Gifts from rich highlight plight of world's poor

Yahoo! News ^ | 11/30/06 | Ana Nicolaci da Costa

[Wormwood]

The story of Robin Hood is one of the most damaging stories bestowed up the western world. It taught our children that the rich are evil and stealing from them is honorable.

Well, considering that the 'rich' he stole from were economic parasites themselves, I'd call it a wash.

[Hendrix]

By the way, if such a person does not have time to gain the new skills (which I doubt), then my answer is that the person made some very bad decisions earlier in life in choosing the low paying job/lifestyle. Choices in life do have consequences and the government should not punish people who made good decisions and earn more money by taking the money away from them with taxes and giving to the people who made bad decisions.

[Hendrix]

"Well, considering that the 'rich' he stole from were economic parasites themselves, I'd call it a wash."

That is very true. The poor in those times had no mobility in society and no way to better themselves. The royalty kept them poor.

[taxed2death]

"Again, if this is the case, then you are working in the wrong job. Go gain the skills to get a job that the market will pay more for and you will earn more and have extra money to invest."

Again, you miss my point. There are many areas in the world where your "solution" does not apply.

[Hendrix]

Correct, and the governments of those countries that do not have a free market capitalist system are the blame for it. The only fix is to get on the right system. There is no other way. Got it?

[Hendrix]

"Again, you miss my point. There are many areas in the world where your "solution" does not apply."

My solution is free market capitalism, and it does in fact apply in every situation and in every country that it is implemented. It is the fix. Look at history and that is the proof in the pudding.

[taxed2death]

Yea....hahahah I "got it" 5 posts ago amigo....LOL

But for some reason you refuse to acknowledge that there are millions maybe even billions of people born into poverty and
1. it is not their fault
2. there is currently nothing they can do about it because it takes every waking moment to provide for themselves and their families. Sorry if this upsets you in some way.

[Hendrix]

It does not upset me, but what is your point? What can we do about it? Why does it matter? Why are you pointing it out?

The only way to fix it is with capitalism. I know that there are people who live in corrupt countries who have no choice, but that is not our fault. We cannot do anything about it. When we do try to help them with low skill jobs, the left complains that we are not paying them like CEOs.

[LonePalm]

"Count deMoney, count deMoney"

"deMonet, deMonet"

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[taxed2death]

"It does not upset me, but what is your point?"
"Why does it matter? Why are you pointing it out?"

Because you seem to feel that the fault lies with the "peasant".

A quote from you:

"If a peasant does not want to be a peasant, he or she is free to choose a higher lifestyle."

My only bone to pick with you is the fact that a lot of peasants do not have a choice. Don't blame them because of it.

As far as the solution goes we are in total agreement, there's just no need to hammer the poor fooker slaving away in some crap hole country trying to put food on his table. By your posts you imply that there is a degree of laziness involved which is not necessarily the case.

That is my point.

[L98Fiero]

LOL!!!!

Oh, pi$$-boy!

[Hendrix]

I think you misunderstood me. I said if a peasant lives in the US, then the fault does in fact lie with the peasant because that person lives in a mobile, free market society and can choose almost any job he or she wants.

If a person lives in some country that does not have the mobility that we have, then the fault lies with the government that does not have a free market system. The peasant is not at fault in that case.

[taxed2death]

Yes, I did misunderstand you, I'm sorry.

[Hendrix]

No problem. I am probably not very clear when I write sometimes.

[antiRepublicrat]

Buffett is such an advocate of massive estate taxes so why doesn't he just allow the government to confiscate 55% of his wealth when he kicks the bucket?

Buffet isn't stupid enough to think the government will spend the money wisely. Maybe he likes estate taxes because it makes the ultra-rich want to give away their money near the end of their lives like he's doing.

[antiRepublicrat]

A conservative should know there are very few problems remedied by throwing money at them. Poverty is one of them.

Not true, but it has to be thrown in a wise way that never occurred to government. Check out Grameen Bank's microcredit loans, as they have pulled a lot of enterprising people out of poverty. However, those loans are about enabling people to help themselves (basically, using capitalism as the vehicle), not just throwing money at them indiscriminately as government normally does (using socialism).

[etlib]

The story of Robin Hood is one of the most damaging stories bestowed up the western world. It taught our children that the rich are evil and stealing from them is honorable.

I believe the rich he stole from were those in the government who obtained their riches through excessive taxation and land control. The poor were those impoverished by the actions of their government.

[colorado tanker]

I think Taft-Hartley gets the balance about right. The country was plagued by violent labor-management clashes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and we've been largely free of that since.

[L98Fiero]

"I believe the rich he stole from were those in the government who obtained their riches through excessive taxation and land control. The poor were those impoverished by the actions of their government."

LOL! Yeah, that's the standard answer I get when I ask a kid about Robin Hood. /s

[antiRepublicrat]

He ought to ask some farmers in India or Indonesia if they'd rather continue in grinding rural poverty or make twice the wage in a Nike "sweatshop." Nike wins every time.

I had a naive friend who was writing an economics paper for college, and he was doing it on third-world sweatshops, full of damning pictures and "they earn $6 a day" junk based on what his professor had been spewing.

I took his $6 a day, ran it against the average wage earned in that country, and it turned out to be a far above average wage. He was impressed, but he wouldn't change his paper because he knew his teacher was expecting a capitalism-bashing paper, and my friend needed the good grade.