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Blaming the Rich for One's Poverty Will NEVER Improve One's Financial Condition


Previously, I wrote about how the Philippines can never get rich by blaming its richer Asian neighbors. Right now, I think I want to write this new short where I'm talking about the anti-successful people mindset. I remembered a couple of people I met in college who had this bad habit of saying, "It's the fault of the rich that we're poor!" I was often told that I "bullied" them because I was one of those whom they call "may kaya" (those who are better off). Such statements happen when I also mention something like, "Do you people wonder why you have little to no money?" I must "applaud" the stupidity of the argument that says, "It's the fault of the rich that we're poor!" 

Why is it common for some poor people to rudely generalize the rich as insensitive people while they're the victim? Psychology Today presents this on why some people will always blame others. It's really something when you think about this:

Study 1 findings: Poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive activities (FOAself) when experiencing negative affect.” This supports the view that individuals who have difficulty coping with negative emotions tend to blame other people for their own bad choices. Good emotion regulators, in contrast, were not affected in this way by negative emotions.

Study 2 findings: Poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive items (FOAself) when reporting high compared to low subjective anger.” In contrast, good emotion regulators’ “FOAself rates for unattractive items were unaffected by their level of subjective anger.”

Study 3 findings: Negative feelings appeared to “lead poor emotion regulators to project their own poor choices onto someone else.” After recalling a negative (versus positive) event, only poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive items (FOAself).” Not surprisingly, blaming others appeared to reduce negative feelings.

It's very easy to blame others, right? It's harder to work your way out of poverty. That's why it was easy for Communist leaders to dupe others. Think about how Karl Marx blamed the rich. Mao Zedong also blamed the rich. Some idiots claim that the Great Leap Forward was a good thing (never mind the well-documented atrocities) because of the deaths of landlords. What's often ignored is that the landlord has the duty to make sure that the land that tenants rented on is well taken care of. Be a good landlord and you get the best profits eventually. If you are a bad landlord who only wants easy profits then you expect really bad outcomes. 

I wonder if poor people who blame the rich for their poverty ever realize some of the rich they hate used to be poor. Did you know that Lucio Tan Sr. once worked as a janitor? Did you know that Jollibee's founder Tony Tan Caktiong also used to be poor? Did you know that the late Henry Sy Sr. used to sell shoes for a living? These men that I mentioned are examples of from broke to billionaires. Yet, you have some bitter poor people who keep saying, "No to billionaires! The rich are evil! The poor are oppressed!" Such people could still be hypocritically wanting expensive stuff, eating at expensive places, dressing up expensively, wanting fancy cars, and in short, a very expensive lifestyle. Most of the hatred against the rich for simply being rich is rooted in a bitter attitude. 

Reading the rags-to-riches story is the story of working hard and working smart. It's not like the mindset that Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) have where they must "reclaim the riches of the rich". True, some rich people got rich by dishonest means or cutting corners. However, wealth perpetuity is maintained by honest work such as paying employees the right salary, spending on making sure that there's a healthy work environment, participating in charity work, and giving customers the best of what one can offer. What's ironic is that some poor people would rather get rich quick fast. Jeff Bezos of Amazon asked Warren Edward Buffett why people refuse to follow the latter's simple investment strategy. Buffett says it's because people want to get rich quick fast.

Not everybody will be rich. It's a matter of lifestyle principles. Sure, not everyone will be entrepreneurs otherwise there will be no employees. Some people may get stuck working a 9 AM to 5 PM job. However, one can learn from Buffett's simple investing strategy such as cost-averaging into an index fund, investing the money you don't need now (such as setting aside 20% of money for investments), and not splurging one's paycheck. If one ends up losing money because of an irresponsible financial habit then there's no one else to blame but one's self. 

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