In Europe, we've don't have healthcare issues - it's free here.
Still, the people are unhappy and poor. Society as a whole is a lot more equal tho, I've friends who are very poor and ones who are very rich and I never sensed a discrimination.
It's just a really ugly situation that I have never actually faced and it puts me in a weird position. I've lived more like a European in some ways, because my father and ex were both career military.
You shouldn't use edge cases to discuss a general rule.
Bullshit. Poor people make bad decisions because they have more opportunities to do so, and less opportunities to make good decisions. Rich people don’t have to decide a damn thing to end up on top, just do what you’re told, work hard, and go with the flow; have your quarter-life identity crisis after you get your MBA and take that VP job at GS. Poor people don’t have any easy answers, and rich people would probably do a lot worse in their situation.
It's so true as a rich man, I never needed to study much. If I need to make a deal, I ask my rich friends/family members for a referral to a lawyer, most of the time the lawyer itself is a member of the extended family, at least that's what it feels like. So, if the task is outside his expertise, he recommends me a very good person. They completely dissect the problem and analyze it from multiple angles, I find their insights helpful much like the insights from Hacker news members.
Same way, we know most bankers by their face in our city. If I even see the slightest mark on my skin, I ask my family doctor and they offer me best recommendation.
Once upon a time I applied for a credit card but I defaulted on payment, not because of lack of cash but because I never studied how a credit card works. So, what I did? I just hired a guy with employment contract set out to prevent such losses due to high interests on a credit card etc... He works with my financial planner now.
If you read through my comments, you'll see how dumb I really am. But navigating life, making friends, marrying a beautiful woman is a lot easier for me than understanding credit card rules.
My sympathy with people who are stuck with same issues as me. In my family also there are only a few truly smart people, rest have inherited most of their wealth.
> But navigating life, making friends, marrying a beautiful woman is a lot easier for me than understanding credit card rules.
I mean this nicely: if you don’t know how a credit card works to the point of default, you shouldn’t have a credit card. I mean, it’s in the name: credit. You say you don’t understand credit card rules, but that’s not even a rule, that’s just the basic function of the card. It doesn’t take study, it takes three seconds of grabbing someone off the street and asking “how does a credit card work?” As someone not from money, it is incredibly frustrating to read that you hired someone to deal with a basic problem that we all learn how to manage in high school, when some of us have ACTUAL problems that we can’t afford to just make vanish.
> If I even see the slightest mark on my skin, I ask my family doctor and they offer me best recommendation.
Please learn when to see a doctor. Most marks on your skin are benign or normal, and when something is really wrong you can tell (e.g. infection, irregular mole/growth, etc.) Everything else is a waste of healthcare time and dollars.
Not to mention that, as others said, making the "right" choices may not be financially feasible; when you're poor, you're more often than not stuck in a "lesser of evils" situation.