teddywolf | (no subject)

Time for a wolf to weigh in on financials.

I have friends who earn very little. Some are unable to work. They receive help from the government. They have a lot of hoops to jump through - assessments of need, paperwork, visits to offices that are not necessarily easy to get to, and reassessment possible seemingly at any time. They receive a basic stipend for housing, food, and insurance coverage. None of them are *happy* about getting government monies. My disabled friends would rather prove to themselves that they are adults, self-supporting. None of them have palatial digs or incredibly gourmet groceries, but some live in decent apartments and can manage to eat out - inexpensively - about once a week. Debt is always lurking around the corner; every dollar must be counted. I do help my friends directly when I feel I can manage it, but I have no objection to them getting help from a government structure.

I have friends who earn moderate sums. They may get minor extra help from the government if they know where to look, when they jump through a lot of hoops and fill out a lot of paperwork. They pay for their own food and housing and taxes, and sometimes it all seems extremely expensive. On the lower end, the income barely covers the food, shelter, basic expenses and taxes. It's natural, in these circumstances, to gripe about the taxes. A small portion of those taxes go to my low-earning/unable to work friends. I don't have a problem with this. Dollars are still counted and watched very carefully.

I have friends who earn large sums of money. They get the basic benefit of the government that any citizen gets: various infrastructures and basic order. They pay a larger sum of taxes than my friends who earn very little or earn moderate amounts. They have money to spare, generally have a nice home, a variety of investments, and have no worries where the food will come from. If it seems to them that they pay a fair bit in taxes, I won't argue that they do. The people who pay the lowest percentage of their income as taxes are the mega-wealthy.

I do not know any mega-wealthy people, I believe. Circumstances are like that.

The reason I bring up the compare and contrast is very simple: the more people have, the more they have to lose if society should give way to anarchy. No, I don't expect people to meekly quiet down and pay taxes. It's fun to gripe about taxes. Thing is, we are all in this together, and not many people are particularly comfortable in the bracket they're in.

Honestly? I like all my friends regardless of income, and I will not hold their occasional income gripes against them. Among other gripes.

Anyways, I'll have more personal content soon; but I wanted to address this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Griff just pointed me to this very interesting case study:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_02/lego212.shtml/

Very interesting article - thank you for posting it. I have always been concerned with how we teach our children about fairness, sharing resources and class. I am inspired by the concern and creativity of the teachers who wrote the article. I am part of a women's group that uses cost-sharing (http://www.classactionnet.org/article2.php?id=14) to share resources when we pay for our annual retreat. If you are interested in reading further about class issues and sharing resources, check out Class Action (http://www.classism.org/), an organization, as it says on their website, dedicated to "...raise consciousness about the issues of Classism: class and money, and their powerful impact on our individual lives, our relationships, organizations, institutions, and culture."

Thank you for reposting that article by the way. It was fascinating and good food for thought. I need to see if I can get it to my sister in law somehow since she is a teacher and would really appreciate the article.

You're welcome.

And I was touched by your apology.

I don't know what to say. I'm humbled most by the lessons I receive from those who care enough to deliver them plainly.

I make a lot of mistakes. I'm particularly good at writing or saying something when I'm angry that sounds a lot harsher or more ignorant than I intend it to. This was one of those times. Thankfully there are people in my life who are big enough to share their perspective with me. The best I can do is to apologize sincerely and truly listen to the response without lashing out, and learn from what I've heard. Thank you for teaching me.

No, I don't expect people to meekly quiet down and pay taxes. It's fun to gripe about taxes.

I find that I don't so much gripe about taxes, as about some of the things that are done with my taxes. For example, I'm all about supporting education, public health, social safety nets, roads, military personnel, and so on; I'm less enthusiastic about supporting Mr. Bush's Middle Eastern Adventure.