| -link"> | | | | outlandish salaries and live their lives in luxury. |
| More and more people are taking to the streets | | | | 3. People who are lucky are successful. People |
| in cities like Chicago to try earn a living by asking | | | | who win the lottery or get discovered as singers, |
| for financial help. Is this a sign of a growing lower | | | | actors, models, sports figures, and so on. There's |
| class and diminishing middle class? | | | | millions of good, or even great, actors or singers |
| The other day I was walking down the street | | | | out there, but only a few get fame and fortune if |
| here in Chicago and I noticed a woman holding up | | | | they're lucky enough to get noticed. |
| a sign to drivers as they were stopped for a red | | | | 4. Children of rich and connected individuals |
| light. I've been seeing this happening more and | | | | become successful. How successful would Paris |
| more lately on different street corners and I | | | | Hilton be if she wasn't an heiress? In many cases |
| wondered what exactly she was doing. | | | | success runs in the family. The success of "rehab" |
| Her sign seemed to be another plea for help from | | | | hospitals largely depends on the empty-headed |
| an ever expanding lower class of individuals. It said | | | | habits of the spoiled offspring of the wealthy. |
| the following: "I have 5 children. I don't have a job. | | | | What about the rest of us, the middle and lower |
| Please I ask for help with anything you can help | | | | classes. We have to work very hard just to |
| to pay for rent and get food for my kids. GOD | | | | survive. Aristotle believed in moderation, and this |
| BLESS YOU. Have naici day." | | | | is what I feel should be the plight of the majority |
| Reading her sign I began to question whether she | | | | of human beings. Reasonable work for reasonable |
| really has five children and needs money to pay | | | | pay. But this is far from being today's norm. |
| for food and shelter. The sad thing is that the | | | | These days middle class individuals must not only |
| neighborhood is full of people who truly need help, | | | | be over stressed at work, but must suffer traffic |
| while others want to avoid working and make a | | | | jams and crowded trains while getting there and |
| living solely by begging on street corners. By | | | | coming home. Then they all are forced to pay |
| talking to the woman, I found it hard to tell in | | | | part of their salary as protection to the syndicate, |
| which category she belongs. I gave her some | | | | or in other words, taxes to the government. With |
| money and walked away. | | | | food, housing, and utility bills steadily rising, almost |
| Whether she is really needy or just a con artist | | | | every middle class individual faces some form of |
| doesn't really matter, because in either case the | | | | dept. |
| culture of big corporations and a ever increasing | | | | But it's really not so bad here, if you consider |
| bureaucratic government is clearly the blame. The | | | | countries where people spend their waking hours |
| "corporate aliens" as I call them are making it hard | | | | working for a few pennies a day and starvation is |
| for everyone. | | | | rampant. These are the nations whose citizens |
| What does it take to be successful these days? | | | | are exploited by corporate aliens from the U.S. |
| | | | and other richer countries. |
| 1. White-collar crooks are successful. Just look at | | | | Can you really blame people if they become white |
| the politicians: Some have already been to jail or | | | | collar criminals to survive? As long as wealth is so |
| are currently serving time. Most of the rest just | | | | unevenly distributed, the struggle for survival amid |
| haven't been caught yet. They all have nice | | | | the middle and lower classes will continue. |
| homes and drive late model cars. | | | | There are people all over Chicago holding up signs |
| 2. Those who are greedy and highly unethical are | | | | like the woman in the picture. The people who |
| successful. Most CEOs and top corporate | | | | drive on these streets are mainly middle class. |
| managers care little about their employees. They | | | | The rich live in gated communities that aren't |
| move their factories to third world countries to | | | | very tolerant of beggars and pan-handlers. What |
| exploit cheap labor. They ruthlessly downsize to | | | | happens when the middle class hasn't anything |
| increase profits. They overwork their employees | | | | more to give? What happens when the middle |
| and raid employee pension funds. They get | | | | class is a civilization that is "gone with the wind? |