All The Bums Included

I consider myself a middle class, middle minded, small business owner and farmer, some Christian, some Anarchist, fiscally conservative and for the most part socially liberal.  On the graph below we would be to the right of the middle of the curve but nowhere near the circled B group.  We have friends on all parts of the graph.

To address the graph.  Based on my life experiences, the circled group of A and B combined to include more than 90% of the "bums" I have ever known.  In general bums are net takers rather than net givers.  As you go further to the right you get richer people.  As you go further up the y axis there are more people.  I would like to focus on the tails of the graph where we find most of our problem children.  I feel the bums in America are pulling to the extremes and taking for granted that the rest of us in the middle will keep propping them up.  We should stand up to these bums, and soon.

Now for the fun part and the reason you are here, who are all the bums?  Before I address the bums in B (my least favorite bums), lets talk about all the people in B that are not bums that I truly admire.  These are my teachers, mentors, consultants, colleagues, and at times employers.  Such people might have come from further left in the graph initially but through long, slow, diligent work and through delaying gratification and savings, made it to the upper of the upper class.  They would also be the most charitable, pay whatever taxes were owed, tithe well above 10%, employ locals to "assist" them in all manners of their life and pay them lavish wages.  They are the rock solid producers and people we can literally bank on in society.  They always have plenty and plenty to give.  Loyalty abounds in all directions.  They are civically engaged and just generally glorious to be around.

Now lets talk about all the rich scheming bums in B.  These are the types who make a lot of money but don't really do much actual work.  These bums are always scheming to keep things just the way they are.  Others are doing the work and they are making the lions share of the money.  They rig the laws in their favor through connections in politics.  They cheat to get construction bids instead of competing on the open market.  They sit at the tops of large organizations more as glittering ornamental jewelry that keeps everyone under them striving to get into the "club".  Having been an analyst for these maniacs for much of my corporate career, I can tell you they mostly talk about increasing their bonuses through squeezing their labor or duping their customers to paying more without losing the customer.  Very little talk about customer service, employee loyalty and happiness, civic engagement, longevity, etc.  The talk was about making as much money as they could right NOW!  They already have more money than they could probably ever spend, but yet they want more.  They are literally driving the rest of us crazy.  

These relatively handful of bums in B are literally sucking the life out of the workforce.  If they take it too far this always leads to social unrest from the workers.  This great sucking parasitic greedy anchor weighs on all of us daily, but hides behind the scenes and prefers to lurk in the background.  Well paid actors (politicians) do their biddings for them.

There are many different sub categories within this group of bums in B.  Political bums are "public servants" that took an oath to serve all of us but only serve some of us (the rich bums).  They also let their party affiliations keep them from independently thinking, and only serving the echo chamber within their political base.  They are sold to the highest bidder through legal bribery (lobbying).  They vow a life of public service yet all end up millionaires.  These are some of the lowest form of bums because they facilitate all of the other bums.  Without these political bums, the other bums would have a difficult time existing.  These political bums are the basis for our economic oligarchy.  Why do we let so few of them determine the fates of literally hundreds of millions of us and trillions of our dollars?

There are also bums between A and B, all racing rapidly towards A or B through scheming or general slothfulness.  They lay aside shame, charity, consideration, grace and they focus on themselves.  They turn to drugs, they refuse to work, or they only work and push away all non profitable relationships.  They drag the rest of us down or crash through us without caring who they hurt.

Before I talk about the bums in A, allow me to address the working poor who are not bums.  This is the kind of family I grew up in.  We were poor but we always worked our way out of any issue, we never begged although we did receive charity with gratitude and thankfulness.  We did not receive nor apply for any government assistance, this would be shameful and take from the people less fortunate.  My mother would buy presents for strangers and hand them out in poor neighborhoods on Christmas eve to super poor kids.  We knew we were poor comparatively but we were always looking forward to days when we would be better off if we just kept working hard.  Movin' on up, towards the middle class!

There are also the working poor on public assistance for a time while they get on their feet.  They are looking up and out for a better life.  They are most certainly not bums.

And finally for the bums in group A.  These are the adults who could work but choose not to.  They are typically on drugs, and typically receiving some form of government money on a monthly basis.  They have no plan to get out of the system and seek only to get as much out of the system as they can.  They are multiple generations removed from anyone in the family actually taking care of themselves.  They steal, scheme and manipulate all just to avoid actually working for their own way in life.  This slothful anchor on our society will be our downfall.

The rest of us non-bums hang out somewhere in the middle.  If you are unsure if you are a bum, chances are that you are.  That's all I really have to say about bums.