my rant...sorry...you don't have to read it.

Sometimes I wonder how people can spend $300 on a purse when there are children starving. I read articles about celebrities...I've seen the show "the fabulous life of..." and they talk about the guy with the $500,000 (literally - half a million) car. I wonder how he can rationalize it. I know it's their money...it just seems like such a waste. I hear people talk about how the rich should pay more than their share - by percentage or by amount...usually both - and just can't agree with that. There's no less efficient way to spend money than to have the government spend it. It's just that it's sad that people are wasting money on $85 T-shirts when you could sponsor a child for three months with that money. A friend of mind helped raise some money so they could buy locks for an orphanage. The reason they needed locks (more than food, clothing, books or other needs) was that their orphans were constantly in danger of being kidnapped and either sold into slavery or sold for body parts by folks who either needed a transplant or were sacrificing to the local witch doctor. So at some point you've got to wonder, "should I buy this 35 million dollar house...or help out these orphans and settle for the 25 million dollar house?".
Some of my friends who think the government solves problems (because socialism always works...except you end up with a higher unemployment rate and a bigger discrepancy between the rich and the poor....but why get wrapped up in logic - it sounds nice) who will spend money on silly things. Thousands of dollars on Christmas presents....to folks like me who aren't terribly poor. They drive decent cars, have decent jobs, spend ridiculous money on restaurants and entertainment....thousands of dollars a year in movies, books and entertainment - and yet complain that the rich aren't giving away more to a forced government program. They don't realize that they are part of the richest 5% of the world. I wonder some times how much time they give up. If a rich person that works 60 hours a week isn't giving up enough money...I want to ask, "Well are you giving up 20 hours of your time a week?" Shouldn't the government make you work for them for 20 hours each week? If you have more...isn't the argument that you should give more. Would it be wrong for a rich guy to point at you and be mad (to wage class warfare - or jealously...whatever you want to call it) at them (or you) for not giving more?
Anyhow, that's not the point. I think it's wrong to force people to give away their money to an incredibly inefficient system - and I wish people were more generous with what they had. It sounds like two sides of an argument, but giving away and having something taken away are two entirely different things. When you have a choice - when you actively give to something...I'd argue that you're going to be more cautious about where it goes. You'll care more about the end result. When it's just taxed...you're just mad that they took it. That's all...just mad.
So I wonder about $3,000 worth of makeup. It sort of bugs me when I hear about the 2 millions dollars worth of jewelry....and last night I gave a movie theater $5.25 to see
the Dukes of Hazzard.