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Fairness? There was never any fairness for anyone. Fortune favors the bold. You want something? You take it. You don't know how to take it? You figure it out and THEN you take it. Yes, it's harder than a generation ago. It will continue to get harder.Those who are ambitious and yes, scheming will get ahead and survive. The whiners and moochers will not.It's very Darwinian.
Pretty much how it is. My family was poor, but my father built his own business. We were middle class.
At the same age, I have done even better than my father. While other people stopped working after their jobs, I spent time in free career development classes. I have gone from living in a homeless shelter to a comfortable life. I am on my way to 6 figures.
I grew up around other poor families and have seen similar success. Some worked hard in school, while being busted on for being nerds or geeks. They ended up doing better than the other guys.
More like the dying American work ethic, based on my own experience.
One of the best posts I ever seen on here. Excellent post. I love USA as much as anybody but we are not even close to the best educated or most industrious.
Pretty much how it is. My family was poor, but my father built his own business. We were middle class.
At the same age, I have done even better than my father. While other people stopped working after their jobs, I spent time in free career development classes. I have gone from living in a homeless shelter to a comfortable life. I am on my way to 6 figures.
I grew up around other poor families and have seen similar success. Some worked hard in school, while being busted on for being nerds or geeks. They ended up doing better than the other guys.
And I know a few examples myself, all immigrants from Europe. It's very simple: Do you want to have money or be poor? Or do you want to be rich or poor - for those who aspire to have serious $$$. Rich can mean 6 or 7 figures to one guy. To another it means having his own business or be in a partnership where he has comfortable income. But either way, it's still the same question: do you want to have money or not. It's not rocket science. Social programs guarantee poverty. Mindlessly reproducing when you are poor/on social programs guarantees poverty.
You can still get ahead in America and have your "American dream", whatever that means to you. You just have to use your head...and be ruthless about it.
One of the best posts I ever seen on here. Excellent post. I love USA as much as anybody but we are not even close to the best educated or most industrious.
If you want proof, all we have to do is look at the sickening entitlement mentality that has become ingrained in this society. Take, for instance, the people who take extended unemployment benefits and drop out of the workforce, waiting several years in some cases to rejoin the workforce because they feel that they're too good to work for just anyone, that it has to be their industrial or banking job they lost 5 years ago. I'll be the first to say, Corporate America is setting a terrible example with its golden parachutes, but I'm no longer sympathetic to the average moron who essentially makes himself unemployable.
Fairness? There was never any fairness for anyone. Fortune favors the bold. You want something? You take it. You don't know how to take it? You figure it out and THEN you take it. Yes, it's harder than a generation ago. It will continue to get harder.Those who are ambitious and yes, scheming will get ahead and survive. The whiners and moochers will not.It's very Darwinian.
Based on this attitude can one assume that your heroes include Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Pol Pot of Cambodia and Idi Amin of Uganda to name just a few?
America has never been a country for the poor or for people to scrape by being average. Upward mobility is all about how badly you want it. I suppose I can be considered poor but that is a lifestyle choice I have made for various reasons.
Based on this attitude can one assume that your heroes include Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Pol Pot of Cambodia and Idi Amin of Uganda to name just a few?
We are discussing the American dream and the personal attitude it takes to be financially successful, specifically post Recession. We're not discussing the merits of political dictatorships. You're in the wrong forum. I am adamantly against dictatorships. Dictatorships= socialist countries. American dream= capitalist democracies ("Republics"). Adjust your tin foil hat.
Absolute mobility, annual income relative to parent's income, has grown. The median family income is 12% higher than 1980 adjusted for inflation.
More families have 2 earners than in the past. You would need to compare per person which shows stagnant wages since the 70's. Social mobility is worse in America than in most other developed countries, especially those in Europe.
More like the dying American work ethic, based on my own experience.
Garbage. You realize Americans are in the top 10 countries in number of hours worked, no? We also have no mandated vacation time or sick time for the most part in contrast to the rest of the developed world.
More families have 2 earners than in the past. You would need to compare per person which shows stagnant wages since the 70's. Social mobility is worse in America than in most other developed countries, especially those in Europe.
They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it.
There are few households where the 16 year old is the primary income earner. Their dual income parents would be the primary income earners. From the same site, I would use the 25+ age cohorts. The average earnings are higher than ever for the last 60 years from 1949-2011. The exception is 1973-74. That's right before the end of the Vietnam War. Many Americans were pulled out of the labor force to fight, so wages were inflated. If the US can reinstate the draft, it might be better for the numbers. SMH.
Last edited by move4ward; 08-23-2014 at 11:10 AM..
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