Do you believe that America is a land of opportunity, where anyone can...

[Drocki]

...make it! Instead of complaining go make? Some money!

I realize that this is a wall of text. I'd appreciate it if you read it and responded, though.

This is such an impossibly strange idea that I'm not sure if the people saying it actually believe it.

But ... I guess our entire philosophy about money kind of revolves around this premise -- that there is no poor or working class,but only people who have chosen to not buckle down to the task of getting rich (and thus deserve whatever salary, insecurity or poor work conditions they get). So there should be no talk about improving the lives of the non-rich, since any of them can simply choose to elevate themselves out of that group, right?

Seriously, now. How much time do you really have to spend off, say, your yacht to see that this isn't true? You don't even need to leave the dock -- there's a guy standing right there who you pay to fix your boat's engine. You know that 1) you absolutely need guys like him and 2) he will never get rich doing what he does. He could be great at his job, he might be the Michael Jordan of mechanics, he might work 100 hours a week -- it doesn't matter. Sure, if that one guy somehow also has the head for management and finance and the networking skills, he could maybe open his own chain of yacht repair shops. But they can't all do that.

So "anyone can get rich" isn't just untrue, it's insultingly untrue. You can't have a society where everyone is an investment banker. And you can't have a society where you pay six figures to every good policeman, nurse, firefighter, schoolteacher, carpenter, electrician and all of the other ten thousand professions that civilization needs to survive (and that rich people need in order to stay rich).

It's like setting a jar of moonshine on the floor of a boxcar full of 10 hobos and saying, "Now fight for it!" Sure, in the bloody aftermath you can say to each of the losers, "Hey, you could have had it if you'd fought harder!" and that's true on an individual level. But not collectively -- you knew goddamned well that nine hobos weren't getting any hooch that night. So why are you acting like it's their fault that only one of them is drunk?

I didn't write this. I do agree with it, and the writer articulated it better than I could.
Read more, if it interests you: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-things-rich-people-need-to-stop-saying/#ixzz2M5CX9r3q

 

[rightwingextremist]

The key word is "can".

And yes, the American dream is still alive and well. . . In Hong Kong.

We aren't economically free anymore.

 

[Allstar1]

i'm sick of people in wheelchairs hogging my parking spaces. they are natural-born losers and should commit suicide. that's the conservative way.
- my nextdoor neighbor.

 

[Rebel_Rob]

Today it is possible for anyone to illegally enter the country and catch all the freebies in order to survive apparently.

Is the 'pursuit to happiness' the same as it has always been? By far, no. The more days the country racks up in history, the more stipulations and fine print is passed... Making it harder and slowly shutting down freedoms the average citizen USED to have.

This country is NOT the same country I grew up in.

 

[Donald]

Non-backed currency (currency printed out of thin air, then spent).

Labor-backed currency (currency you receive 'after' you worked, backed by your labor).

Since politicians can print and spend unlimited 'non-backed' currency to "purchase"or invest....
they will need to collect more and more 'labor-backed' currency out of your account so they can 'buy' using your labor-backed currency, what they have 'purchased' using their non-backed currency.

In other words, America is like a giant credit card, the politicians use the printed non-backed currency like credit, backed our labor-backed currency.
They use our energy and labor to 'buy' what they 'purchased' by controlling the currency we use as our medium of exchange.

 

[CeliaH]

One of the most poisonous and dishonest myths ever promulgated by millionaires to delude the poor sods who work to make them richer, and the poorer sods who can't find work at all, but dream of being rich and usually end up behind bars for trying to become rich in the only way actually available to them.

 

[BekindtoAnimals22]

The good thing about capitalism is that you have the right to try to get rich. There have always been opportunities here. People have different motivations but everyone should be motivated enough to want to earn a living. In a population of 320 million, its a but unrealistic to think everyone will get rich. Those who apply themselves to that goal are more likely to. I don't really understand all the talk about rich and poor. We have a really bad economy now and we will continue to until someone else becomes president if we don't collapse first.