has been since the Great Depression, so GQ sent Jon Ronson to profile the secret financial lives of six Americans,from a guy washing dishes for $200 a week to a self-storage gazillionaire, all to answer a single loaded question: When it comes to money, what does it really mean to live in America?

[gq]

I just read it. Infuriating and depressing.

Ugh. Wayne sounds like my dad. My dad is of the opinion that anyone making under $20k a year should be taxed at 90%. And anyone making over a million shouldn’t have to pay taxes. BECAUSE WHY SHOULD WE PUNISH SUCCESS. 

I guess it’s more liberal than his old position that anyone without a job should be shot. 

Okay, I just finished reading this, and here’s the problem with the story: He keeps asking these people what they think of the people above them on the food chain, and then concludes that he’s surprised that the guy at the top is the only one of them to have negative things to say about the system. That’s because he didn’t ask any of these people what they think of the people below them on the food chain. He asked the couple in Iowa about Frantz, yes, and they said they felt sympathy for them, probably because they aren’t doing very well themselves. But then he gets to the billionaire and the billionaire is railing about people on welfare not deserving it and bus drivers on leave and hard work! and why does he have to pay for them… not for nothing but I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone above the Iowa couple didn’t say the same thing. He did the story a disservice by slipping himself in that slot, and for not asking the other people above him on the food chain what they think of the people below them. Because that’s the issue in this country and it’s the issue I fight about with my family - people think that anyone who isn’t up to precisely their standard doesn’t deserve any help. Get a job. Work harder. Save your money. Lose weight. It’s because they didn’t do what I did - that’s why they’re poor - and why should they take my money because they’re lazy and fat and poor? It’s their own fault. They’re sick? Tough they should have been healthier. They can’t afford their car? They shouldn’t have bought a car they can’t afford. They don’t deserve it. They can’t find a job? They should have worked harder and gone to school. They can’t afford school? They should have saved their money. They should have joined the Army. Everyone in this country seems to think that they are the gold standard and are more than willing to throw anyone poorer than them under the bus. And they all think that if they did become poor, they would do it better than other poor people. It’s this mentality of survival of the fittest, that hard work pays off. People think that because they’re not poor then they are just better people, plain and simple. People can’t grasp the fact that the amount of money in a bank account does not show the value of a person. People can’t understand that economic success is sometimes a matter of luck. That you can work hard and not get anywhere. That you can have two jobs and still not be able to pay the bills. That there aren’t an infinite number of great jobs with healthcare benefits - some people work at McDonald’s. Some people are relieved that they found that job at McDonald’s. And those who don’t work at McDonald’s can’t seem to understand that $7.50 an hour will barely fill your gas tank, and that doesn’t make you a bad person or lazy or a scumbag welfare scam artist. 

I wish this guy asked the millionaires what they thought of Franz. I just wish he asked them.

(Source: thedailywhat)