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Comment by Nursie | Hacker News Reader

Not everyone makes their own path.

Some have paths chosen for them by genetics or simply by misfortune. And amongst those that have chosen the wrong path, is it reasonable in such a rich society that they should have to be selling blood plasma to keep food on the table?

I don't think it's unfair that some make more than others do. I think it's unfair that many are scratching around for money for the bills and enough to eat, when we have a society of riches and excess beyond anything seen before in history.

So I offer my own money in the form of taxes. We know from history that when welfare is entirely down to charity we get a shortfall, a growing underclass, mass criminality, workhouses, inescapable poverty etc etc.

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It's also worth pointing out that social mobility in the US is very low.[1]The single greatest predictor to your future wealth is your parent's wealth, which obviously you had nothing to do with.

1) http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2009/08/social-mobi...

As the middle-class son of an uneducated single mother who didn't get a high-school diploma until after I did, I'm having a little trouble buying that...

There actually seems to be quite a lot of evidence for the US having a low social mobility. I recall some articles a while back in The Economist about it [1][2], something that surprised me a few years ago. Not any more. It doesn't take long to find many reports detailing this.

[1] http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571417-how-prevent-v...

[2] http://www.economist.com/node/21571399

The data exist whether you "buy" them or not. Social mobility in the US is somewhat crap as of late. It's been widely reported.

Your comment is indicative of a lot of our problems with political discourse. You must be smart enough to understand that your experience as an individual isn't necessarily representative of everyone as a whole, or everyone who grew up in your situation.

So why did you even make the comment? Because accepting the data might lead you to a place politically that you aren't ready to go? Accepting it might conflict with some portion of your worldview? You believe nothing that is widely reported is true? Just genuinely contrariness?

You should use some of your middle class income to take some courses in probability and statistics.

The plural of anecdote is not data. Just search "social mobility OECD". Could probably even use I'm feeling lucky or ducky, if you've made the switch to DDG.

As the upper-middle-class (for the area I now live in) son of a single mother whose serious health problems prevented her from finishing college, I spent a good chunk of my childhood on food stamps. I was even on medicaid for a while when I turned 18 and child support and my father's insurance stopped.

The only reason I now own my own home, have good insurance, and don't worry about money is because when I was 19, a hiring manager 600 miles away who knew me from web forums took a chance. I had just enough cash for a plane ticket. I walked into an office in Santa Clara one Spring morning and got handed the keys to the kingdom.

Fifteen months later the company imploded and I had two offers from four interviews, all arranged by further connections I'd made on the job.

Logically, that never should have happened. I had no formal qualifications, not even a diploma, and no documented experience. I don't think they even bothered with the standard background check, and I know they never checked my references (which were real but borderline worthless).

I made the right connection at the right time. I got lucky. If I hadn't, I'm not entirely sure I'd actually be alive right now, but I would definitely at least be several years behind where I am now.

Everyone has different experiences. You can't assume yours is ordinary, nor that what worked for you would have worked for anyone else.

I'd argue very few people make their own path. While anecdotal, looking at those around me, most 'paths' people go down are a result of external forces that have been internalized over time.

Hell, even look at myself, very few of my choices were a result of just my own thinking, convictions, and/or discipline, and those that I do consider my own can partially be explained by my genetic makeup. But I don't want to reduce this argument too far.

My point is that the path we go down is mostly followed 'by default' and not a result of our own individual actions and choices. And I find that those who've had the most fortuitous defaults tend to ascribe them to their 'selves' more than others do. I think this is incorrect, and even if it's not, the more ethical position is to assume it is incorrect.

> We know from history that when welfare is entirely down to charity we get a shortfall, a growing underclass, mass criminality, workhouses, inescapable poverty etc etc.

This is not supported by history, in fact you can correlate mass criminality in the US to the start of the mass welfare state of the great society. Crime was much lower during the great depression when there really was a large underclass, and there were far fewer safety nets. There are dozens of poor third world countries that can't afford welfare programs that are far safer than the US.

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