- #36
Drakkith
Mentor
- 22,913
- 7,262
Ah ok, I see what you mean now Nitsuj.
wuliheron said:"108.616 million people in America are either unemployed, underemployed or "Not in the labor force". This represents 45.5% of working age Americans.
If you count the "Part time employed for non-economic reasons", you get 126.8 million Americans who are unemployed, underemployed, working part time or "Not in the labor force". That represents 53% of working age Americans."
Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-01-24/markets/29974517_1_part-time-unemployment-labor-force#ixzz1pRnGb1HZ
nitsuj said:These numbers get real interesting in the context of global wealth, as opposed to the N.American individual context.
russ_watters said:Chiro, the word "empire" was poorly chosen by the OP - it was not meant in the way you used it.
Many still believe in the American dream. Perhaps as important as what Americans believe, the immigrants still streaming in believe in it too.
However, my perception/fear is that it is being perverted by removal of the "work hard" part, replacing it with a sense of entitlement.
Wrong. Hard work and placement are independent of each other. Neither affects the other, so neither can take a back seat to the other. In other words, someone else's placement cannot cause your hard work to be futile.phoenix:\\ said:Hard work takes a back seat to placement.
wuliheron said:The thread is about the American dream and not life, the universe, and everything. However, if you like interesting numbers try 42.
nitsuj said:Did you honestly miss my point that is in regards to the American Dream? The American Dream is about life-style.
The "dreamy" landscape of the American economy still exists, and it's defined only by comparison. Not sure whos post I orignally quoted, but it looked like a complaint of the state of unemployement in the US, which is a laughable perspective, in a thread discussing the American Dream.
I preffer the number 72, 42 sucks. I also preffer posts with info in them.
wuliheron said:The American dream isn't about lifestyle, its about being able to go from rags to riches or, at least, a middle class lifestyle. There are even some American millionaires like Warren Buffet famous for living in modest homes or out of hotel rooms because they really don't have any interest in acquiring things. Others that have won the lottery, and continue to work ordinary jobs. At least one millionaire has even given away his fortune after discovering it did not make him happy, but he's still an American success story.
nitsuj said:Lots of "stuff" i could point out in your post but ill leave it at this,
Warren Buffet giving away billions of dollars and committing large portions to African causes, is completely against the grain of capitalism and in turn the American Dream. I like to think this gesture speaks of his true character. It's fantastic!
That being said I feel a more sane approach is to spend it within the relatively tight checks & balances of lawfully developed states and put into health care / education infrastructure for example.
wuliheron said:Promoting the idea that giving money is somehow unamerican is disgusting and vulgar.
russ_watters said:Wrong. Hard work and placement are independent of each other. Neither affects the other, so neither can take a back seat to the other. In other words, someone else's placement cannot cause your hard work to be futile.
As Carlin said, they call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it. But Carlin was a cynical cokehead, albeit a funny, and sometimes insightful, guy.Alex_Sanders said:The kind of story that build an empire from nothing with bare hands?
But of course, it is very tempting isn't it? Like my fav. American Dream denialee, George Carlin, he got rich by telling jokes! And most (normal) people like him! Although he was not filthy rich.
Do most American still buy in that? Or do they laugh at it as if it's some kind of joke? Does it wield no power over current American, as it should be considered something belongs to the 50s?
wuliheron said:Promoting the idea that giving money is somehow unamerican is disgusting and vulgar.
Evo said:I made my way up from nothing. My dad was the first in his family to get a college degree and he got it even though he was legally blinded by a shrapnel hit to the face during WWII.
I finshed high school when I was 14 due to being an over acheiver, went to Europe to visit family, then returned and started college at 16 in a business degree, which I didn't want. (my apologies to the members that have heard this a thousand times). My dad was an EE and we weren't rich. I started as a long distance cord board operator for Bell Telephone while I was in school.
Long story short, through hard work and intelligence, within a few years I was promoted to a managerial position at AT&T making well over 6 digits a year.
It can still be done, but due to overpopulation, there is much more competiton. You really have to stay on your toes if you come from a poor family and have no connections, but it can be done.
Evo said:I made my way up from nothing. My dad was the first in his family to get a college degree and he got it even though he was legally blinded by a shrapnel hit to the face during WWII.
I finshed high school when I was 14 due to being an over acheiver, went to Europe to visit family, then returned and started college at 16 in a business degree, which I didn't want. (my apologies to the members that have heard this a thousand times). My dad was an EE and we weren't rich. I started as a long distance cord board operator for Bell Telephone while I was in school.
Long story short, through hard work and intelligence, within a few years I was promoted to a managerial position at AT&T making well over 6 digits a year.
It can still be done, but due to overpopulation, there is much more competiton. You really have to stay on your toes if you come from a poor family and have no connections, but it can be done.
turbo said:There is (or at least was) a viable American dream. My father was a sheet-metal worker doing his best to support a family of 6. I studied hard and worked on all school breaks/summers and saved all my money for college. I was the very first person in my very large extended family to go past HS. I got accepted to MIT, but the financial-aid package wouldn't have allowed me to afford that school. I got early-acceptance letters from Michigan State and Arizona State, though I never applied to either one. In the end, I stayed with Maine's land-grant college in Orono. I played guitar and sang for frat parties and bought, refurbished, and sold electric guitars and tube amps, and spent every summer working in veneer mills back home. Those earned me enough money to pay for tuition, books, rent, food, etc. It didn't seem too stressful or tough for me, but I had to budget my time so I could keep up with engineering school.
Evo didn't say she was poor, she just said she was not rich [growing up].DragonPetter said:I'm not questioning your accomplishments, that is impressive that you succeeded so well, but I have to ask, how was your family poor if your father was an EE? Do you mean relatively poor to a spoon-fed trustfund kid?
IMO, you're setting an unreasonably high baseline. "Came up from nothing" may be a technically inaccurate cliche', but what it really means is nothing more than what everyone else is provided. I personally consider anyone who passed age 20 without spending a large fraction of their time in a hospital with cancer and didn't earn a high school diploma to have been abused. A parent has to do little more than make sure the kid goes to school and provide a modest amount of encouragement to make sure the kid gets that diploma.And how can you say you came from nothing? You had high school provided at least.
My own family history's bullet points look a lot like Evo's so I'll just speak for myself: absolutely, he did. I played the trumpet because he handed me his old trumpet when I was little and started teaching me and before most other kids knew what the word meant (something with trains, right?) I knew I would be an engineer because he was - and we thought alike.Did he not mentor/instill anything in you or devote attention to you?
Aside: from what I can see giving a *kid* a trust fund (beyond paying for education) in most cases is one of the worst things a parent can do. Later in life maybe, but not to youth. Trust funds kill ambition, and may be a metaphor for the larger ills of the country.russ_watters said:...short of handing a kid a trust fund, the most important gift a parent can give their kids is the gift of ambition.
mheslep said:Aside: from what I can see giving a *kid* a trust fund (beyond paying for education) in most cases is one of the worst things a parent can do. Later in life maybe, but not to youth. Trust funds kill ambition, and may be a metaphor for the larger ills of the country.
russ_watters said:IMO, you're setting an unreasonably high baseline. "Came up from nothing" may be a technically inaccurate cliche', but what it really means is nothing more than what everyone else is provided. .
Many of my friends did not live in houses that had running water or any kind of viable septic systems. They lived in shacks that were put up in the 1920s to house workers building Wyman Dam. The shacks were shelter, but they were not viable, long-term. By the time I was 10, my father had put a down-payment on a run-down house, and we had a bit more room and hot running water! What a nice upgrade!DragonPetter said:I can think of some kids I grew up with who were extremely dirt poor and abused by their parents, and had so much unnecessary burden in their early lives that they had little chance to make a life for themselves. When people like that succeed, I consider them coming up from nothing.
And I think your girlfriend better represents someone coming from nothing. When her own family does not support her or give her opportunity, she still is able to rise and pursue her goals.
Astronuc said:Aspiration is a good thing, but it must be tempered with a sense of reality/sobriety.
Good advice, Turbo, Astro. You need passion, a plan, persistence, a level head, be flexible to take advantages of opportunities that may come your way, have resouces (cash not relying on banks for success is important, at least to me), work hard, stay focused, have a bit of luck and never ever ever give up on your dream, no matter what others say. I have learned to take things one step at a time, to be patient, and always keep a "Big Picture" in your mind.turbo said:Plus the realization that if you borrow (as opposed to saving and investing your own money), the fruits of your labors may be subject to liens and foreclosures. Easy credit should not be confused with prosperity because credit can be fragile.
That logic leads down a dangerous road that ends with the conclusion that the poor are genetically inferior to the rich. Do you really believe that?phoenix:\\ said:Ambition cannot be taught and ambition is more coupled with other things than itself alone.
As a child,I was brought up to be a hard worker. Not aggressive or nasty, but a winner. That was over 40 years ago, but perhaps we could benefit from a bit more of that attitude.russ_watters said:That logic leads down a dangerous road that ends with the conclusion that the poor are genetically inferior to the rich. Do you really believe that?
Amen. Anything else is an excuse and/or a cop out, IMHO.turbo said:...perhaps we could benefit from a bit more of that attitude.
Aspiration nearly always becomes so tempered in my experience; life naturally does that. But the aspiration has to come first, a roll where parents can be very detrimental.Astronuc said:Aspiration is a good thing, but it must be tempered with a sense of reality/sobriety.
russ_watters said:That logic leads down a dangerous road that ends with the conclusion that the poor are genetically inferior to the rich. Do you really believe that?