Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Mythology on top of mythology. The US and the UK have the lowest levels of inter-generational mobility in the developed world. If you are born into the bottom 20% by income, you are highly likely to remain there. The same is of course true for those born into the top 20%. The deck is stacked. The game here is rigged. All but the blind and blinded see it clearly.
If the deck was stacked, Americans wouldn't praise athletes, musicians, and entertainers who made it. The fact is, if you have the right skill, you can become wealthy in America, no matter who your parents were.
Oprah.
Michael Jordan.
Magic Johnson.
Floyd Mayweather.
Muhammad Ali.
George Foreman.
I can keep listing all day the names of people from normal backgrounds, who with a special talent or ability, are now super rich. Each of these people have expanded way beyond their normal skill, and have established successful businesses that their family will benefit from for generations.
There isn't glass ceiling in the America. There isn't "the man" holding anyone back. If any of you doubt the American dream, please see the story of the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. His story completely debunks all of this privilege crap the left keeps spouting off about. If America was really the way they say it was, the so called "good ole boys" would have destroyed Mr. Khan by now. If you are smart, and work hard in this county, you can go from washing dishes at $1.20 an hour, to building a business empire like Mr. Khan.
In my job in tax and finance, I work with people from various socioeconomic backgrounds. I have worked with insurance salespeople who earn 300k a year in commissions. NOT the owner, actual employees. I worked with an independent programmer who was earning 280k a year. There is money to be made in this country.
Why should anyone feel guilty for having money and sending their kids to private school?
Or maybe he wrote this article during one of those drunk binges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler
Ah, a member of the 1% telling the next 19% to feel guilty. Sorry, no.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat
I vote with stan4: mental problem.
Either you didn't read the whole article or you are being defensive. Or maybe simple?
He didn't say feel guilty. The point of the article is to realize that unless you no kidding are a rags to riches story like Oprah - admit that (1) you are wealthy (2) that being wealthy means that you have a better chance of hanging on to your money and making far more of it (3) that your kids will be wealthy despite being no smarter or talented than a poor persons kid.
Admit that the US is not a meritocracy but has a financial class sytems that works for the rich.
So for people who hate liberals and will love a liberal example - Hollywood. 80% (I made this up, IDK but its a lot) of actors, film producers etc.
are related to someone in the business. Often people you think weren't related to someone in the business actually are.
There are only so many acting jobs out there and if Clint Eastwoods kid and Meryl Streeps kids and Goldie Hawn's kids get automatic parts
it makes it 100% harder for some kid from Omaha to break in even if they have 100x the talent. And I'm not saying Streeps daughter
doesn't have talent. Just that she didn't have to compete and she is going to be rich just like her mama.
Passing on wealth through generations is the most natural thing in the world. Lower income people say they want a level playing field, but when they become successful through hard work or luck or both, they realize they don't want their own children's playing field reset back to 0, either.
This. Absolutely. My parents are upper middle class now, but my father was so poor growing up in Los Angeles during the 30's and 40's that the one room "house" they lived in didn't have a bathroom. They used an outhouse. He went into the service, used $$ from that to go to college and buy his first home.
In the U.S., people have the capacity to change their status. Is that possible in the UK? I read once that the class system is based less on income and more on whether you come from a "titled" family.
More crazy articles than ever. I saw this on another forum, the liberals were out in droves to support it. It reminds me why I no longer there. enough is enough.
To answer your questions about why someone might feel guilty about sending their kids to private school: Hypocrisy. Is that really so impossible for you to understand?
No hypocrisy. No one is required to send their kids to a crappy public school with a poor performance record.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chef Jer
Did Freemkt write that article?
That's funny. I liked it. It was much better than Cats!.
Quote:
Originally Posted by raggedjim
The guy who pumped out my septic system made $200 in 30 minutes. He sent all of his children through college based on crap. Two of them got out of college and now run the business. He's pretty proud of what he has done without even graduating high school. He works hard and he deserves to be proud.
He doesn't care about mythology...
Good point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MLSFan
Admit that most people are poor because they cant budget, make poor financial chooses
Admit that poor people are not poor because they are robbed of their money
If you cant get rich in the US, you wont be rich anywhere in the world
That's true.
Minimum wage in Romania is barely $300/month, yet Romania boasts the highest rate of home-ownership in the World at 90%.
We could send our minimum wage rejects there, but they'd only mess it up and end up homeless.
The biggest problem with the article is that the US is too big and varied to make such generalizations. There may be some areas of the US that fit this narrative, but there are many areas that do not.
Housing in the largest metro areas in the US is not expensive because of exclusionary zoning, but because of the proximity to the main job area. While the mortgage tax deduction may or may not be a handout, it is available to anybody who wants to buy a home with a mortgage.
In the NYC suburbs, there are many cops making $100K+ salaries and many teachers making $60K-$90K. It does not take a special upper middle class boost to train for these jobs or find these jobs. Here is a hint, a married teacher and cop earning $200K in the NYC metro area are not rich. This is why using the $200k across the USA is a poor choice. The author should have adjusted the $200K number for cost of living (NYC metro is more expensive than Toledo, Ohio).
However, if he did make that adjustment, he might not have an article.
The rhetoric of “We are the 99 percent” has in fact been dangerously self-serving, allowing people with healthy six-figure incomes to convince themselves that they are somehow in the same economic boat as ordinary Americans, and that it is just the so-called super rich who are to blame for inequality.
What is the dividing line between 'healthy six-figure income' and "If I earn less than $125,000 a child qualifies for free NYS college tuition" middle class?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
