I just had a brief conversation with a person down in the dumps in general over everything to make it short. My folks grew up during The Great Depression and World War II. Both were very poor as were so many yet both had very positive outlooks on life. I recall asking b my dad what was it like to live with the world at war and he said simply, "we never contemplated defeat". As for the Depression remarkably his stories were mostly humorous like picking tar out of the street to chew as chewing gum! We owe it to ourselves and the children to pause and never forget what happened here in this country as we see incredible abundance of food and healthcare and prosperity. I still shake my head when I go to the grocery store and observe all the food knowing the same exists all over the entire country. We may not be where we
want to be but we are getting there and I hope it is appreciated and never taken for granted.
I just had a brief conversation with a person down in the dumps in general over everything to make it short. My folks grew up during The Great Depression and World War II. Both were very poor as were so many yet both had very positive outlooks on life. I recall asking b my dad what was it like to live with the world at war and he said simply, "we never contemplated defeat". As for the Depression remarkably his stories were mostly humorous likeWe owe it to ourselves and the children to pause and never forget what happened here in this country as we see incredible abundance of food and healthcare and prosperity. I still shake my head when I go to the grocery store and observe all the food knowing the same exists all over the entire country. We may not be where wepicking tar out of the street to chew as chewing gum!
want to be but we are getting there and I hope it is appreciated and never taken for granted.
I grew up dirt poor and didn't get my first pair of brand new shoes until I was 11 years old. Most of the reason why was because I grew up in a socialist-communist country where people were satisfied to live on handouts from the government AKA the reservation. Since then I worked hard and prospered and am now what many would consider wealthy. Capitalism works.
Economic opportunities work. Hard work in the right trade has the tendency to come with satisfying monetary reward.
And capitalism is where economic opportunity flourishes
And capitalism is where economic opportunity flourishes
I'm near 60 and accumulated my wealth by purchasing cheap and remote land nobody else wanted every time I got a few extra bucks. I ran cattle for what little money I made but lived frugally some might even say miserly. In the real estate boom some of my worthless land suddenly became very valuable for developers that wanted beautiful land with great views to build homes on and I made out well. This could still be done today.Depends on what kind of capitalism you're talking about.
Our current brand of capitalism allows opportunity to flourish in the developing world where people are treated about as well as mules and it allows opportunity to flourish for the ultra wealthy and multinational corporations, and of course here and there lower class and middle class Americans are able to pick up some scraps (either through sheer, dumb luck, political connections, or outright merit).
But it sure as shootin' isn't the kind of capitalism, with attendant opportunity, that Robert Smith wrote about and America practiced for the majority of her history.
I'd be curious to know how old you are and when you began to accumulate your wealth.
The opportunities that were present in America even a few decades ago allowing people to head down that path aren't the same opportunities that (don't) exist today.
I'm near 60 and accumulated my wealth by purchasing cheap and remote land nobody else wanted every time I got a few extra bucks. I ran cattle for what little money I made but lived frugally some might even say miserly. In the real estate boom some of my worthless land suddenly became very valuable for developers that wanted beautiful land with great views to build homes on and I made out well. This could still be done today.
Sure it could.
And I'm sure a couple of enterprising people will make it happen.
I'm not arguing that there is NO opportunity, period (I'm 40 and I'm making a very nice life for myself).
I'm arguing that the opportunity that is available isn't sufficient to provide a way "out" for the estimated 40 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed or to allow a way up for future generations.
We shipped the kind of volume of opportunity that we need to address that big of a problem to China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, and other various points around the world.
In other words, the same volume of opportunity exists in the world as existed 50 years ago, but whereas it used to be concentrated in the Western world such that we had a de facto monopoly on that opportunity we've since diluted it by flattening the global economy.
Sure it could.
And I'm sure a couple of enterprising people will make it happen.
I'm not arguing that there is NO opportunity, period (I'm 40 and I'm making a very nice life for myself).
I'm arguing that the opportunity that is available isn't sufficient to provide a way "out" for the estimated 40 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed or to allow a way up for future generations.
We shipped the kind of volume of opportunity that we need to address that big of a problem to China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, and other various points around the world.
In other words, the same volume of opportunity exists in the world as existed 50 years ago, but whereas it used to be concentrated in the Western world such that we had a de facto monopoly on that opportunity we've since diluted it by flattening the global economy.
I don't see it as simply about outsourcing, but technology is obsoleting many lines of work. Sure, the villains at goldman sachs created a crisis, but in the long term, what will be really difficult to overcome for those 40 million is what few skills they have, yes even in the service industry, will be largely automated.
I just had a brief conversation with a person down in the dumps in general over everything to make it short. My folks grew up during The Great Depression and World War II. Both were very poor as were so many yet both had very positive outlooks on life. I recall asking b my dad what was it like to live with the world at war and he said simply, "we never contemplated defeat". As for the Depression remarkably his stories were mostly humorous like picking tar out of the street to chew as chewing gum! We owe it to ourselves and the children to pause and never forget what happened here in this country as we see incredible abundance of food and healthcare and prosperity. I still shake my head when I go to the grocery store and observe all the food knowing the same exists all over the entire country. We may not be where we
want to be but we are getting there and I hope it is appreciated and never taken for granted.
Everybody I have ever talked to who lived in that era said they were poor anyway so the depression never affected them much. They were more affected by rationing during WWII.
Access to all that food you see in your grocery store effectively does not exist for far too many people even today. Unfortunately because Michelle Obama is the one who tries to give voice to this issue, far too many people IMO ignore it in favor of spewing hate at the First Lady and her husband instead of discussing it sensibly.
View attachment 67176179
USDA Defines Food Deserts | American Nutrition Association
This sounds suspiciously like the voter ID argument.
You do know people have other choices in transportation?
Yes, just as they have other choices of things to put in their mouth, like the aforementioned road tar. The person who printed that map presumably expected us to understand that some choices are better than others. Evidently, he was at least partially mistaken in that seemingly reasonable expectation.
This sounds suspiciously like the voter ID argument.
You do know people have other choices in transportation?
Some do, some don't. I don't care that much one way or the other over voter ID. I suspect voter ID hurts the GOP more than the DNC in most places other than maybe Florida because of retirees being less likely to have ID/transportation.
As for food deserts, it would be more difficult for a senior citizen or a mom with kids to be hoofing it a couple miles at least to carry food. I used to see an old woman do it a few times a week in her electric wheelchair. If the weather was particularly bad like rain or snow or it looked like her charge was running out, I would stop to give her a ride as I usually caught her on her return from the shopping center with her little plastic bag of groceries. One of the problems in certain areas that even if there is food in the convenience store/bodegas nearby, there usually isn't much in the way of fresh fruits/vegetables for the people. Man cannot live off sardines and pimento cheese sandwiches indefinitely and be healthy.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?