PhilG wrote:Psyber, those who waste their money on alchohol, cigarettes, drugs and gambling are downtrodden because their self esteem is at a low ebb. They need help. The reason they gamble is because they want the money the rich have, and because they can't work gambling is the only way they can get it. I say that's not fair. To sink to those filthy cigarettes and drugs (which are as bad as each other) is a symptom of a pre-existing problem. Now if the ciggys and the drugs were pushed out of their reach it wouldn't change that - because that isn't the issue.
There are rich people around, and they aren't sharing. THAT is the issue.
I supect that they start out doing it because they think it is fun or part of being "all growed up" and then when their life is a mess start making excuses like "poor self-esteem". They have "downtrodden" themselves. The poor are not the only ones who turn to drink drugs etc. either.
Being out of work and poor did not push my parents in that direction. People make choices and are responsible for them. Nobody who thinks can seriously believe there is a reasonable chance of getting money by gambling - very few win big. My parents chose to save and invest and benefitted from it.
I'm relatively rich - I earned it myself, with a little help from my family, and I give some to charities I assess as genuine, but I am not interested in subsidising the self-indulgent! It is self-indulgent to think that just because others have earned something they should give it to you. My sister is a millionaire. She came from a poor family, grew up in Hindmarsh, studied at night, and worked hard and used her brain. She occasionally drank, liked Chardonnay, never smoked, and never gambled beyond occasionally putting a free token that came with a meal in a pokie.
I am not saying everyone who is poor has brought it on themselves, there are genuine tragedies, but when people cry poor you have to look at just how much money they are actually wasting that they could put to better use.
