Job Discussion Forums

[Tretyakovskii]

[From the thread, "Blow to Tourism"]

Guy wrote: Tret, you might enjoy this article at cracked.com on a vaguely tangential line to this thread (I'm indulging a bit as we're in the off topic forum). http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-things-rich-people-need-to-stop-saying_p2/ The crux being "we're all in this together" might ring true for some of us here, the 99% or otherwise.
______________________

Great article, Guy. Thanks. It makes a tremendous amount of good sense, and does it in a clever and persuasive way. [By the way, anytime you're worried about topic drift, opening a new topic eliminates that issue.]

The notion that the worker ants are essential, both to the production and to the consumption cycle that can make others rich is not lost on the rich, they just don't see much beyond the importance of keeping as many of the rest of society busy performing those two tasks as possible- without which they couldn't have become nor have stayed rich.

When I ask my students to rate Mexican society by degree to which it is "individualistic" vs. "collectivistic", they move the dial far towards the individualistic end of the scale, many feeling "every man for himself" is an apt description. If Mexico is 90% individualistic, then the U.S. must be 99% individualistic, I tell them. The article focuses on the attitudes of the rich towards others, but they can't do what they do without the society being supportive, or at least tolerant of them.

It has always struck me as odd that there are any number of countries where the public conception of collective good doesn't even reach to the other citizens of that nation, the Nordic Countries- where the standard of living is the highest; the income inequality index the lowest, and one of them, Denmark, consistently polls as having the happiest people in the world- being the notable exception. [A search of videos available on line will quickly lead the reader to interviews in which Danes try to explain why they're happy: their answers are not surprising, but will be unsettling to some.]

[Prof.Gringo]

[Isla Guapa]

Could some of the generosity of Americans come from the fact that charitable contributions are tax deductible. ?

[Guy Courchesne]

[Tretyakovskii]

Most of the private charitable giving in the U.S. goes to support the giver's own church, financially.

The data in this article doesn't support the claim made earlier on this thread that Americans are extremely caring of the less fortunate: I'll quote from it-

[EFLeducator]

[BadBeagleBad]

I suspect that in Mexico it is a lot more informal and person to person. I know in my neighborhood there are a number of people who have been helping a neighbor since she was widowed a few months ago. But those won't show up on any survey. And my husband and I financially supported his brother for many years, and contribute to the support of an elderly "aunt" - no blood relation, just a long time friend of the family. There is also an older woman who sells second hand clothes in the market near our house, and everyone in the neighborhood regularly donates things to her for her to sell. Those are just the ones I know about personally.

[EFLeducator]

[MotherF]

I don't know many Mexicans who have a surplus of money which they could give to a charity--but every Mexican I know will cut out extra spending for several months before their niece's 15 a�os so they will have 3,000 to 5,000 to contribute to part of the party.

My husband's family all took turns taking care of their grandfather when he broke his hip for the second time and was bedridden for the rest of his life. They had no choice--institutionalized care was not an option. How many Americans opt for the institution?

I'm sorry your in-laws are not charitable--but you should know you can't judge an entire culture by the actions of individuals (we will always find examples to support any side of the argument.)

[EFLeducator]