[A. Pole]

there are many, many people here on FR who for some reason are quick to blame the victim. They shoot from the hip for some odd motivation which I suspect is a Rush-like wannbe for "tough love", or seemingly like a tough-minded, "rugged individualist", and not recognize that there are many, many people out there who through no fault of their own end up with a lot of bad breaks.

Very likely it is a bastardized version of Calvinism - poverty, illness and other misfortunes are punishment for sins and the key sign of being chosen for eternal damnation.

[Nowhere Man]

Very likely it is a bastardized version of Calvinism - poverty, illness and other misfortunes are punishment for sins and the key sign of being chosen for eternal damnation.

Yeah, it has it roots there, it is called "Social Gospel" or "Prosperity Gospel." In some ways, it is much like Hinduism on the points where your lot in life is attached to your karma (good or bad) from what you do in this life and past lives, although I'm not sure if and how Calvanism would address the past life issue. There is a good read about it here: The Social Gospel - Its Origins & History by Todd F. Eklof March 7, 2004

It's from the site of a Unitarian Church, normally I don't agree with Unitarianism on a lot of social matters but on this case of economics I have to say the Unitarians hit it dead on.