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I have posted and read numerous responses in economical threads about poor people needing more assistance. Why is it then that there are people that start at the bottom of the barrel and end up wealthy beyond imagination? Is it because they're simply way more talented than everyone else, or is it because their drive and determination got them there?
I would change the title to thinking being poor is a negative is a mindset. Having becoming instantly poor when I started out on my own it only meant I had less surplus for things which later I could afford. But I do not believe I was needy as basic needs were met. Of course, I refer to being poor in the late 20th century USA. Not other countries without a social net.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by veezybell
I have posted and read numerous responses in economical threads about poor people needing more assistance. Why is it then that there are people that start at the bottom of the barrel and end up wealthy beyond imagination? Is it because they're simply way more talented than everyone else, or is it because their drive and determination got them there?
Everyone can't rise up because there are few very high paying jobs and a lot of low paying jobs. The job market roughly looks like a pyramid. If everyone tomorrow got a bachelor's degree most jobs would still be low wage service jobs, so you wouldn't eliminate low wages at all. As for the few that make it out, when one person rises up they pushed someone else less desirable in their former place.
Beyond that there are people with low IQs, people whose parents were horrible and gave them no foundation, people who got criminal records as teens and are forever undesired by good employers, and yes, people who have no drive and are lazy.
My siblings all rose way above what our parents were. Our dad was an alcoholic bum who rarely worked, our mom was the sole source of income as a nurse aid and later an LPN. My older siblings spent most of their childhood in a run down trailer that sometimes had no running water. I had it better in decent apartments and a new trailer (and away from the bum dad) but didn't grew up rich at all. 4 of us all have bachelor's degrees and make $60k / $60k / $35k / and $30k. Two of my sisters live in households with incomes just above $100k.
What worked for us? 3 of us used grants to get through college (2 went to Berea College, where poor students with good ACT scores go to school for free while working campus jobs) and 1 started as a nurse aid and added on more education through the years and now runs a dialysis clinic. We had to work for it but without affordable education we would not have made it.
Everyone can't rise up because there are few very high paying jobs and a lot of low paying jobs. The job market roughly looks like a pyramid. If everyone tomorrow got a bachelor's degree most jobs would still be low wage service jobs, so you wouldn't eliminate low wages at all. As for the few that make it out, when one person rises up they pushed someone else less desirable in their former place.
Beyond that there are people with low IQs, people whose parents were horrible and gave them no foundation, people who got criminal records as teens and are forever undesired by good employers, and yes, people who have no drive and are lazy.
My siblings all rose way above what our parents were. Our dad was an alcoholic bum who rarely worked, our mom was the sole source of income as a nurse aid and later an LPN. My older siblings spent most of their childhood in a run down trailer that sometimes had no running water. I had it better in decent apartments and a new trailer (and away from the bum dad) but didn't grew up rich at all. 4 of us all have bachelor's degrees and make $60k / $60k / $35k / and $30k. Two of my sisters live in households with incomes just above $100k.
What worked for us? 3 of us used grants to get through college (2 went to Berea College, where poor students with good ACT scores go to school for free while working campus jobs) and 1 started as a nurse aid and added on more education through the years and now runs a dialysis clinic. We had to work for it but without affordable education we would not have made it.
And that's what people need today: education, parents who care, or both. My brothers went to school in the military because our parents didn't care if we went to college and had zero inclination to give us encouragement. I went to college until I couldn't afford it any longer and that was before I could finish a degree. When I finally got to take a quarter of community college on stimulus money, I took 17 units, got a 4.0, and made the president's list (the good one LOL). I tell my mother and she goes, "So what?". I love science and math and I hear the schools are calling out for science and math teachers. I would have loved to have taught math or science in high school, but now it's too late.
My question would be, how many people are being lost that could have contributed to society in a positive way, simply because they can't get the support or the education they need? And why?
And that's what people need today: education, parents who care, or both. My brothers went to school in the military because our parents didn't care if we went to college and had zero inclination to give us encouragement. I went to college until I couldn't afford it any longer and that was before I could finish a degree. When I finally got to take a quarter of community college on stimulus money, I took 17 units, got a 4.0, and made the president's list (the good one LOL). I tell my mother and she goes, "So what?". I love science and math and I hear the schools are calling out for science and math teachers. I would have loved to have taught math or science in high school, but now it's too late.
My question would be, how many people are being lost that could have contributed to society in a positive way, simply because they can't get the support or the education they need? And why?
I still say for the most part it's lousy parenting.
Perhaps a few decades ago not everyone was aware of options, but that's certainly not the case anymore. Not only have student aid programs been around since the early 1970's, there are quantities of scholarships. Even at the worst, anyone these days who wants an education has an equal opportunity to go into debt for the rest of his/her life with student loans. It's not ideal, but it's a chance.
Yet, there are parents who not only don't encourage their kids, they encourage them to go in the opposite direction. One really creepy example is a neighbor whose two teenage daughters are both unwed mothers with two children each, and her oldest son is in jail for selling drugs. What kind of futures do these kids have?
Yet this stupid woman, like many, have the attitude that it's all about WORK, it's all about bringing in money, and that WORK is a much higher priority than EDUCATION. I mean both girls have menial jobs, so that's all their mother thinks is important.
And there are also parents who have no issues with their kids dropping out of school, those who expect their teenaged kids to support themselves, parents who basically enable their kids to become teenage drug addicts, and all sorts of other crap that comes to parents simply not doing their jobs.
I have posted and read numerous responses in economical threads about poor people needing more assistance. Why is it then that there are people that start at the bottom of the barrel and end up wealthy beyond imagination? Is it because they're simply way more talented than everyone else, or is it because their drive and determination got them there?
How often does that really happen? Not very, I'd wager, especially when there are so many obstacles to upward mobility. When it does happen, there is certainly an element of talent and determination, but there are also variables, like simply being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people. Success rarely happens in a vacuum.
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