Pondering on Fiscal Responsibility and Jumping to Conclusions

[lady_laetitia]

My family has almost 2500 bucks in bills a month, and I am a full time student (read: making no money) Our bills outstrip our income by about 300 dollars a month. We've applied for government help; from the self-same governemtn that is supposedly completely white-biased, have sat for HOURS in cramped DES offices hoping that we could get help buying food and formula for the kids. Nope. Not a dime. Whereas I have seen people of other-than-white backgrounds go in there, speaking fluent English outside the office, come in and pretend like they don't speak English, they don't ahve a job (even though they're driving a new escalade) with 8 kids in tow, and they get complete funding....ON A GREEN CARD!!!

Much of Elf's rant was interesting since it basically boiled down to a complaint against a teacher perpetuating the victimhood of non-whites being refuted by placing the white race in the position of being the victims....

One of the more interesting statements was the one quoted above that I find interesting for several reasons

A. The characterization of the people with 8 kids is exactly the same type of characterization that Elf finds offensive when her teacher uses the same lack of logic in describing white people.

B. People with Green Cards are legal residents that pay taxes just like native born citizens.

C. Judging people on looks is shallow and just as bigoted as the teacher Elf complains about. She makes judgments about these people based on the color of their skin, their vehicle and the number of kids they have and yet she would be appalled if someone made the same kind of judgment about her based on her car and her conversation - (Hey, she's white, has a nice car and only two kids, she's dressed nice and stood around outside talking about going to LA and the costumes she was going to make and then she went in and pretended like she was broke and needed help)

D. Surprisingly enough, simply being $300 short on one's monthly bills does not automatically entitle one to government aid. Government aid is for people who really need it and cannot manage without it. It is for people who try their best and still need help. It really isn't for people who just don't manage their finances well.

A monthly income of $2200 for a family of four is above the national poverty level by quite a bit. That one does not live within one's income is not a reason for others to make up the shortfall. I find myself completely perplexed by this sense of entitlement that so many people have - that the government OWES them something just because they want it.

It is time for Americans to start learning fiscal responsibility - learn to assess their income and make their lifestyle fit their income instead of creating a lifestyle of "I wants" and then hoping someone else will fund it for them.

Fiscal responsibility is paying one's bills before one goes after the frills and if there is no money for frills then forgetting them until there is money for them.

Fiscal responsibility is making sure the basics fit one's income, basics being place to live, food to eat and basic transportation. It may mean living in an apartment instead of renting a house, it many mean eating plain basic food instead of experimenting with exotic foods, it may well mean having only one vehicle instead of two and someone taking the bus.

Fiscal responsibility is not going out and getting everything one could possibly want and then expecting others to pay for it when you can't.