Of Self-Reliance and Class Envy

               My column is late this week, and I have no one to blame but myself.  I aspire to be a syndicated columnist. But I lack the self-discipline required to meet deadlines - that is those deadlines where there is no threat of getting a lower grade on an assignment, no threat of having guests into a messy house, or some other unpleasant consequence. The only threat here is that I won't realize my dream, and who is responsible for that, if not I myself?
               I am a member of the "98%," that majority of the U.S. population that is not wealthy. My husband's modest income is sufficient to support us comfortably, if not lavishly, although we occasionally have room in the budget for a few luxuries. I also have a small disability check that comes each month, thanks to SSDI, but that is money due to me thanks to payroll taxes; it isn't a handout. And I am trying to get back into the work force.
              I am not envious of those who are wealthy. The overwhelming majority of them have worked hard to earn what they have, and I do not begrudge them what they have. I would like to be wealthy, but if I never am, I cannot complain that I have been at an unfair disadvantage. God has blessed them, and He has blessed me and my husband - in different ways perhaps, but I know of no universal law requiring God to bless all of us equally.
              For the past two or three years, the news has been full of stories about Occupy Wall Street and its various derivatives. We've heard about how the "99%" or the "98%" have been unfairly denied a piece of the American Dream by the "2%." I have read on my Facebook page comments from people I know which indicate they feel entitled to a share of what the "2%" have earned on the basis that they helped to build it. They seem to forget that they have shared in the prosperity: the wealth of that 2% has provided the jobs which have enabled them to provide for themselves.
             Yes, this country still has a high unemployment rate, four years after electing a president who campaigned on "hope and change," who promised to restore the economic prosperity this nation has enjoyed in unprecedented abundance for more than 50 years. But this president's policies have been rooted in the idea that our problems have been created and exacerbated by that same 2%.
              The Great Recession, which began in 2007, was largely ushered in by misguided government policies encouraging, at times requiring, banks to make questionable real estate loans to people who would not otherwise have qualified. All too often, these people were encouraged to buy more house than they could afford, lured by adjustable rate mortgages and low monthly payments that would increase sharply after 5 years, with the promise that they could then refinance to a fixed rate and not have to come up with the money to make those bigger payments. The problem was that real estate values did not increase sufficiently to allow that promised refinance. Too many of those first-time home-buyers found they couldn't afford the higher monthly payments, and they defaulted.
               Add to all this the fact that many of these banks then bundled these risky loans into securities which they sold in order to spread the risk. When home foreclosures reached a critical mass, the result was plummeting home values. Several investment firms went under, causing a cascade of unemployment. As more and more people found themselves out of work for extended periods, they began filing bankruptcy. More foreclosures ensued.
               The point I am making is that while the actions of some financiers exacerbated a looming market failure, government policies intended to make everything "fair" actually made things worse. And people who bought into the fantasy of owning a big, beautiful home that they would not have been able to afford in any case, contributed to the problem by not planning for those higher payments. Instead, encouraged by loose lending practices, many went deeply into debt to finance lavish vacations, home improvements, furniture, and just about anything their hearts desired. The result was that when the bills came due, they didn't have the money to pay them. Is this the fault of the 2%? Perhaps, in that many of them took advantage of the opportunities afforded by the reckless profligacy of American society. But they didn't hold a gun to anyone's head to get them to make them do it.
                Unfortunately, the cynical manipulation of public sentiment against the 2% by this president has resulted in many people feeling that they are somehow owed a comfortable life, a nice house, health care, a higher education, and who knows what else? Things that my parents and others of their generation assumed they had to work for are now deemed entitlements, and if getting them means that the 2% have to pay more in taxes so that the majority of us can reap the benefits, so be it.
                 In the meantime, more and more people are receiving EBT cards and welfare checks. Fewer Americans are working to pay taxes to provide all those social benefits. And government regulations and taxes make it harder and harder for business owners to earn money so that they can hire employees. And yet we're told that the wealthy have to "pay their fair share," without any specifics on just what that "fair share" is. Personally, I don't want what someone else has earned. I just want the chance to earn something for myself.  The policies of this administration, and the failure of Congress to enact any meaningful reform of spending and the tax code, have made that harder and harder.
                  Let's stop blaming the 2%. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.