Thanks to GolbGuru’s post I read the article on MotherJones. Call me mean, hateful or whatever, but I don’t have too much sympathy for the poor and the usual whining about the rich. While I am not rich (yet), and I have not been bottom-of-the-barrel poor, I have lived below the poverty line before. I was a single parent with two little boys not making much money, but made just enough so that I couldn’t qualify for any kind of assistance, even with two kids. Did I whine and cry about it? Did I blame the filthy rich for my woes? Nope, I kept my head up and envisioned the day when I would be making good money and not living like I was. The only thing that upset me was that I didn’t know what the rich did about how to make, and keep the wealth they were acquiring.

That was almost 13 years ago and I am much better off these days than I was then. I make good money as a software developer (self taught), and while I haven’t been the best saver in the world, I know what I should be doing and how to do it. I learned all I could from people that have done it themselves and while there have been hard times, I kept striving forward. I have had the pleasure to know several people that are self employed and and listened when they talked. None of them are filthy rich, but they do quite well for themselves; each would say they are comfortable with their life and can pretty much do what they want. Not one of them was born into money, didn’t receive a big inheritence or anything like that, they worked for it and they earned it. While none of them make millions, almost all of them qualify as ‘rich’ by the government.

The real key however is that they know all of the tips and tricks for keeping their money and for making more if they so choosed. Each one of them could go broke tomorrow and it wouldn’t break them. They know that they could do it all over again and that I believe is what keeps most successful people where they are. Not that they have a lot of money, but that they know how to keep it, invest it and how to make it back if they lose it.

I’m reminded of a current local political ad that is running where this guy says “ knows that my family can’t make it on $5.15 and hour”. I wanted to puke. If this guy — who looks like he is in his late 40’s — is still making $5.15 an hour, then that is his fault. I know it is just an ad, but it underscores part of the problem, people want more without wanting to put any effort into it. One of the reasons that I like reading these pf blogs are I think everyone who has a personal finance blog is striving for more, whether it is to get out of debt, build a great retirement nest egg, make a million by some age, etc. everyone has the same underlying thread, initiative. You all deserve an applause.

What about the big company CEOs? It is true that you only hear about the crooks (like Enron’s), and they deserve what they get, however just because a CEO makes several million a year doesn’t make them a crook. It just means they fought their way to the top. Maybe it was greed, power, ego or whatever, the fact is they got there pretty much on their own. While I don’t agree with companies that pay huge bonus while at the same time laying off thousands of workers, most of these CEOs can really make a company grow, and growth means jobs. Yep, they make a ton of money and sure wish I had some of it myself, but I don’t hate them for it. For those of you that have worked in big companies like I have, you probably have lots of stories about the stupid decisions these people make. I have them too, but they made it and I haven’t, so more power to them.

One thing that has really stayed with me over the last few years was something that my father-in-law said when talking about one of his employees. This employee wanted a raise because he had been there a long time. No other reason than longevity. He only did exactly what he was told, didn’t strive to do any better, didn’t offer anything other than his 8 hours a day. Yet he wanted more money. My father-in-law didn’t give him the raise because he said he didn’t deserve it. The best part was when he said “I’m not in business to make my employees rich.” At first I thought that was kind of brash, but given who my father-in-law is — an ordained minister — I gave it more thought. I concluded he was right. He was the one who started out sweeping the floors as a kid and worked there a long time learning the business before buying out the two previous owners. He continued to build it up and make it successful, why shouldn’t he get the rewards?

So next time you are reading another article or see another story spouting off statistics about the gap between the rich and poor, ask yourself how many of the poor really, really tried to get ahead. Don’t forget that what we might perceive as rich, generally meaning millions of dollars a year, isn’t always what the government thinks of as rich.

What about taxes? Every year that I made less than $50,000 a year I got back almost every single cent from the federal government for one reason or another. When I was making less than $35k a year I got back MORE money because of earned income credit. At the time it was wonderful, but looking back, did it do the economy any good? Was I taking that money and investing it? Nope, I spent it. Granted I was usually paying off bills of one type or another, but still. On paper it looks evil that the rich saved $42k while the poor saved $10. Boo, hiss, throw stones at those rich folk! Most of that money is probably on paper anyway, in the form of stocks, business holdings, etc. Maybe it is in real cash and they will go and spend it on something lavish and as a result, umm, pay taxes on it! Or perhaps they will reinvest it and as a result let other people make money from their money.

So don’t hate the rich for their money, instead strive to be wealthy yourself (by whatever definition you attach to that word) and if you want to help the poor, take your newfound wealth and contribute to a couple of charities, and take a tax deduction while you are at it.

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, I should say before the flaming starts that I am not some wacko republican or a wacko democrat. I’m just an American looking to make his own way.