Completely random? Come on, when the promotion comes by everyone who wanted it and was passed up feels it was just bad luck, random. But it was likely a very calculated choice by someone based on their very specific selection criteria. They found the best match. Likewise, if you are awesome at your job, but it's a ****ty company, that's not random, that's a choice to stay at a company that cannot reward you the way you feel you should be rewarded. That's not MY Fault as the taxpayer, that's 90% your own choice.
I acknowledge that it's bad business to give opportunities out at random, but it seems to still happen. Essentially, I'd have never hired almost any of the managers I've worked for. Most of them had serious attendance problems and basic soft-skill problems.
...Kid always feel like parents are unfair. Then why they become a parent, aha, they understand...
My first family beat me. I grew up with a different family from high school on.
Going to school in a poor neighborhood will show you the stuff you never wanted to see. My best friends father came home drunk one night and beat him and his sister to the point of breaking bones on both of them (she ended up with a wired jaw). Some of my own injuries kept me from entering the military; I've lost opportunities simply from being born to the wrong people. The best choice I ever made was calling the cops and getting a different family.
I know that doesn't exactly address the example you used. I agree that most people think they're being mistreated even when they're not, but the opposite isn't impossible. Sometimes you're parents really are being unfair; I should know.
np, we all do it, and you're being more courteous than me. Notice your refusal to do my #1 thing that may increase your value to the market (going where work is needed), evidences that it's not "completely random", that in fact it is a choice in your power. I'm not saying that's not a hard choice< i'm just pointing out that you're taking out your job situation on everyone else, meanwhile you made the trade-off to care for people (who benefit), at the cost of your job (you have the burden). Why would want to insist others should carry your burden, when undoubtedly they made their own such trade-offs? On the serious side, that's a big issue, and I would personally find a counselor, even phone-based if necessary, to help me navigate those big life choices and to understand my options. I did that for some different life issues, and it was huge for me. Remember that the elites in our society have a whole support network, were probably groomed on how to handle issues from day one...some of us who didn't have that sliver spoon have to swallow our pride and ask for help...as it turns out, nothing to be ashamed of at all, don't let pride keep you down.
You guys keep making the assumption that a minimum wage increase will decrease other wages or increase unemployment; that it will create a burden. There's no evidence that it will happen that way. By providing for increased consumption, you create higher demand, which lends itself to higher employment and profits. When you raise the minimum wage, your competitors have to pay it, too; it doesn't put you at a disadvantage to them, and their employees are your customers. Increasing one workers wages doesn't necessarily decrease any others; supply isn't finite, it's based on production.
Yet initial conditions are not initial, they are simply the output of the prior generation which was all about hard work and puck..... If their parents, as you claim, worked hard at parenting well, they would do what many poor immigrant families did. Started dirt poor, taught their kids to get an education and a good job and a good work ethic. Their kids end up middle class. Their kids kids get to choose and largely end up some range between poor and upper class (some just wanted to be hippies and some fell into drugs because they had it easier, some went to college, etc. So at any time sure there is a segment of the population that's starting at the bottom, but that' doesn't mean anything is wrong or taxpayers should be forced to pay for things that largely have no real net-positive impact on that situation anyway. Asian immigrants consistently break the norms when they come here and magically succeed in just a single generation. Mind boggling that they do this with the same tools. How much did their culture play a role? Why would we give peoples culture a free pass, when culture is not just some initial condition, its something that is shaped and adopted by the people that are in the culture? I was raised in a religious culture, I rejected it and adopted a more reasonable, ethical culture IMO. I suffered some as a result, but I think it was the right choice. Our current family is a different culture it took some time and effort, it wasn't dramatically difficult.
But that's the problem. If you haven't read/watched the news lately, most people are coming out of college with nothing but debt and no jobs in sight. Parents, culture, and poverty aside, you
should be able to climb out of the hole if you work hard, get an education, and have a good outlook. That worked for almost two centuries in this country, and we're not denying it. I'd even agree with you, that most people from the 70's and before, we're in positions and had wages equal to their efforts more than anything else. Since the 70's or so, effort has started to mean less and less. Most people think it's because of modern digital automation. In either case, working hard and going to school doesn't put you much higher up than a highschool dropout these days. My current job pays minimum wage for all workers below management; half of them either have a degree or are almost done with one.
I can't talk for my peers, but I got a degree in Computer/Physical science. It's not the "best" degree to go straight into a job, I'll admit, but it's not some crazy esoteric degree like 18th century french art history (a degree my former counselor tried to pawn off on me, saying it was in high demand. We had REALLY bad counselors.) I have to assume that most of my coworkers have reasonably applicable degrees, and yet are still working for peanuts. I agree that location is a big factor in employment/wage rates, but I don't see how it could make that much of a difference. By the way, I live a mile away from a major city. (I don't want any stalkers, that's the best you'll get from me.)
