INCOMING RANT: I love the idea of stealing from the rich, but If there is an even slight profit loss the cutbacks only effect the bottom end. I really don't think there will ever be a solution to the wealth problem. There will always be an enormous gap, and there will always be poor people, and yes, it sucks.

There are times when I am very satisfied with my status quo, despite only earning about 17k a year and not being able to afford a single thing I want, but I still have what I need. I get jealous from time to time, of my friends who could afford college without loans or a job, my friends with brand new cars, brand new clothes, organic food, or even those who are able to go on vacation. It's only because I think I need those things to be happy, but if that's the case, that happiness is never permanent. It slowly disappears once the vacation is over, or the car breaks down, or the clothes wear out and then you just need more and more. The desire to emulate wealth is a drug. It's expensive and very hard to quit. In my opinion, the only way to defeat the rich is to reject their definition of wealth and to stop being selfish and jealous of others.

When I was a kid I was OBSESSED with collecting stuffed animals. I never had dolls or anything that was too pricey, but I had plenty of teddy bears and claw machine toys. I never had enough of them, and I always wanted more. There was a time when I was around 10 or 11, and I had found the coolest stuffed dog you could imagine, and it was only 4 dollars. I started plotting in my head how I could convince my mom to buy it for me and as I did, a question popped into my head. "How will this make my life better?" I responded, "it won't," and I put it back on the shelf and never asked for another stuffed animal or toy again. It's a super corny story, but seriously, even though we are all much better at rationalizing as adults as to how something may benefit you, ask how if you are able to answer the why, and try to be honest with yourself if the benefit is real or a product of indoctrination.

Sorry if this double posts, I'm not sure why my browser keeps doing that.