Disagree, You make the choices for life. Accept personal responsibility.
Most people do accept responsibility.
This is the problem:
>In the decade through 2018, average household incomes for those with a high school diploma have risen about 15%, to roughly $46,000, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data available.
>Not only is that less than the 20% increase registered on a broad basket of goods over the span, but key costs that play an outsize role in middle-class budgets have increased much more: home prices are up 26%, medical care 33%, and college costs a whopping 45%.
>To keep up, Americans borrowed. A lot. Unsecured personal loans, as well as mortgage, auto, credit-card and student debt have all steadily climbed over the span.
Companies don't give (adequate) raises. They return money to investors. So, every year, the middle class is losing ground.
These people are desperate. You can mock them all you want, but they're out there building your home, making sure your utilities stay on, deliver your produce to your favorite store. They're trying, but the economy is taking advantage of them.
Interested in hearing how you explain this.
I dont disagree with you but I would like to know what you see as the root cause.
aka being employed is a worse deal than being an investor, disproportionately.
You can always start your own business or simply work for a different company. No one owes you employment.
How is starting your own business an even remotely viable option for people who are so desperate that they're taking these predatory loans?
Jebus. Seems like everyone wants one thing to blame. It ain't that simple.
A much less charitable interpretation has you making convenient answers so that you can conveniently wash your hands of social responsibility. But, man, I hate think that about anyone, even anonymous internet commenters.
Had enough life challenges to understand how this stuff works.
Abusive drunk family, plenty of legal issues as a child, ran over by a drunk driver, ( flatlined 3 times in ICU for a month and disabled ), divorced 2 times, 2 kids, married again, adopted 2 kids, worked my way into silicon valley, now I do ok
cliff notes of my life. Judge me all you want but what I have learned is life is a fight to the death. You can lay down and let it run over you complaining about how the deck is stacked against you or you can do the best you can.
Your choice. I have and will continue to help those who I see fighting the good fight but I have no empathy for quitters.
We're sitting on enough resources to feed and house everyone, and the rich would still be fabulously rich.
"I struggled, therefore struggle is okay" is not the answer.
There is your example.
Trust me... being on disability was an option and quite tempting.
I wanted more out of life than to sit around letting others take care of me.
Lots of people struggle and what you're describing is just crab bucket. You struggled so you think it's okay if everyone does.
It's not.
No one coasts through life without someone struggling.
Why not just actually argue the point you want to make rather than resorting to not-so-subtle personal attacks?
If you think success is guaranteed with grit and hard work, you are woefully misinformed. You can do everything right and still fail hard. “Personal responsibility” is a dog whistle for the willful ignorance of the necessity of government regulation and social safety nets.
The ones who quit tend to call those who dont quit lucky.
Your five decades is a drop in the bucket of human experience. I recommend more empathy and introspection on suffering of your fellow human.
“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
You don't know that dying in a gutter was actually better than the other option for their life.
Lucky people often prefer to pretend it was all hard work, but that kind of financial cushion makes a big difference.
Marriage is work. This I do know.
How can we eliminate poverty if it's entirely personal responsibility? Let me quote Mandela on this:
>Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.
This is absurd. Man in nature has no house, no car, no money, no tools, no storehouse, he can eat only what he can catch, kill or forage for. Everything we have in civilisation was built by people working hard to escape the poverty and brutality of nature.
If there is any luck in life its the genetic lottery.
History shows us this.
When it comes to loans and bankruptcy we're expecting people to suck it up and live under the thumb of debt for the rest of their lives for the fall of needing money to pay rent, go to college or deal with medical bills.
I've been through enough shit myself that I have plenty of empathy for people with no choice. Calling them 'quitters' (in reference to your other comment') is absolute nonsense and simply a way of rationalizing FGYM.