America has an empathy problem. Our famous sayings are things like 'life isn't fair'[hidden inside this is the message: so it's OK for me to fuck you over] or 'nobody owes you anything'[so the status quo is just fine- if you want something more, you're just a whiner] We love being 'un PC'- i.e. we love to offend random people for no reason whatsoever and then wonder why they are offended. With our celebration of the asshole, it's a wonder that anyone avoids stabbing folks in the fucking ear.

Of course, nobody likes a whiner- which sucks because actually social support helps ward off mental illness. Another issue is that before helping someone, we're always worrying about whether they 'deserve' it. I have to admit this makes me crazy. Would any of us sign on for five years of no entertainment that costs money, and no ice cream ? But we seem to expect poor people not to 'waste money' on frivulous things such as TVs or spend our hardearned money on ice cream. Didn't we get the memo that you're not usually poor for a month and pull yourself out of it by not buying Starbucks? Poverty can drag on for years on end,you know.