[deccan]

I don't agree with the many of the sentiments expressed in this thread, especially the socialist rail against the rich and powerful.

By and large, from my own personal experience I don't find that the rich and powerful got that way undeservedly. Sure, I know of many people who are rich because of their parents, but I also see that many of them end up making a mess of their lives and disappointing their parents.

Many of the rich and powerful people that I personally know got that way because they worked long hours, made huge personal sacrifices and took big risks along the way. And whatever they want to do with their hard-earned money is pretty much their business.

I don't have any sympathy at all for people who say that they deserve a particular kind of lifestyle or neighborhood and that "society" owes it to them to provide that lifestyle and neighborhood simply because they're used to that lifestyle and neighborhood.

I don't have any sympathy either for comments about rich people f*cking over the lives of the poor. I do agree that some people get rich by cutting legal corners sometimes, but I also see that it comes back to haunt them. Not always, but enough so that I wouldn't want to take the same route myself.

I don't believe that poor people deserve sympathy simply for the 'virtue" of being poor. I do believe that the poor people who want to improve their lives and are willing to achieve by studying and working harder deserve to be helped, but I see from personal experience that there are many poor people who that way because they are just too unambitious and too lazy to try to change their lives for the better. And I've never known people who are genuinely and consistently hardworking not to succeed in life.

And keep in mind that I am someone who have worked in some of the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world, including Gabon, Cameroon, Mozambique and currently the Solomon Islands.