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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,642 posts, read 81,368,328 times
Reputation: 57893
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yakscsd
What a bunch of whiners. There are plenty of good jobs for people that work hard. Last year I decided I wanted to go back to working for someone else after a few years working for myself. I don't work in IT and no nothing beyond using a computer. But I do work hard, am quick to learn, am honest and loyal. I had two goals, 6 figures and director title or higher. Everyone laughed and said that at mid fifty's I'd never find it. Wrong had it in under 3 months. fast forward a year later, decided I didn't like what I was doing so I walked away from the job so i would have more time to find a better job. People said I was a fool for leaving a six figure job with great benefits in this economy. I said I have a lot of self confidence. 13 days later I signed an offer of acceptance on a new job with 10% more pay, VP title and more vacation. People need to stop finding expenses, have some confidence in yourselves and go get what you want, including bootstrapping.
Similar for me. I had my own business until 2008, then got a decent job in 2009 at age 57, promotions to supervisor then manager since, with annual performance based raises now making 40% more than when I started there less than 5 years ago and a lot more than from the business, with much shorter work hours and actual paid benefits.
Things may not be as good as they used to be, but at the end of the day people who work hard and try to better themselves will on average be more successful than people who don't. Even in today's economy someone who works hard and gives his or her all to a job will not be making minimum wage for long. Life has no guarantees but if you're betting on yourself you'll have better odds if you go the boot strappy route than you will if you go the "life ain't fair someone oughta make a law" route.
My opinion is that I don't care that if you've done a ton of drugs, were a terrible person and made a ton of horrible choices, the punishment for irresponsible behavior shouldn't be total destitution. You should feel the brunt of your actions but it should never lead to a dead end. Thus used to always be the country of second chances because everyone knew just getting a job that paid a decent enough wage to scratch a living and rebuild yourself was possible. Now you're lucky enough to find a crappy job in the first place if you've been at the bottom rung of the irresponsible ladder.
But for some reason cons want to place "tough love" on the working class. If they ran amok with credit well then they have to pay, literally more in deposits even though they might make enough in wages to afford the payments. That's just one example.
Meanwhile big corporations and their heads get away with literal murder. From environmental violations, to open fraud, to war profiteering, etc. all of it falls under the banner of contributing to the economy. Then they're praised in financial rags for closing plants in the Midwest and opening them up in the third world and calling that efficiency. It doesn't matter what it does to the town as a whole because they have no concept of social responsibility and the law is on their side!
The rich never have to live in financial insecurity or ruin. Yet they have the nerve to tell poor people how to live. They never have to adjust their lives to fit an economic downturn, but they tell poor people to live within their means.
Its a sick, insular and near sociopathic logic they have. They hide behind the facade of just following the dictates of the market but clearly they're dictating things to their own benefit without giving a good god damn about the people they hurt.
Similar for me. I had my own business until 2008, then got a decent job in 2009 at age 57, promotions to supervisor then manager since, with annual performance based raises now making 40% more than when I started there less than 5 years ago and a lot more than from the business, with much shorter work hours and actual paid benefits.
And then there are those who have a self-congratulatory itch that needs to be scratched every day, even if the oft-told story might not be true.
And even if it were true, why would someone need to parrot it so much? We've all heard this nonsense before..
Obviously there is a lot of people here who have stories about how they started out with nothing and worked their way up into a 6-figure job. These are encouraging stories and I don't doubt their veracity.
However, at the end of the day, aren't there only so many good jobs to go around, and isn't there an ever-dwindling number of them? I mean, that fact wouldn't change even if everyone had a Ph.D., and IQ of 170 and an astronomical work ethic.
More people will find a reason to NOT pull themselves up by the boot straps, than a reason to do it.
I barely made it out of high school with a 2.0 GPA.
I was ranked 500th out of class of 550.
I never graduated college.
I don't have the IQ to make it into MENSA.
I am in the bottom 10% of height.
I am not a loner.
I was homeless for almost a year.
Even though, I am below average in many respects, I pulled up my boot straps and got to work.
I don't sleep in crowded homeless shelters anymore. I don't take "baths" in the sinks of public restrooms anymore.
I make close to $90k in a salaried position. If I want to go into contract work, I could make $110+k with a small amount of over time
I excelled, because there will always be more people that look for a reason to not pull up their bootstraps.
Obviously there is a lot of people here who have stories about how they started out with nothing and worked their way up into a 6-figure job. These are encouraging stories and I don't doubt their veracity.
However, at the end of the day, aren't there only so many good jobs to go around, and isn't there an ever-dwindling number of them? I mean, that fact wouldn't change even if everyone had a Ph.D., and IQ of 170 and an astronomical work ethic.
These days the PhD alone wouldn't get you that good job; not if you didn't have at least 10 years' full time paid verifiable experience IN THE FIELD. You can't just go get a PhD in your field because nothing wants to hire you with "just" a Master's because then you will be about 8 years older with 8 more years of "no experience" under your belt. And this is for five-figure jobs, not even six-figure jobs.
No one pulls themselves up by their bootstraps. Anyone that has attained success of any kind has received some form of help. Man is not an island. You cannot do it alone.
Even if you were homeless and now working..... Someone offered you a job. Let's say you created a job instead..... You wouldn't have money without a paying customer that decided to give you a chance.
More people will find a reason to NOT pull themselves up by the boot straps, than a reason to do it.
I barely made it out of high school with a 2.0 GPA.
I was ranked 500th out of class of 550.
I never graduated college.
I don't have the IQ to make it into MENSA.
I am in the bottom 10% of height.
I am not a loner.
I was homeless for almost a year.
Even though, I am below average in many respects, I pulled up my boot straps and got to work.
I don't sleep in crowded homeless shelters anymore. I don't take "baths" in the sinks of public restrooms anymore.
I make close to $90k in a salaried position. If I want to go into contract work, I could make $110+k with a small amount of over time
I excelled, because there will always be more people that look for a reason to not pull up their bootstraps.
If everyone pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, you wouldn't be making $90k and neither would they.
Did you appoint yourself to a $90k year job? I don't think you did. You received help. Don't for once think you did it alone from hard work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by move4ward
More people will find a reason to NOT pull themselves up by the boot straps, than a reason to do it.
I barely made it out of high school with a 2.0 GPA.
I was ranked 500th out of class of 550.
I never graduated college.
I don't have the IQ to make it into MENSA.
I am in the bottom 10% of height.
I am not a loner.
I was homeless for almost a year.
Even though, I am below average in many respects, I pulled up my boot straps and got to work.
I don't sleep in crowded homeless shelters anymore. I don't take "baths" in the sinks of public restrooms anymore.
I make close to $90k in a salaried position. If I want to go into contract work, I could make $110+k with a small amount of over time
I excelled, because there will always be more people that look for a reason to not pull up their bootstraps.
No one pulls themselves up by their bootstraps. Anyone that has attained success of any kind has received some form of help. Man is not an island. You cannot do it alone.
Even if you were homeless and now working..... Someone offered you a job. Let's say you created a job instead..... You wouldn't have money without a paying customer that decided to give you a chance.
No one does it alone.
No one does it alone but it is up to each individual to get up and do it, not expect to have it done for them.
And I like to think of myself as an island in an archipelago.
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