Lawrence Meade

After giving much thoughts to Mr. Meade's comment that "if poor people behaved rationally, they would seldom be poor for long in the first place".
The best i could say about that is; that i truly hoped that that was not his professional opinion, less he be looking for another profession.
If our wealth was depended on just a matter of  how we behaved. most of the poor would be at the top of the chain, as it is mostly the poor, common men that work the hardest, pays the most interest rates, and proved to be the most honest. while the wealthy sit down most of their work day, eating, drinking and talking, earning millions while basting on the  back of a yacth while others steer, cook, pour, and serve them. and believe that for the most part they have no problem believing that their money make them more worthy of life and living. But of course that is just my voice.
On the other hand it was strongly depicted in the movie "People like us." while Tammy (for whom my heart went out to) showed more class then any of them. She lived within her means , did what she had to do to take care of her self and her children despite what they and others thought of it (she could sleep at night and face herself in the mirror) walking ten miles to work and ten miles home is as classy as one gets (yes, i know that that has nothing to do with CLASS, as they meant in the movie) but Tammy  behaved as rationally as i would have, she needed to take care of herself and she did it the best that she could. I have no problem what so ever that she did not want to take welfare, as it is a haven for idleness, not because everyone who gets it is idle but because the programs themselves encouraged and embraced it for years, not only did they not allow you to work or have some items you do not get the chance to improve, you was either on it or you was  off of it, so if you had three or four children like Tammy and you could not make $15 or more dollars an hour every day then you needed to stay on welfare because if you went out and made$7 an hour you needed to get off of assistance and pay back all while caring for yourself and 3 or 4 children. . I never understood helping those that don't help themselves but not helping those that trys to help them selves  welfare should be support, not a crutch.
The most ill-rational thing i can think of is to sit back and allow others to do for you what you are responsible for doing for yourself. Entitlement is ill-rational!!!
In a capitalist society like ours, the deck is always stacked against the poor: for the most part if you are born poor, you are force to be educated in the worse funded and least supplied schools, receiving the least healthiest, least fresh foods, at the highest price (per), receiving the least amount of health care, and in return the least chance at a ivy-league education and even if you do get there you don't get the same fair treatment (per) situation, and then the least paying jobs (without a family name to go with everything else).



In my opinion, Tammy first of all behaved rationally for her situation, she needed a job to feed her family and she got one and kept it.
2ndly, ill-rational behave was the group of upper-middle class blacks who knew what it was to be oppressed getting to what they looked and longed for just to oppress others by keeping them out of their club (Jack and Jill)
3rd, was the red necks, there is just nothing wrong with liking your way of life. money is not everything and there was no indication that they were lacking for anything. they seemed more likely to stick together rather then to try to back stab their neighbor for something they wanted just for the sake of having it.
4th, the yuppies going to a dive, they were just so condescending. thinking that they fit in and was not only entitled to invade others place but to fake there acceptance. (tomorrow if they saw XYZ walking into their country clubs would they remember them and go buy them a drink, introduce them to their fathers and have lunch?
5th if a man was 30 years old and born into money, had never had a job,and his parents provided for him ,no one thinks he's a bum, but if he was born into poverty and never held a job and his parents provided for him he is a good, for nothing bum. go figure.