Damn, this went way off topic fast.

 

Or not. Never mind the economics, Zambrano is doing a great thing.

 

He's got the resources to do it and he's plucking one lucky child out of probable life-long poverty and into a loving home. I'm assuming that Carlos, away from a baseball field isn't a psychotic disciplinarian and doesn't beat up his home appliances like they're Gatorade jugs, and the kid will have the chance to do great things.

 

It's interesting (as I think has been pointed out) that he's going to Guatemala and not Venezuela for the child. I'm sure he has his reasons, we're not likely to ever know exactly what they are. It's not like he's persona non grata in Venezuela, he was playing winter ball there until we told him to knock it off because we traded for his contract.

 

And where will this child do his or her thing? Here in America. Which means one thing. Freedom. The lack of it is the reason Cespedes did and every one of his former Cuban teammates would defect at the drop of a hat. Just to be somewhere where you might possibly be paid for your talent, whether it ever happens or not. That's one lucky kid.

 

I think the whole adoption thing is a sign that Zambrano has settled down a bit and is taking his life a little more seriously at the ripe old age of 31. He's certainly embarked on a serious obligation with regard to the child.

 

Now, we're about to find out if he can live up to it and, given the apparent size of his ego, he probably has no other choice.

People in this country don't know how to manage their money. Its sad.

 

A lot of truth in this statement right here. Too many people have the mentality of "I have the money, why not spend it" instead of saving up. If you get money, save half or more of it, at least. [That's how I think people should do it, anyways.]

 

Yeah its real easy to save money when you make minimum wage a week, with nearly 1/3 of that in federal taxes, and paying the outrageously unfair sales taxes - a tax that is unfair to lower wage earners and one of the reasons poor people stay poor.

 

I wish you guys had to live one month working on minimum wage with the poor in a slum apartment in Liberty City. You might change your minds on what its like to be poor in the great ol' US of A.

 

I survived for over 18 months on less than $300 a week. BTW, I still saved 10% of my money. I did not dine at restaurants, I cut back my cable to the minimum that would get me internet, I do no have a smart phone, I drove sparingly except for job hunting. Funny thing about sales tax - you do not pay it on food.

 

Did you live in a slum apartment, without any savings at all ? Did you have to feed 3 kids on that salary ? Did you have non-working kitchen appliances that go un-fixed for weeks by a slum lord forcing you to eat out or not eat at all ? (You have to pay taxes on prepared foods at restaurants or from a grocery store).

 

I know of one lady from my church Sondra Johnstone, who when her husband got ill and passed away in 2008, and had 3 kids (4,7 and 11) who was in this situation. She worked at WalMart and had around $ 800 a month after taxes. $ 400 of that went to her Section 8 apartment. Then her kids had to have $ 35 to $ 40 a week for bus fare to get to and from her closest public library so they could have access to a computer to do their after school homework (their school had to terminate the school library internet due to cutbacks from the school taxes - thank you Governor Scott). She had clothe & feed her children as well as pay lights and phone and any entertainment on about $ 200 a month. They had no cable TV and certainly living in an apartment building had no satelite.

 

My wife and I have been assisting Sondra and her children as part of our church witness program for the last 2 years, but what would have happened to Sondra and her children if we had not been there for them ? She is lucky that she does not have a drug problem as well, coming from the environment that she lived in.

 

You guys need to have more sympathy for the working poor in this country. Once again I am dumbfounded by the selfishness and lack of empathy in the younger people in this country. It all stems from the selfish me-ism that pandemic in our society and comes from the Reagan Era "trickle down economics" that has failed in producing a decent standard of living for the "working" poor in the wealthiest country in world.

 

Such a pity. We could be even stronger if we brought them out of poverty. All it would take is emilinating the Bush Tax Cuts.

 

I'm sure Sondra Johnstone really appreciates this post of yours.

All I'll say is this:

 

Trying to argue large-scale issues with personal anectdotes is really stupid. Nobody's experience is the same because nobody's situation is the same. That one person was able to live off $300 says nothing about another's ability to do so, just like one person's inability to live off $800 a month says nothing about another's ability to do so.