Many rich people have horrible and or non-existent “moral fiber”. One cannot simply blame a supposed lack of morals for one’s economic status.
As a “person of color”, I will share my observations and comments on why I stated the key in this debate is moral fiber. Being rich is not the same as being wealthy, and YES lack of morals does matter.
Please do not take my points to infer that I am a communitarian, collectivist or believe in simple foolishness like social justice or collective salvation. You can infer that I am a believer and know that right and wrong exist and that there are moral absolutes! You, of course are more than free to believe what you wish.
Blame and responsibility are concepts that are crucial both to conservative thought, but also economic prosperity. They work that way in an individual and not collective manner. We have folks across America, blaming others and not taking responsibility for their actions. I do not have to point them out since you can Google their blogs, scan you-tube or read their articles in the New York Times. I was raised NOT to blame others for choices and actions that I am responsible for. That in a nutshell, is moral fiber.
Sure we often have celebrities and (those evil) rich folks that wallow in moral turpitude, decadence and self-indulgence, but still seem not to lack for material items. This talk is not about that! It is about people that make choices not grounded in morals and then wanting the system to bail them out. (Like GM. AIG and the State of California). The comment I posted was directed at an article that wants to excuse poor behavior and I was not going there….