Where's your anger coming from?
image by Reportergimmi
Wisconsin is the hot bed for angry people lately and the Occupy movement has moved that anger nationwide. I know that the recession has caused havoc for many people and it is easy to throw blame. I think some people who were affected by the latest financial and economic crisis lived on the other side for a very long time.
By other side, I mean that some of the people never lost a job and were never self-employed or entrepreneurs so they had no concept of what it is like to not have everything they wanted. Moreso, they were unprepared for the hard times that could make everything worse.
Do they want a world with no incentive to succeed?
But my question is what do they really want? I talked about my stance about a question of what is right yesterday. I stand firmly that everyone, corporations, small businesses, and people in general must act in integrity and honesty but I find it hard to believe that every business that has an occupy movement encamped by it had a goal of cheating people. I know some did, I don’t doubt that, I just don’t think it is as universal as you would think from the news.
Do we want a country of entitlement?
I also don’t think that I want a country of entitlement. Let me explain. I have gone without health insurance for the past 6 years after self paying for the prior almost 20 years. In 2005, when our family premiums hit $500 a month with a $5,000 deductible per person, I dropped the policy. We have had some expenses and even a surgery for my husband but we managed to set up payment plans and handle the expenses ourselves. I am getting a policy for me now because at 55 being the major income source, I think it is important to our family but it is catastrophic only.
I have made missteps with our finances and even with the job choice I made but I never gave up or declared bankruptcy. I negotiated, worked harder, looked for resources, and started spending smarter.
In the midst of the recession, I chose to drop my stable contracts with non-profits to go it alone as a solo entrepreneur. I guess it never occurred to me that I could fail. I didn’t do it without expert help which made a huge difference but nonetheless my timing could have been better.
I still have not come close to all my goals. My kitchen was in bad shape when we moved in the house in 1992 but it has been pushed to last on the list. In November 2009, I ripped out the old floor because it was such bad linoleum that I couldn’t live with it. Since then the subfloor has been our floor because I keep thinking the full remodel can be funded soon but the roof leaked and so that came first.
Yes, I have a roof over my head and I have many blessings but I think that sometimes people fail to realize that if they work as hard at solving their financial and employment problems and stretch harder, they can succeed.
I think we all have a responsibility to help others. I tithe on the basis of my income to my church. I also look for opportunities to help out. I don’t see that as the government’s job either. Christian or non-Christian, if all of us help someone else, I think we can solve many people’s problems.
What if you don’t have a job?
I have been in the career industry since 1983 and I have never seen such an extensive resource for finding out how to best find a job or change your career. My colleagues blog, there are so many free resources out there from blogs to websites to job resources like LinkedIn. You can access all of this at public libraries and some of those libraries have beefed up the job search resources and put more computers available.
If you want to make an investment and shorten your job search, you can find hundreds, maybe thousands of professionals like me, ready and able to help you do just that.
I also think that there have never been more resources and opportunities for individuals to be the CEO of me. Do you have a great idea you have been sitting on for years, maybe it is time to dust it off and launch it.
Build your own empire
Then you can get out there and build your own empire and create your own opportunities. Life has not been a bowl of cherries for me even in the best economies when many people in the occupy movement were thriving. But I welcome a challenge. I don’t want anyone telling me to stop trying. Maybe I am a little angry too… but it makes me work harder, it makes me think carefully about how I spend the income I do have, not just blame someone else.
I will probably never be a millionaire or billionaire but I want to be able to set my goals as high as I want. Don’t limit me and don’t entitle me.
You may not agree with me. You may think entitlements and government regulations and programs for everything in your life makes more sense. I think I would rather do it myself!
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I don’t see it as either/or. Believing in people’s entitlement to basic healthcare coverage or social security as a human right doesn’t mean you believe they don’t have to also work hard.
As a Brit, I grew up in a country where you knew that you would never lose your house because you got ill and where you knew the government would never see you homeless just because you suddenly hit hard times. And yet I grew up with an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong work ethic.
Now that I live here, I see the European culture misrepresented every day on American TV and by American politicians. I think it’s a real shame because I think most Americans would value and appreciate what Brits take for granted … if only they could experience it for themselves. I am truly saddened to read that you had to go without healthcare – I don’t believe that should happen to anyone.
Thanks for stopping by Louise. I have a coach from the UK so I know the differences. I think that just like your mortgage or rent, food or car payment, you should budget for healthcare.
I didn’t go without healthcare. I simply self-funded any bills to medical facilities. I think that we do see an all or nothing. And I think there are abuses on both sides. Medical facilities and insurance companies have made health care very expensive. But on the other hand, people who expected $250 deductible and ran for every sniffle and expected the insurance to cover it were abusing the system too.
I think we are missing some fundamental financial training in this country. Someone pays for everything the government provides, the taxpayer. In the UK, they pay by larger taxes. I think we need to learn to manage money. There have been abuses by big business and abuses by individuals. I don’t see that the government needs to manage as much of people’s lives and we don’t need to have a law about everything under the sun.
Common sense has been lost.
Hello, and my thanks, It is the doers who inspire us to aim higher, take care of one another, and in general rise to a need. It is too, very important for leaders, political and others to make & keep fiscal limits on all issues.
I am thankful for the inspiration, the good example and I hope in turn to share the same with others.
Joy Julie, Hope always, and a prayer in this Christmas season.
Jim
Thanks, Jim, I hope all is well with you. You always set a good example and I am glad that you go out of your way to do so.
Hear! Hear! Julie. Bravo and Encore!!! I have never had an issue with helping those less fortunate, but I have always taken issue with any government program that uses my tax dollars to bankroll someone else s way of life. I personally have had good times and tough times, and like many Americans, I must admit, these are the tough times. But no matter how bad things have gotten, I have taken absolute responsibility for getting what I needed without insisting that the government (read U.S. taxpayer) take care of me. I remember once standing inline at the grocery store with a loaf of bread and a package of bologna and barely enough cash in my pocket to cover it, while a cart ahead of me was filled to overflowing with groceries enough to feed a football team. That cart full was paid for with foodstamps, and the purchaser loaded them up in a brand new Cadillac, while I threw my “take” into the passenger seat of a 1972 Pinto that would only start after a ritual of connecting various wires followed by a solemn prayer and a few chants.
I am not angry at the person with the Cadillac, just with a government that refuses to be responsible with how they dole out my hard earned money.
Baring proof of this change in their spending habits, I am hard pressed to put them in charge of anything that directly impacts mine or my families lives.
Thank you Julie, Your the best
Cheers
Rob
Thanks so much for stopping by, Rob. My church food pantry has always been part of my donation program. At one point, I bought groceries. Now I donate cash so they can select exactly what they need to help the families. I am also a huge supporter of Salvation Army and from my Kiwanis connection, worked side by side on many projects. I know our local Captains well, Brian and Katrina Goodwill, and have immense respect for the work they do.
I ran subsidized housing for 5 years and know personally the issues that those families faced but I know that there were people in that program that took advantage of the program. We screened through in-home interviews and yet ended up with some people who were system scammers. I worked closely with the police to arrest drug dealers and with social services to intervene in cases of child neglect or abuse.
I said what I said in the post above sincerely. I think it is easy for people in entitlement programs to feel entitled and to lose the sense of incentive that comes from setting a goal and reaching it.
Thank you so much, Rob, for helping me be a voice for those who don’t understand that it is not cruel to ask people to work toward goals.