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Opinion: Don’t blame the rich, take responsibility for yourself 

By Valentina Petrova

1) The rich did not take your money away. You gave it to them. You gave it to them by buying stuff you don’t need but want. No one made you buy a house that’s too big for you, and beyond your budget. No one needs to go on vacations they can’t afford. No one needs more gadgets. No one needs to go clothes shopping every time they are bored. No one needs a new car when they haven’t finished paying for the old one…etc. You choose how to spend your money, and my guess is that your money habits have a lot more to do with where your money went than the top 1% in America.

don't blame the rishI came to this country with $450 in my pocket more than 20 years ago. I am still here and sitting comfortably in my own house, with retirement savings, a nice income, and education. If I can do it, you sure can do it too. Most of you were born here and you didn’t have to learn the language. But you do have to learn how to take responsibility for your own financial situation, work hard, and stop complaining.

2) Socialism sucks. How do I know that? I grew up in it. I grew up looking forward to a future of nothing. The same kind of nothing we all equally had, except of course, our beloved Socialist leaders. They had stuff like limousines when the rest of the country drove cars one step above a horse cart. They had caviar when the rest of us stood on line for endless hours just to buy one loaf of bread, or one bottle of milk. People all got paid the same no matter the quality of their work, or even if they actually worked. Education was free but very few people chose to go further than high school. Because higher education was free, only a few people could be admitted. We had to take exams to qualify and most of the candidates were disqualified. But why bother with higher education at all. Your education level did not increase your earning potential. Why spend any more time sitting behind a school desk when you can get a job immediately and start earning peanuts for work you didn’t give a damn about in first place. We all had the same three styles of living room furniture, wore the same school uniforms, had a choice of the same 5 styles of shoes, and that’s why a lot of people learned how to make their own clothes, including me. I started sewing when i was in 7 grade. There were no fresh fruits and veggies in the stores in the winter, so most families had small family farms to produce and can what they needed for the winter. Money was in short supply, so people learned to get around through their connections. We lived in a world of barter, and favors. Tit for tat went a long way.

Socialism breeds complacency. After 40 years of that, most Bulgarians still hope that someone, like the government, should do something for them, and sit on ass expecting a handout. In two generations people learned that they don’t own anything, and stopped carrying. The result of this complacency is the near death of innovation and progress. Also, a major compensation mechanism – people wear their wealth on their bodies. Even if they can’t afford to pay their electrical bill, they are buying the next pair of jeans. Imagine living in a twisted world of feeling like you are nothing and trying to look like you are something – a vortex of low self-esteem and hopelessness. That’s the result of 40 years of socialism!

There’s a difference between having a healthy capitalism with a good social safety net and an actual socialism. Guess what, nothing is free. Someone’s paying for it, one way or another. You have no right to demand that someone else pays for your shit. Period! If you think I’m wrong, then I demand of you to pay for my next trip to Thailand because I feel like I am entitled to a nice vacation and I’d rather you pay for it than me.

3) Everyone can get rich with enough gumption, ingenuity, and focus. People get rich every day. But in this country, the poor people who win the lottery and get rich overnight, or inherit some money, win a settlement, etc., still manage to mess things up. They still manage to end up poor 10, 20, 30 years later. What’s that telling you? It tells me that if you are not rich, or as wealthy as you think you should be, it’s probably because you’re not doing things right. It’s better to roll up your sleeves, examine your life, your habits, your motivation, learn skills you need, invest in your development, and then you stand a chance of making it above the bottom 10%. But if your entire energy is focused on vilifying someone else, blaming someone else, and complaining while playing all day long, well, you deserve your financial situation, just the way it is.

4) I love America. And I hate all Americans who hate America. There are almost 200 other countries out there. All who don’t like America and are constantly complaining about your miserable lives in America – please, pack your bags and try your luck somewhere else. This is not to say that America is perfect. There are a lot of things we can do better and we should hurry up and do them. But, we can’t do things better with massive amounts of people sitting around and wallowing in their entitlement woes.

My house rules should be this country’s rules: Contribute or get out! Don’t complain about something not being done – do it. Clean up your mess. Do your own laundry. Pay your bills.

Valentina Petrova is a personal coach and consultant. She lives in Morro Bay.

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