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Comment by cgag | Hacker News Reader

Free people not being able to match the pace of people desperately trying to free themselves from wage slavery doesn't strike me as a great justification of wage slavery.

Not that I agree with the premise that capitalism is what drives people to produce things to begin with.

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Are these people trying to desperately free themselves from wage slavery the same people who spend most of their time watching tv, playing games or caring for children nobody forced them to have? If so they don't seem so desperate to me.

Generally the people I've met who work hard to develop themselves and develop skills society needs end up doing quite well for themselves, although I admit that as an Australian my experience is probably different from the US. Here we have more socialised education and healthcare, so anyone with motivation can go to college.

It's interesting that you suppose the AU and US results are likely to be different. As an USian I do not perceive that the system very often fails smart, motivated, hardworking people, healthcare and education regimes notwithstanding.

Then how do you explain the low socio-economic mobility in the US?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_...

The good news is everyone is getting richer (rising tide), the bad news is inequality is increasing and low mobility is nothing to be proud of. Like logicchains I'm Aussie and we fare better at the moment, though we're also starting to head in the wrong direction by these measures.

Isn't your government incredibly conservative at the moment?

Yes it is, and if they get their way I believe it will be a disaster for both equality and long term growth here. They are aiming to move education and health to more of a user pays model (which makes no sense given the evidence worldwide) and continue their party's privatisation-by-stealth in both areas.

Fortunately they are not very competent and do not have full control of the parliament, so most of their bills have been blocked by minor parties.

The scary thing is that the largest players in the private market here financially back (or lobby for) a lot of the shenanigans that happen in the capital...denial of climate change, privatization (or abolishment) of public services/utilities, slashing education, etc etc.

The not very competent people who wave snowballs around in congress, send bitchy letters to Iran and Israel, and squawk about #OBAMANET have full corporate sponsorship and the propaganda machine that is our media keeps getting these imbeciles elected.

The US is definitely treading water right now. I remain hopeful, but not optimistic.

From this forum, which is probably my largest source of interaction with Americans, I get the impression that most Americans think life is extremely hard for the lower class there.

Except you have to be in a privileged position to become smart, motivated and hardworking.

Most are born into this society and never consider the notion that things could ever be different.

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