Very dangerous word... "entitled". Saving 6-12 months worth of income is entirely possible. It's done all the time. One must merely think of ways to accomplish this and prioritize that idea above other ideas that may enter into their minds... like not having children when you know you may have to be laid off for long periods of time... like moving to where one may work throughout the entire year rather than stay where work cannot be found... like not buying a house so you can go where you need to go to support yourself and your family. Sound harsh? We must start thinking in terms of reality and stop relying on government to solve the problems we find ourselves in. Family is a great solution. Keeping family ties strong can help when circumstances beyond our control get the best of us. How many of done that? Why should they when big brother is there for us? Think beyond your own particular circumstances to the bigger picture. This post was not intended to insult anyone in any particular circumstance. But we need to have the courage to think these things through with clarity and authenticity.

Why is "flipping burgers" considered a non-option? Has he considered moving to a place that is building and growing? There are huge demands for construction workers in Dubai. One could assimilate well speaking only English.

I'm well aware of the differences. I'm speaking in large conceptual ideas. I've also made specific references to those who are truly in need versus those who perpetually seek to avoid contributing to society and purposely seek to only take... even when they may be able-bodied. Hence the distinction of disable-minded. Please re-read my post and consider the bigger picture. My bigger point is that spreading our resources so thin to every person who asks for help, prevents us from really helping those in real need. I have a number of patients who have MS. They consistently go without needed services and equipment that could increase their independence and contributions to society... while perfectly able-bodied folks perpetually take from society more than they give. My MS patient is able-minded while the chronic looter of taxpayer dollars is disable-minded. I hope the difference is apparent now.

Please re-read my post and consider the difference between able-minded and disable-minded. Also consider the difference between need and a perpetual avoidance of responsibility at the expense of those will to produce as much or more than they consume. I'm afraid you have assumed too much and have not read my post thoroughly because you have come to the wrong conclusion of my intention. My prayers are for you to find work and peace. noeo

The new face of sacrifice.

President Obama said that many will need to sacrifice during this economic recession. I agree with President Obama. However, I'm not sure if we would agree on the definition of sacrifice. I would like to suggest that lazy people need to sacrifice. My definition of a lazy person is one who is able-bodied but not able-minded. Too many have done the disability or unemployment math and decided to accept the least common denominator in exchange for disengaging their brain from an active pursuit of personal achievement and self-dignity. The brain becomes disable-minded and works very hard to avoid meaningful work. Many who rely on government assistance will tell you that they work quite hard and have earned their salary because it takes quite an effort to jump through regulatory hoops and leap over bureaucratic hurdles. However, these are mere Shoots-and-Ladders compared to what the able-bodied and able-minded must endure... taxes, fees, regulatory barriers to freedom to pursue meaningful careers while providing relevant and needed products and services in the environment of competition within a nearly free market during a time when people are very stingy with their money and allegiances. Well... I digress, so here is the point. Lazy people, get a damn job. Now, many will say this sounds heartless and cold considering the huge number of folks that are being laid off and fired as the economy shrinks. I'm suggesting that these two groups get together. Recently fired and laid off folks need to start a small business. Do you know how many older folks need help doing everything from grocery shopping to tax preparation? Find an able-bodied person and teach them how to be able-minded. Able-bodied folks need to find small business folks and make a partnership that puts food on your table and provides goods and services that our communities need. How are communities built except by people producing as much or more needed goods and services than they consume? We have many who truly need our help. As a licensed physical therapist, I have seen the need. People with Multiple Sclerosis, severe stroke and heart attack victims need our help. If we continue to spread our resources out among those who do not truly need our help, we will never have enough to help those truly in need. It is the responsibility of a community of living souls to prioritize our values and decide with specific intention where our resources should go. Our representatives have failed us and given away our wealth to the disable-minded and the rich welfare class of bankers and the politically connected. Our schools have failed us and produced generations of lazy disable-minded people who can do the differential equations of unemployment benefits but cannot do the simple math of hard work and contributing to your community more than you take from it... or confiscate from it with the willing accomplices of sugar-daddy government looking for a whore to own and control come election day. Come on people, now. Wake up to reality.

A message to our fellow citizens on welfare:

As class warfare rages on, the poor are pitted against the rich in an epic struggle of push and pull. As the government declares war on poverty, their tactics hardly reflect their rhetoric. As they tax and spend in the name of fairness and economic stimulus, the exact opposite occurs. More layoffs every week and month set new records going back further into our country's past of dark seasons of recession. As the economy continues to decline, the government points to an ever-increasing list of evil-doers. Big oil and energy (except solar and other “green” sources even though the amount of land destroyed by a solar field is many times that of an equal energy producing oil field), big tobacco, big finance, big auto, big airline, big ad infinitum. So, the wealth of these and many other industries must be sacrificed and given to the government so the government can redistribute the resources where they deem appropriate for “economic stimulus”. Have you seen what reliance on the government buys you? A crappy place to live in a crappy neighborhood, crappy food, crappy medical care (if any that is actually effective) and a crappy future is what you exchange... and for what? The “freedom” to sit on your ass and watch Jerry Springer while collecting a check for free and money for nothing is what you exchange for self-respect, a pay check to spend on what you want and need based on your judgment for your family, a future that can bring a raise based on your talents and hard work instead of the “fairness” of some government official or the will of a fickle people. What you have exchanged when you fall for the government “rope-a-dope” propaganda is your freedom to be what you were always intended to be. Are you who you want to be? Are you free to be who you want to be? Who will give you a more fair exchange for your talent and hard work? Big free market industry or big government?

Whaddya think?

This government is using class warfare to set up the straw-man argument for legitimizing the punishment of wealth, innovation and risk... basically pursuing the freedoms this country was established to protect. The demonization of profit and wealth will be a cancer on our livelihoods. The government bites the hand that feeds it by over-taxing, over-regulating and over-reaching its enumerated powers. We must stop them or abandon them and start again. We should not be bailing out the campaign contributors of this government's officials. We should not be taking orders from government officials who overstep their enumerated powers. We should not allow them to guilt us into tolerating this for one moment. Wealth is good. The rich hire others and together they make the world a better place. For prosperity to exist, someone has to be wealthy. Goods and services must be exchanged and that exchange has to be equal in value. When government interferes with this exchange between free people, they usually chose favorites. When favorites are chosen, someone in the exchange gets screwed. Eventually, force is required to legitimize an unequal exchange... legal and/or violent coercion will be required... and neither of these are characteristics of a free society. You cannot prevent evil or injustice in a free society but you must punish it... and only it. To punish all to prevent any evil from occurring is insanity and fantasy combined. You cannot punish the innocent and the productive in hopes to punish some evil people.

Is there any doubt we have reached this point in our history?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security

This really is Orwellian. A very insidious tactic in government is to make so many laws that men (and women) cannot exist without eventually breaking a law. The government then decides who should be punished based on who is in favor or out of favor... who likes the government or dislikes the government. Of course, it will all be for the public good, especially since "we" own shares in so many companies now through legislative and executive orders. (Although I don't remember be asked or getting a vote). It is being witnessed today in banks and will expand to other companies and eventually individuals who are not acting in the interest of the "public good". Be very careful what you are putting online in your name these days. Communicate with respect and treat our political enemies as we would like to be treated. This is as much a spiritual battle as it is a political one. Noeo