Very well said. Thank you.
This is one of the things that is so great about the US. Anyone can be successful. Sure to be redicously wealthy a little luck or being at the right place at the right time doesn’t hurt, but at the end of the day just about everyone can succeed. This is the reason why so many immigrants come to the US. For a chance at the American Dream.
It’s just so easy to blame one’s misfortunates on a faceless entity that makes a bit kore money than you.
Back on topic: On the one hand a pension is great if the corporation sticks around. This is especially true since most people hate saving for their own retirement. But unfortunate businesses fail all the time and I would never want to rely on the success of a corporation for 20-40 years.
Ah, the absolutes, or near absolutes. My favorites! I get that people always like absolutes (on either side of the aisle). Because it's simple. It's easy. No hard work to be done! No complicated issues to discuss! But it does nothing to help move us forward.
For the record...in response to the original thing you quoted (which I did not quote here), our schools are nearly fully funded by state, not local taxes. There are two methods of funding in my state - "Basic Aid" (bad name, describing the situation where the amount going to schools from property taxes exceeds the amount the school would get per pupil using the other "LCFF" (Local Control Funding Formula) method (a $ per student calculator).
Certain local school districts are "Basic Aid" (in fact ours was, for 9 months), but ours is not - it is funded by LCFF.
Thing is, as accolay already mentioned - if you ignore the facts about billionaires using their money to lobby for laws that benefit them (which, I get it - it's COMPLICATED) - then you are part of the problem. The economy and the success of individuals in an economy has many moving parts that all work together.
- Billionaire owners lobbying for laws that benefit them
- Laws that take money from public schools for private schools (when private schools are able to pick and choose their students, and public schools are not. ) Some people really don't care about this, because they are thinking "I don't want my kids going to school with the poors", but a lot of people just don't even think about special needs and disabled students. Who cost a LOT but also deserve a damned education.
- Cost of living in particular areas. Housing costs have outpaced income in many areas of the country and many job sectors have stagnated salaries. You can say you don't care, but the person actually DOING the work who is at the mercy of whatever rents are - well, they probably care.
- Of course the tax laws are involved in housing costs.
Now let's get to the "anyone can do it". People here (some of you, anyway), seem to dislike the "well, people just get picky and come up with this reason or that reason why this ONE PERSON can't succeed.) The world is full of individuals. That ONE PERSON is actually millions of people, when it boils right down to it. Whether it's chronic illness, disability, inability to work due to fetal alcohol syndrome, accident/ injury, mental illness, jail time, poverty, gangs - there are many reasons why people have a difficult time succeeding. Just look at the people who are "chronic users of welfare" - well, why do some people pull themselves out, and others do not?
I mean, I even have a relative (through marriage) who falls into that category. Why did he pull himself out but not his sister? Well, for one thing, when he was born and hitting the working world - he's a white male. In a rural area, there's a lot more economic upside for a male with a HS diploma than a female. Why do some people "work the system"? Is it because that's all they know? Or it's easy? Or there is no other way out?
Just look at the repeat offenders who end up in jail over and over. Why is that? Well, how easy is it to get hired if you were a felon? How easy is it to feed your kid if you just got out of jail? "$2 a Day, Living on Almost Nothing In America" was very eye opening there - as they profiled a woman who went to jail for writing bad checks. Well, when she got out, she can't find a job and is not eligible for food stamps...because she was in jail. What kind of system is that? Well, she's poor and then she stays poor.
In the end, the answer has to be somewhere in the middle. We have a duty to look after our fellow citizens and to set up a system in which people can succeed - despite their birth, their color, their upbringing. Our fellow citizens have a duty to be willing to work for it - WHEN POSSIBLE. AND we shouldn't expect it to take heroics to have a roof, and food, and clothing. "I worked 80 hours a week!" Well, fuck that, so did serfs. People fought for shorter work weeks for a reason.
But any blanket statement about "anybody can do it" is just...well, flat out wrong and it takes away from your message if you refuse to look into the details about how things are interrelated. Maybe it means you sleep better at night.