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I am sickened by people living decadent lifestyles whether they are actually rich or just rich wannabes. They have four car garages, a couple of big screen televisions, commercial grade fridge in the house, several ATVs, several types of boats, wine racks, multi shower heads, towel warmers. They need more cars because the ones they have aren't enough, so they buy a new Hummer or a new Lexus that parks for you.
They have a large house with a swimming pool in the garden and a vacation home to get away from it all. They will need to do this regularly so they will take a vacation every year, every six months or even more frequently! They eat pizzas that sell at a New York eatery for $1000 (let's just ignore the starving people on the streets).
The kids are enrolled into every conceivable kind of lesson or club. The wife will have diamonds for Valentine day - whether she's loved or not and who knows what the mistress gets. The cars have a separate DVD screen for everyone in the backseat(s).
They like to dress to impress so purses that cost $100's or $1000"s are mandatory; of course suits have to be of the same caliber and will cost just as much if not more.
Feed that homeless person you have just walked past
I have an idea you gluttonous selfish people... Feed that homeless person you have just walked past. Help that single mother who hasn't got much of a life because she is struggling to make ends meet. Teach your children to be wise with assets and money and don't teach them to crave excess. To all you who are rich in material things but poor in spirit - help an elderly person, or better still just help other people instead of helping yourselves.
By: Steve B
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Struggling to pay essential costs and worrying where you will find the money for needed new shoes for the children is never going to result in happiness but there is a point beyond which more money does not seem to result in more contentment.
But what does constitute a happy life? I wonder how many of us on reaching old age will be able to honestly say we had a good life and were, on the whole, happy. Is it family, friends, community, feeling we contribute and have made a difference or love of nature, art... what?
What makes for contentment?
18/01/14 Taliesin.
But what does constitute a happy life? I wonder how many of us on reaching old age will be able to honestly say we had a good life and were, on the whole, happy. Is it family, friends, community, feeling we contribute and have made a difference or love of nature, art... what?
What makes for contentment?
-1
I am not being funny M.I.O.L but of what interest to normal folk is the Dorchester hotel? Or indeed the dross that use it? Are you of the opinion that money brings happiness?
27/12/13 boblet
0
During this past year I have never ever felt my life to be poorer than during this past year, and presumably the year to come, and future years.
I am 65. I want to be able to afford special services and treats which I have never ever been able to afford during my working lifetime. I want to be able to treat my wife and myself to these. But all of these kind of things have now gone way beyond the reach of my miserable pension and life savings.
Price to stay one night [without breakfast] in the Dorchester Hotel London: £2,595
Price for 2 to join a party for New Year's Eve with Dinner at the South Bank London £360. Costs of vintage costumes and tips are, of course, extra.
25/12/13 Misery in Old Life
I am 65. I want to be able to afford special services and treats which I have never ever been able to afford during my working lifetime. I want to be able to treat my wife and myself to these. But all of these kind of things have now gone way beyond the reach of my miserable pension and life savings.
Price to stay one night [without breakfast] in the Dorchester Hotel London: £2,595
Price for 2 to join a party for New Year's Eve with Dinner at the South Bank London £360. Costs of vintage costumes and tips are, of course, extra.
-4
Another idiot pointing finger at the rich. Same old same old. I'm fed up with this crap. Rich people don't need you to tell them how to live a life alright? It's the people living in poorhouses who need to get a life! Just take a look at the pissheads, crackheads, the lowlife scumbags and the teenage single mums with a dozen children living in council houses - and they are all on benefit! Don't you realize how screwed up this country already is?
01/07/13 Nick
-8
A rather spiteful gripe.
Of course one will always proffer a modicum of assistance to those less fortunate than Congo however these whining admonitions from an envious and niggardly ascerbic colonial are unwelcome and tiring.
29/04/12 Congo
Of course one will always proffer a modicum of assistance to those less fortunate than Congo however these whining admonitions from an envious and niggardly ascerbic colonial are unwelcome and tiring.
-16
Read some interesting comments below regarding single mums and why they should think before having kids. I could'nt agree more. I am a postie, by occupation, and see many single mums 18+ pushing their prams down the street with two or three kids having never worked a day in their lives. Why should taxpayers have to subsidize their lifestyles choices? If you want kids, support them yourself. If you can't, don't have them!
I have made a lifestyle choice not to have children, simply because children are a big expense and one that I cannot afford. It is not the responsibility of anyone on the face of this earth to financially accommodate my lifestyle choices. If you're own efforts and labour fall short of the mark, then two choices remain 1. Work longer hours to earn more money 2. Resign yourself to the fact that as an individual - you're financially inadequate to meet the required standard.
If you're rich. however, that's completely different. Have as many children as you're heart desires - provided you support them entirely. The point being. the well-off can afford to sustain themselves and do not need to rely on the state for financial assistance. This simple fact renders them immune to the consequences which affect ordinary mothers and fathers.
28/06/11 Postie
I have made a lifestyle choice not to have children, simply because children are a big expense and one that I cannot afford. It is not the responsibility of anyone on the face of this earth to financially accommodate my lifestyle choices. If you're own efforts and labour fall short of the mark, then two choices remain 1. Work longer hours to earn more money 2. Resign yourself to the fact that as an individual - you're financially inadequate to meet the required standard.
If you're rich. however, that's completely different. Have as many children as you're heart desires - provided you support them entirely. The point being. the well-off can afford to sustain themselves and do not need to rely on the state for financial assistance. This simple fact renders them immune to the consequences which affect ordinary mothers and fathers.
-6
People who have applied themselves in life, irrespective of their chosen path, have every right to reap the benefits of their labour. This is only fair. However, it is always wise to remember that there are those less fortunate than oneself for many different reasons. Granted, there are those who are just too bone idle to get of their backsides, but there are also people who do not fall into this category. No one knows the personal history of their fellow man/woman and no one holds the right to pass judgement in the absence of information relating to the individual's past/present circumstances.
It is both easy and convenient to attack rich people in a world full of poverty, misery and hardship. In some respects, there may be a sound justification for this reasoning, but once again, not all rich people fall under the same umbrella.
Life is full of good and bad people whether we choose to accept this or not.
In any society, the strong should protect the weak - simply because they are more able as individuals to achieve this desired end. However, this doesn't mean giving away their wealth to enable others to live less 'troubled' lives.
One way or another, people have to accept personal responsibility as individuals - whether rich or poor!
28/06/11 Postie
It is both easy and convenient to attack rich people in a world full of poverty, misery and hardship. In some respects, there may be a sound justification for this reasoning, but once again, not all rich people fall under the same umbrella.
Life is full of good and bad people whether we choose to accept this or not.
In any society, the strong should protect the weak - simply because they are more able as individuals to achieve this desired end. However, this doesn't mean giving away their wealth to enable others to live less 'troubled' lives.
One way or another, people have to accept personal responsibility as individuals - whether rich or poor!
-4
Tom, you are describing the American Dream - which is just that - a dream, not a reality.
Turn to your constitution - I am sure there's loads there about equality. I see no equality in US society any more than I see in Britain. Be proud of being American, but be realistic.
31/10/10 ajp
Turn to your constitution - I am sure there's loads there about equality. I see no equality in US society any more than I see in Britain. Be proud of being American, but be realistic.
-13
This is America and I have EVERY RIGHT to enjoy a lifestyle filled with spending and pleasure if I choose to do so. I walk past homeless people all the time and all I do is shake my head that think to myself... You, (Homeless Person) live in the RICHEST Country on Earth that offers the MOST OPPORTUNITY you can find anywhere to succeed. There are SO MANY ways to make money or even get FREE money, Food Stamps, etc. WHY are you standing on the Street Corner begging instead of out making your fortune here in America the Land Of Plenty.
The lord helps those who HELP THEMSELVES.
24/03/10 TOM HUGHES
The lord helps those who HELP THEMSELVES.
-3
man stop being a jerk really people work hard to have hwta they have your just envious that u do not have what they have and you werent able to better yourself and have a life such as them yoou dam
29/01/10 pablo
-15
I think people who are doing quite well, such as those who run their own businesses, often work long hours with little security, especially when they are just starting out, and deserve everything they have. They also pay a lot of tax and help employ others. It is the same thing with people who work hard in their jobs; they deserve the rewards (although they don't always get them!).
The truly rich are a different thing. They often have expensive accountants who shift their money from one tax haven to another and don’t contribute to the country that they live as much as the lesser paid do.
01/11/09 Kit
The truly rich are a different thing. They often have expensive accountants who shift their money from one tax haven to another and don’t contribute to the country that they live as much as the lesser paid do.
-7
Pattern cutter, I have to agree with you, after having trouble with non working idle have-nots I know what it is like, the harder you work, the more you get, and the more jealous they get, but these idle people out there all want a share of it for doing nothing, and this government has sure helped them, it seems to be getting worse as well, because instead of getting the idle to work, the governments answer is to tax the better off to pay for them, and encourage even more of them.
01/11/09 Gainsborough lad.
-27
The majority of rich people work very hard for their money and I think the above is a very warped view of rich people. They've earned it so why should they give it away to people who (some of the time) just can't be bothered to better themselves and earn their own money? The rich pay a hell of a lot of tax and most do help charities and their local community, a lot of their tax goes to support these single mums who should have, in the first place, thought whether they could afford to support a child before having one. Also giving money to homeless people (some of whom are dependent on drugs and alcohol) is not helping their situation. A lot of people who aren't rich are a lot more selfish and self indulgent. I think its more about people's attitude rather than the state of a person's bank account.
31/10/09 Pattern Cutter
-1
Steve B.,
Boy do I agree with your post. My roommate is one of those richies that you write about. I've spent the last 2 months listening to her "entitlements"- how she's entitled to live off of her parents' hard-earning money, how she's entitled to spend as much as her credit card limit, how she's entitled to verbally abuse me and my livelihood because I'm frugal with my wallet...it's ridiculous and wasteful. I run a campaign that works with the hungry and the homelessness and she wants to take over it when I leave at the end of the semester. But honestly, if she can't humble herself to a level where the needy are her peers and not her cause, then I don't think she's the best candidate.
26/10/09 Steph
Boy do I agree with your post. My roommate is one of those richies that you write about. I've spent the last 2 months listening to her "entitlements"- how she's entitled to live off of her parents' hard-earning money, how she's entitled to spend as much as her credit card limit, how she's entitled to verbally abuse me and my livelihood because I'm frugal with my wallet...it's ridiculous and wasteful. I run a campaign that works with the hungry and the homelessness and she wants to take over it when I leave at the end of the semester. But honestly, if she can't humble herself to a level where the needy are her peers and not her cause, then I don't think she's the best candidate.
-3
boblet
A selfish person who has done nothing with their life can also be happy. A selfless person who has only worked can also be happy. Everyone can be happy. Not everyone can be sad, some folk are just built that way. Religious minded folk have been trying to find the answer for a long time. There just isn't one. Science has blown a hole in everything. However a flat earth society still exists (Are they happy)? We might be in a boil on someone's (Gods) bum. Who can say I am wrong?
What makes for contentment? The belief that the boil will not burst.