My wife loves this story and watches every movie but I have a few complaints to get off my chest regarding the story since I have to watch every variation of the story every freaking year. Scrooge is portrayed as a greedy, cruel man. Are the poor not greedy for money as well? Did the poor do anything to create value in exchange for Scrooge's hard earned money? What's the lesson of this story?...that it's ok to hobble about in life and accept other's hard earned money without any risk of investment yourself? I know what someone will say. It's about the giving *cuddle hugs*. That he 'should' share his good fortune (aka: good decision making) with people that make bad decisions on a daily basis.....sounds legit. Scrooge was a consistant, working man that took his money and invested it along with this late partner and yet he's to be punished for creating employment opportunity and providing a service for which is apparently in demand. Cratchet accepted Scrooge's job offering and pay, therefore we conclude that it's a better paying job than he could otherwise get because he certainly can quit at any time...so what's the problem? Why did Cratchet accept the job position and pay only to mope about while his greedy wife and kids thinks he deserves more pay? His wife in several variations of the story, tell's her husband that she would like to give him a piece of her mind (regarding his pay)...what a greedy b***?..maybe get a job and invest or something? Let's say you agree to accept a $7.25 hr position at Walmart. Then you (or your wife) complain it's not enough when you literally just agreed to it...why would you do that? Is it Walmart's fault that you can't find a better paying job? Maybe it's the CEO's fault for doing his job and everything he's paid to do to make investors a return on their investment and maximizing that return? Who poses the most risk of loss here? A good decision is to invest in yourself but here we are teaching our kids that it's ok to make bad decisions and demand more because rich people are greedy :3eyes: Rule #1 about America that this story neglects. Employee's only exist to make investors money. They are a side effect (investment expense) to the creation and management of any business that requires employees. If you make burgers, you need to buy a grill, meat and someone or something to flip them. You don't pay more for the grill than what it's value is so why would you pay more for the employee and not the grill?...oh cause they have feelings that come bagged with the package. Rule #2. Don't accept a job offering if you are going to complain about the very pay that you agreed to. That's what a job is, an agreement of exchange between 2 parties. Clearly I'm out of touch with reality here since I just don't understand. So why is Scrooge punished for following the clearly defined structure of legitimate income in his country and his choice of what to do with this income?
...So a story written by an Englishman set in England neglects your sense of how the US apparently works? Also hold in mind, that at the time the novel was written, conditions for the poor were far worse than they are now. It wasn't simply a case of going out and getting a job, and Scrooge wasn't just a wealthy man who was good with money. He was a bitter old miser who was terribly unhappy with his own life, he cared for nobody but himself. As others have stated, this has totally flew over your head. I wouldn't want to celebrate Christmas with you.
But I never mentioned anything about Christmas. Merely the fact of punishment for Scroodges good decisions, be it Christmas or other. Ones distaste for Christmas such as Scrooge's is completely irrelevant to the fact that he's punished for making good financial decisions with a choice of not sharing. So curious why you attribute a story perspective to my personal life is quite an interesting judgmental jump to a conclusion. But yes I celebrate the tradition as most typically do though no one answered my question. I remember he wants more food. Greedy little thing I'd say.
The fact that you think of Scrooge as fiscally responsible and not miserly and mean shows a lot about your character. He was in a position to afford to be charitable and chose not to be and hoard his wealth. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates probably don't agree with your viewpoint either.
You clearly missed the entire premise of the book. It has nothing to with him being financially smart. It has to do with him being a miserable individual who has corrupt and misguided morals and that if he doesn't change no one will care. His money wasn't a source of happiness for him. It became a source of misery and self loathing because he lost everyone he ever truly cared about. If you read the book, or watch one of the many films again, pay close attention to the visits by the 3 ghosts. They show him very clearly the path he is on due to his past, present, and presumed future actions. It's a Christmas book, so its meant as a story of redemption, not as a demonstration of whether someone is smart with their money.
Wow funny thread, reading the OP already made me understand you have a hard time grasping the concept behind A Christmas Carol. You should ask kids, they understand It's about the fact that money is worth nothing if it doesn't make you happy. And that being happy does not require sh*tloads of money either. Key thing, it's actually not about Scrooge's money, but his lack of anything that makes him feel good inside (and greedily grabbing money all over the place and abusing your "investment's side effects" aka human beings does not help him either).
To the OP, I also suggest researching 1834 poor laws. It will help you understand why Bob Cratchit would rather have a raise (the reason being, not greed, but it would provide the needed money for Tiny Tim's operation, and only AFTER his change of heart did Scrooge pay for it), working for an old miser like Scrooge than having to go work in one of the workhouses setup for the poor.
Rule #1 about America that this story neglects. Employee's only exist to make investors money. They are a side effect (investment expense) to the creation and management of any business that requires employees. If you make burgers, you need to buy a grill, meat and someone or something to flip them. You don't pay more for the grill than what it's value is so why would you pay more for the employee and not the grill?...oh cause they have feelings that come bagged with the package. WOW!! As others have said the story is about how money really isn't what makes us happy. The fact that you equate a grill (in your example) to be more valuable than an employee/fellow human is unbelievable. Even from a purely financial point of view, let's say there is a fire on the premises, would you send an employee back into a burning building to rescue your equipment? If that person is injured/dies you'd soon find out how much a persons life was worth in comparison through jail time and multiple law suits
An alternative version of the story could be Scrooge keeping all his money to to himself, Tiny Tim dying from poverty and then Scrooge dying alone. We wish you a Merry Xmas.......
It's almost as if the dude we're celebrating on Christmas might have had something to say about hording wealth and not helping out the less fortunate. I don't think it was a ringing endorsement.