So let’s begin with the simplest question first. What is the difference between the rich, the middle class, and the poor? The vague answer would simply be the amount of money they own or make. In all honesty the obvious explanation is the work ethic and the experience. For example poor people most likely won’t have the opportunity to do things that people with more money will be able to do. Therefore they won’t have enough/the same experience. In result they won’t qualify for high paying jobs. As far as their work ethic some poor people have very good work ethic and others don’t. For the simple fact that some poor people don’t like how they live and are determined to “get out of the hood.” While other poor people just accept that being poor is their life.…
Many people spend their entire lives searching for the key to a meaningful life. But the question is which is more valuable - financial success or happiness. In A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, a greedy old miser named Scrooge endures such a search for meaning and ultimately finds the treasure of life. He needs the help of three spirits, who appear during the night on Christmas Eve, to help him see how his inconsiderate and greedy actions affect others and leave him alone. As a result of this experiment he changes from his selfish ways and allows himself to branch out, becoming more friendly, generous, and content in the process. A Christmas Carol illustrates that people can be happy without money or success as pure happiness…
In the beginning of the novella, the main protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, opposes Christmas and all the kind-hearted, charitable values it stands for. Throughout the tale Scrooge is visited by Ghosts from a Christmas past, present, and future, who show the “bitter” Scrooge how to be compassionate towards others. Money is a big part of the story, and it plays a role as a contrast to how generosity is viewed. Scrooge is rich but lives a life as “solitary as an oyster” and “warning all human sympathy to keep its distance.” He initially supports the inhumanity of cold-hearted decisions made by governments with his response to the charity collectors being, “Are there no prisons?... And the Union Workhouses. Are they still in operation?” He feels no compulsion to give charity to support meagre gifts to the poor and dispossessed and dismisses the collectors with “I cannot afford to make idle people merry” and with suggestions that such people would be better dead to “reduce the surplus population.”…
People are described as “bad poor” because of their financial position and their failure to overcome it as shown in figure 1. However, that is easier said than done. Children who are born into poverty are already poor and they have no control over that. They have to work very hard with little assistance just to get to the point where a change can be made or an upgrade in class is possible. People of low class are generally regarded as less valuable or even disposable. They are the subject of much ridicule and prosecution due to their financial status. This sort of classification is attempt to be stabilize by welfare and other government money programs, but the taxpayers fund that, so the money is taken back away from them. Income inequality is one of the main causes of social segregation of…
1. How might people who are born into wealth compare and contrast to those who are “nouveau riche” or acquired their wealth overnight?…
Wealth consists of the property and income that a person or family possesses. The more finical income you have the higher you move up on the social class scale. With wealth also comes with ownership of material items that influences a person 's social standing. Social standing has to deal with the certain amount of power that an individual may have due to his/her finical…
In the article “The Rich Are Different from You and Me,” author Chrystia Freeland explains the rising phenomenon of income inequality that is occurring between the richest top 10% and bottom 90% of the population. Chrystia Freeland states “In every society, some people are richer than others, but across time and geography, the gap between the rich and the rest has widely varied. The reality today is that the rich-especially the very, very rich- are vaulting ahead of everyone else” (51). Between the years of 2002 and 2007, income statistics show that the gap between the richest 10% and the bottom 90% of the population had significantly increased. Statistics also show that by 2007, approximately 35% of the wealth was maintained by the top 10%, leaving about 27% of wealth to the bottom 90% of the population. This is about an 8% gap in between. The last time income inequality was this high was in the 1920’s, but back then only 20% of wealth was gained from work. Today the top 10% gains at least 60% of their wealth from work, rather than inheritance. As economies throughout the world mature, income inequality will continue to rise. The gap between the rich and all others is primarily found in United States. Other countries such as Canada, China, and the United Kingdom are beginning to see income inequality as well. Freeland also states that “These global super- rich work and play together” (52). They share common interests such as business traveling, and vacationing around the world. Due to the common interests shared by others most like themselves, they have become separated from all others within the population, and have formed their own world governed by plutocracy. Author Chrystia Freeland is concerned that because the rich are so caught up in their world of wealth that they will not recognize that other…
It can be debated that financial prominence is the most important aspect of a person's place in society, more so than race, gender, or religion. This paper reconnoiters the effects of growing up in poverty and the economic, social, and psychological effects of being raised in such an environment. In today’s world, the word poverty is well known throughout most societies. Poverty may have the definition of anyone who lives pay check to pay check. Or for some poverty may be as extreme as one who lives underneath any shelter they can find with no belongings. John Kenneth Galbraith’s definition of poverty is when an individual’s income, even if adequate for survival, falls behind that of the community’s standard. Poverty may also be defined as…
At the start of the novel, Dickens is using Scrooge, someone who associates happiness with nothing but money, as an example of a classic wealthy person in the 19th Century. He does this with Scrooge enquiring of his nephew ‘“What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”’ Scrooge’s manor in saying this makes me, as the reader rather upset and disappointed that someone can be so shallow and uncaring. In Scrooge saying this, it demonstrates to the reader that Scrooge does not think one could be joyous if they were not well off, and proves that he does not understand the concept of Christmas spirit.…
At the beginning of the book, “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge starts off as a bitter, greedy and unthankful old man without a Christmas spirit. He is lone and solitary, and his only friend is money. However, when he is visited by three Christmas spirits, to help him change his ways, towards the end of the book he becomes a different man. I think the author, Charles Dickens, wrote this book (in Victorian London) when he witnessed even poor children with no money, who embraced Christmas with a jolly Christmas spirit. I think the moral that this book is supposed to teach us is that you don’t need money to enjoy Christmas and we should all embrace it with joy.…
poor people to the extent that the affluent person would be on the same level as the…
In the novel A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a man who is portrayed as very cold hearted, “the cold within him froze his features”. He always kept attention to himself and never cared about anyone else. The whole town knew him as a bad man, even “the blindmen’s dogs knew him… and would tug their owners into corners away from him”. Jacob Marley was his partner in life, and even though their relationship was for business only, he was Scrooge’s only friend. In regret from his own life, Marley and the Three Ghosts of Christmas change Scrooge’s attitude towards life.…
While spending time thinking about the goal in my life, the only one answer coming up in my mind is to achieve success. But what exactly the word ‘success’ should be defined? Thinking considerably, there are at least two fundamental achievements in life that inspire people. One is to be rich, while another one is to be famous. Though these two words are somehow closely related if you think about the celebrities who are famous and rich at the same time, there are some others who only have high recognition but not rich, such as Mother Teresa who devoted her whole life doing charity for the poor. Therefore, the topic that I am really interested in is about whether to be rich or to be famous is the key word for success.…
Some may look to economic and political conditions that make some people poor. Whereas others look at the behaviours or morals of some people which result in them being poor (Aiken, 2008).…
The objective of the book is to change the reader’s psychological approach to money, success, and happiness. Like there is no such thing as a really rich victim. Rich people focus on opportunities, poor people focus on obstacles. Rich people admire other rich and successful people, poor people resent rich a successful people. Rich people are good receivers, while poor people are not. Rich people are always learning and growing, while poor people think they already know. Rich people manage their money, poor people don’t. Harv explains that the surest way to stay poor is to continue acting like the poor, by complaining, not looking for opportunities, resenting the rich, not being a good receive, not continuously learning and not managing your money. Harv has great advice and these tips are essential to understand and change your thinking about money. I find the attitude differences illuminating. Yes, it makes a big difference to focus on the positive and to spend time with positive people (not pollyana or spoiled – positive). Skills, knowledge, and persistence count too you have to be able to execute, unless you have the incredible good luck to have both a huge amount of money and a trustworthy staff. As long as you keep operating with a negative, inadequate, limited financial Self-Image, you are destined to fail no matter how smart you think you are or you are, no matter what type of business you choose, no matter how hard and how long you work at your business or job, The poor are poor because of their poor self-image. In the inside of their heads, they see themselves limited, having great difficulty making money, they believe it is real hard to make money, it takes a long time, it requires lots of sacrifices, they already imagine themselves having future problems and limitations. That is what they believe. And that is exactly what they get. The rich are rich because of their rich self-image. In the…