For instance, how far ahead are we starting by being born to middle class suburban families? Sure an inner city kid might end up the same place i do, but he had to overcome alot to get there.
People are so narrow. They want to imagine that they're the ones entirely in charge of their success. When actually, it's likely that an extremely fortunate chain of events led to their current status. They could have been born in north Korea ffs.
But obviously every once in a while someone breaks through. The issue is that is extremely hard to do that now, especially for the generation coming up, especially in this country. And what's worse, people keep clamoring to make it even harder by passing legislation to strip schools of their funding, etc.
Punk, I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying but your end reasoning that I have bolded is flawed. I don't believe it's more difficult because we cut social programs or education, but because we've taxed and burdened the middle class to the point they can no longer survive.
My parents were very poor but had an incredible work ethic. Working multiple jobs all day, every day, they were able to save enough money to put a down payment on a small business which eventually led them to middle class status. I often ask myself if I could do the same thing today and I just don't think so for several reasons; hard work just doesn't seem to be enough. An increase in costs associated with opening and running your own business make it very difficult to survive in today's climate. Middle class America can't keep it's "wealth" when, for example, the price of college for their kids has increased to a point where it will tap your savings if you want to help your kids get through school and graduate with minimal debt to give them a fighting chance. Tr maintaining insurance to cover you for every contingency. Back in the day, a business owner had to protect himself and his business from fire. Today, you need insurance for all types of frivolous lawsuits from people looking to make a buck. That costs big money and affects the bottom line. Middle class America is entitled to very little; the poor don't pay and the rich can afford it.
Banks used to be more like venture capitalists back in the day. You could walk in a bank and have a fighting chance to get a loan for an upstart business. When banks tightened their lending policies and chose to make money from other revenue streams such as ATM fees and checking fees (outrageous we get charged to keep our money at a bank), it made life more difficult for middle class America to buy, sell and reinvest. It's a vicious cycle.......
The poor have a rough road to get out of poverty in today's society. I agree. And I also agree that one needs some level of luck to succeed as well. But the answer is not burdening the middle class with additional regulations and things like Obama Care to increase their costs. At the end of the day, the poor won't pay for it, the rich can afford it and the middle class gets hit with it.
Add in other factors for the poor such as having kids out of wedlock, father's not being in their children's lives, and the constant stream of benefits that reward people for staying home and doing nothing as opposed to entering the workforce just contributes to keeping the poor at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. We're just not addressing the things that really need fixing.
OK....I'm off my soap box now.......
Regarding schools...Why is it every liberal idea starts with taking more of someones else money and throwing at the "problem". The problem is not enough money, it is shitty parents and absentee dads. If somehow you can start convincing men to act like men we might make some progress.
