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Life isn't fair. Some people are born rich and some are born poor. Some are born with disabling odds and others are born with talents and abilities. In the end, it is up to us to each use the resources, talents, and abilities available to us. It doesn't matter what the other guy has. We may never have the opportunity to have it all, but it is up to us individually to use whatever resources we have in the best manner possible. I don't see the 'rich' holding others back as much as I see the 'poor' sabotaging themselves. This man is just offering up more excuses.
Privilege doesn't exist. It's tough to deny something that doesn't exist.
"Privilege" is a loaded word, but wealth does provide a lot of advantages. Of course, there are other advantages that aren't financial (talent, connections, physical ability, etc), but money is a big one.
@ Pub-911 and others that are so down on America not being the "Land of Opportunity" anymore and that its a "rigged" system, well name another country that you lived in where you feel immigrants or poor could advance themselves and move up in class? England? Countries in Western Europe?
America certainly has its problems, but I've lived in many countries and none compare to the opportunities and fairness the U.S. offers to ALL its people, born in the U.S. or not. It all depends on if people want to work for it, or want it handed to them.
Sure, some people are born into a better position, but that's life. Its what you make of what you were given that counts.
@ Pub-911 and others that are so down on America not being the "Land of Opportunity" anymore and that its a "rigged" system, well name another country that you lived in where you feel immigrants or poor could advance themselves and move up in class? England? Countries in Western Europe?
America certainly has its problems, but I've lived in many countries and none compare to the opportunities and fairness the U.S. offers to ALL its people, born in the U.S. or not. It all depends on if people want to work for it, or want it handed to them.
Sure, some people are born into a better position, but that's life. Its what you make of what you were given that counts.
Here in the U.S. we are raised to believe, go to college and get a good job "working for someone else". There is very little financial education taught in our government run schools. The problem is, having money, as important as it is to have it, few make the effort to learn how to handle it, and invest it.
People opt for what they think is "security" when there is no such thing and are afraid to go out of their "comfort zone. People tend to follow, or march to the same drummer as the people around them, afraid to step outside the box.
Our parents know just as little and alot of times are stressed about it and that way of thinking is passed on down the generations. As they say, look at your parents, for most, there go you in your future.
People follow instead of being different and taking risks. Of course there is plenty of naysayers around to make sure you stay in line with the drummer. Whew, thank god I marched to a different drummer.
Life isn't fair. Some people are born rich and some are born poor. Some are born with disabling odds and others are born with talents and abilities. In the end, it is up to us to each use the resources, talents, and abilities available to us. It doesn't matter what the other guy has. We may never have the opportunity to have it all, but it is up to us individually to use whatever resources we have in the best manner possible. I don't see the 'rich' holding others back as much as I see the 'poor' sabotaging themselves. This man is just offering up more excuses.
Power is a zero-sum game. The higher the inequality, the less democracy, as the super rich can buy off politicians and rig the system to their advantage. Research shows that the vast majority of Americans have zero influence on public policy while the ruling donor class essentially set policy. Is that democracy? Or oligarchy?
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.
I haven't looked at this stuff in years but I'm pretty sure your claim about US intergenerational mobility* is wrong. If you are referencing the work of Lind and or Longman I guarantee you it's wrong.
Historically, as a society that values and pays well for education and specialization the bottom quintile has been very sticky. Other quintiles much less so.
*Are you talking about relative or absolute intergenerational mobility? They are very different things.
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[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily. In North America, employers choose from among a boatload of "turnkey" applicants who offer a set of trained or educated skills. In Japan, employers chase the best graduates and train new hires to meet the employer's needs, wants, and objectives.
In Japan, I would have been recruited by employers who would have then trained me. In North America, I graduated in the top 3% (grades and test scores) of my class, but couldn't afford to go to law school, so I didn't get to become a lawyer.
That's a dodge. If you had really wanted to become a lawyer you could have done so. You still can.
So we need to stop claiming that we are a land of opportunity, a meritocracy where anyone can come and realize the American dream. Perhaps we should instead be boasting that we are a wealth-based association of close-knit country clubs who protect their own and deny access to as many others as possible.
This is true!
I used to work in HR and took care of the basics of hiring. Almost all the amazing job opportunities at our company were filled with "people who knew the right people." A great job opens up and instead of searching for the best candidate out there, we would end up hiring the CFO's son's college roommate. The CFO's son worked for a company owned by a golfing buddy of the CFO. I saw this over and over. Nobody wanted to be accused of nepotism so they wouldn't hire their own family but made sure their friends did.
The upper and high upper middle class world tends to be very small and they all take care of each other. It's very hard for someone raised in an average family to break into that world, the few who do tend to be very high achievers who were able to attend very good schools and made their connections that way. Most of these people who were raised well off take it for granted and do not see or understand how much privilege helped them. They will simply attribute all their success to hard work and assume anyone who hasn't made it to high levels is just too lazy or stupid.
People don't need to feel guilty but awareness would go a long way. Being blind to one's privilege is a problem because it inhibits one's ability to truly understand how the world works and empathize with people raised in much different circumstances.
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