There's No I In Team, But There's Certainly A ME!
On a Facebook group that I am a part of, I noticed a Craigslist ad for a room in Milwaukee, Oregon, just outside of Portland. It cost $730 a month! Now to its credit, utilities were included in the price, except internet. That was another $20 a month! But the kicker was that the "room" was in the garage of the house and there were no pictures of the "room!" Insanity! I called out the poster of the ad for her greed, telling her she needs to lower the price.
She didn't have a real response, other than to call out my age. I told her "Listen, lady, age doesn't make the difference whether or not I can see the fact that you're a price gouger trying to take advantage of people! Lower your price and maybe people will take your post more seriously!" She later said my generation was entitled and I told her that "I'm sorry you don't have any reasonable come back to me calling you out on your greed, but maybe one day you and the rest of you price gouging slumlords will see the error of your ways! I'll pray for you!"
Keyboard battles aside, greed and self-interest are overwhelmingly prevalent in this country.
Martin Shkreli, who was convicted in court for running a Ponzi scheme, became famous after raising the price of a medication used for newborns and people with HIV by 4,000%! There was no logical reason to raise the price so high (except perhaps to cover his ass while running a Ponzi scheme). But his price gouging wasn't even illegal! There is no law in this country that says you can't do what Martin Shkreli did.
Then there was the recent attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act by the GOP controlled Congress. Though it finally died, thanks to Sens. Susan Collins, John McCain, and Lisa Murkowski; had it passed, it would have allowed for Republicans to pass a $700 billion tax cut for the wealthy. Frmr. Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau was correct in calling the repeal "Wealthcare" because it would have cost at least 16 million Americans their health insurance, all so a few thousand families could get richer!
And beyond those big news items, there are common tropes behind why we're the only country in the industrialized world that doesn't have universal health care. "Why should I have to pay for someone else's health insurance?" Uh, if we had a universal health care system, we'd all be paying for each other's health care and in the end, it would be cheaper! Maybe if you didn't think about "me, me, me" you'd realize that you benefit the most from this!
Same goes for welfare spending. "Why should my tax dollars pay for your food stamps?" Well maybe because that family needs help and when they're not in that position, they can help you if you need it!
And then ironically, there's so many people in this country that vote against their self-interest. They vote for the people who will cut the minimum wage, take away health insurance, and loosen labor laws to the point that unions will go extinct and no one will have any benefits anymore. But you know, abortion, the gays, and taxes...for the one percent!
This country is filled with so many people who think they're all gonna become millionaires or even billionaires. Go ahead and dream big, but don't leave reality, because, for most Americans, we're just barely getting by and will never reach those dreams. In the meantime, people need to stop thinking so much about "I" and "me" and instead think more about "we" and how "we" can all have better lives instead of clawing each other for scraps. We have to remember that we're being divided and conquered so that we don't notice that our benefits are being cut, our wages stagnating, and our lives getting harder - all so a few thousand families can have some more spending money.
Finally, I'd like to remind the greediest people in our country: the slumlords, the Martin Shkreli's, and the Mitch McConnell's of the world that death is the great equalizer. When we die, no matter who you are, we take nothing with us: not the money in our wallets, the nice television in our living rooms, the car keys in our pockets, and not even the clothes off of our back. When we die, that's it. So maybe think about how you treat others because when you die, all the manipulation and robbery you commit won't mean anything. And if you believe in an afterlife, there's a special place in hell for greedy people.
She didn't have a real response, other than to call out my age. I told her "Listen, lady, age doesn't make the difference whether or not I can see the fact that you're a price gouger trying to take advantage of people! Lower your price and maybe people will take your post more seriously!" She later said my generation was entitled and I told her that "I'm sorry you don't have any reasonable come back to me calling you out on your greed, but maybe one day you and the rest of you price gouging slumlords will see the error of your ways! I'll pray for you!"
Keyboard battles aside, greed and self-interest are overwhelmingly prevalent in this country.
Martin Shkreli, who was convicted in court for running a Ponzi scheme, became famous after raising the price of a medication used for newborns and people with HIV by 4,000%! There was no logical reason to raise the price so high (except perhaps to cover his ass while running a Ponzi scheme). But his price gouging wasn't even illegal! There is no law in this country that says you can't do what Martin Shkreli did.
Then there was the recent attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act by the GOP controlled Congress. Though it finally died, thanks to Sens. Susan Collins, John McCain, and Lisa Murkowski; had it passed, it would have allowed for Republicans to pass a $700 billion tax cut for the wealthy. Frmr. Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau was correct in calling the repeal "Wealthcare" because it would have cost at least 16 million Americans their health insurance, all so a few thousand families could get richer!
And beyond those big news items, there are common tropes behind why we're the only country in the industrialized world that doesn't have universal health care. "Why should I have to pay for someone else's health insurance?" Uh, if we had a universal health care system, we'd all be paying for each other's health care and in the end, it would be cheaper! Maybe if you didn't think about "me, me, me" you'd realize that you benefit the most from this!
Same goes for welfare spending. "Why should my tax dollars pay for your food stamps?" Well maybe because that family needs help and when they're not in that position, they can help you if you need it!
And then ironically, there's so many people in this country that vote against their self-interest. They vote for the people who will cut the minimum wage, take away health insurance, and loosen labor laws to the point that unions will go extinct and no one will have any benefits anymore. But you know, abortion, the gays, and taxes...for the one percent!
This country is filled with so many people who think they're all gonna become millionaires or even billionaires. Go ahead and dream big, but don't leave reality, because, for most Americans, we're just barely getting by and will never reach those dreams. In the meantime, people need to stop thinking so much about "I" and "me" and instead think more about "we" and how "we" can all have better lives instead of clawing each other for scraps. We have to remember that we're being divided and conquered so that we don't notice that our benefits are being cut, our wages stagnating, and our lives getting harder - all so a few thousand families can have some more spending money.
Finally, I'd like to remind the greediest people in our country: the slumlords, the Martin Shkreli's, and the Mitch McConnell's of the world that death is the great equalizer. When we die, no matter who you are, we take nothing with us: not the money in our wallets, the nice television in our living rooms, the car keys in our pockets, and not even the clothes off of our back. When we die, that's it. So maybe think about how you treat others because when you die, all the manipulation and robbery you commit won't mean anything. And if you believe in an afterlife, there's a special place in hell for greedy people.
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