Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Barstool Economics (was RE: Are Ferraris Losing Their Good Looks? )

[Ric Rainbolt (ricrainbolt]

At 05:50 PM 11/12/2008, you wrote:

> I fully agree our system is not fair and it really is a form of charity
> to a large extent, no question.  It seems the arguments here are based
> on just the numbers, but what is missing here is any compassion for your
> fellow man.  Sure I work hard to provide for my family and I worry about
> their financial security and future but I also recognize that I live in
> a society with other people and reading this I recall an old adage my
> parents used to tell me: "the world needs ditch diggers too"...

And therein is the basis of the problem. This is a worldwide epidemic 
of misconception, IMHO.

Compassion for my fellow man is NOT to support someone who doesn't 
bother to get an education, or bother to not drink beer that costs 
more than his gross wages. Is it MY fault that he's a ditch digger? 
Perhaps I spent years honing my profitable technical skills while he 
skipped school and drank his way into his situation? Now I'm 
literally robbed to pay for his misdeeds or lack of proactive foresight.

It should for ME to decide when to allow the gift of charity to 
emanate from MY compassion. I do NOT want to have money taken BY 
FORCE by large bureaucracy and given willy-nilly to whoever makes up 
the best boo-hoo sob story. I've lived around and worked with MANY 
fully able-bodied individuals that were taking money from the system 
via systematic fraud (workmans comp, Medicare, etc.). Then there's 
the whole part about federal funding for all kinds of crap that I 
would NEVER EVER support if given a choice in the matter. I give many 
thousands to charities each year... ones of MY choosing.

There is NO charity in someone taking my money to give to someone 
else (and in many cases, keep some for themselves for being so 
righteous). That's playing shift-the-burden-of-my-guilt complex. Far 
too common.

RR