[nkangoh]

I once had a conversation with someone who described themselves as "rich." They claimed the poor had it easy. I asked him: "If the poor have it so easy, would you switch places?"

There was silence.

Do the poor not have to pay for things that the rich have to pay for? Yes. Is their life ultimately easier as a result? I don't think so. Coming from a poor background and now having experience with the average software engineer's salary, I'd rather have the latter, 100%.

[techsupporter]

Your question seems to me to be a false equivalence. The word "easy" is perceived as coming from this: A "rich" person sees him or herself as putting a lot into the economic system and, therefore, receiving much from it but he or she also sees a "poor" person as putting very little into the economic system yet still receiving an amount sufficient for survival and some luxuries from it (and, since social welfare is paid for through taxes, also reducing the amount that the "rich" person receive back from his or her economic input).

In other words, "those people have food, a refrigerator, a car and an iPhone, how bad can it really be?"