If you Fail in America, chances are it was your fault.

[hueyp in louiev]

Originally Posted by HueyP in LouieV

So OP...what was your previous screen name?

Simple question.

 

[purehoopa1]

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Son braggin about making 85k

Kudos if that is the case. Your doing well right now. So what do you do OP for a living? College you attended? Major? Own a Hotel? Shell? What have you contributed to society to make it better? Probably nothing. 

 F outta here man with that nonsense. Dude I went to Georgia Institute of Technology and couldn't find a job.  Majored in FINANCE and decided I wanted to pursue Law Enforcement. Hell I know people who made better grades, did interns, and still are jobless 

. Do if you gonna make a post about something bring the beef to back up ur weak *** thread. 

 

[ravageent2009]

 

[b smooth 202]

So OP...what was your previous screen name?

 

[hueyp in louiev]

Originally Posted by Hans Landa

 I hear a lot of kids (I use that term loosely) complaining about joblessness, Uncle Sam taking their money, healthcare being better in Canada, conspiracy theories, blah blah blah.. 
Blame all your shortcomings on the nation eh? 

 This is getting real old.. USA IS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY.. Coming from a 3rd world country, I strongly attest to this. A Lot of you are acting like spoiled kids. GROW up & hustle, work hard, strive. 

& NO, I am not mad.. I'm actually 

.  

Hans Landa wrote:

---

 Yousee those Mexicans & Chinese-Americans speaking limited Englishhaving their own businesses? WHAT other country are you able to dosomething like that? 

Originally Posted by Hans Landa



And to add to my post.. What's up with the majority living waaaay out of their means & spending more than they make? 

Yea, filing for bankruptcy is as easy as a snap of the finger right? 

Hans Landa wrote:

---

Having your own business >>> being unemployed OR living in section 8 + welfare. 

Hans Landa wrote:

---

Originally Posted by Harlem On The Rise

Success is SELF defined...

There's no dollar amount next to it or a Ph.D...

The key to life is happiness... If you aren't happy then it doesn'tmatter who you are or where you're from, you probabaly won't enjoy lifeTHAT much...

EXACTLY.I never brought up money or anything related to that in any of myposts, & you see how many people on here tried to get at me withsalary figures, what i do for a living, etc? 

 
A lot of you are missing the point. I'm speaking strictly about this Country and how much good it can POTENTIALLY do you. 

You a clown B.

And in case y'all were wondering who this young mysterious, self-made, mogul in the making was.....

Its Darko...aka Young Scrooge McDuck bka Ducktales in the flesh.

A decade worth of shenanigans....when you gonna come out of Never Never Land and step into the real world my G?

 

[an dee 51o]

Originally Posted by s0leFUNK

In this country success comes at the cost of others failing. Everyone has the potential to succeed but everyone CANT succeed..

I haven't read the rest of this thread (I will later), but I agree with this statement. Almost all of the wealthy people in America became that way at the expense of others.

 

[hans landa]

 Who did you put on blast exactly? LOL You're looking dumber and dumber every time you post here. Have a good day, my friend. 

Re-read all my posts you've painstakingly copy/pasted and please tell me where I've talked about how "supposedly" "wealthy" I am........  

Yours truly, "Darko M" 

 

[reigndrop]

Originally Posted by purehoopa1

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Son braggin about making 85k

Kudos if that is the case. Your doing well right now. So what do you do OP for a living? College you attended? Major? Own a Hotel? Shell? What have you contributed to society to make it better? Probably nothing. 

 F outta here man with that nonsense. Dude I went to Georgia Institute of Technology and couldn't find a job.  Majored in FINANCE and decided I wanted to pursue Law Enforcement. Hell I know people who made better grades, did interns, and still are jobless 

. Do if you gonna make a post about something bring the beef to back up ur weak *** thread. 

You went to a TECH school, majored in FINANCE, and tried to pursue LAW ENFORCEMENT?  See where I'm getting at, there are no dots to connect, so honestly what were you expecting? 

It's alright though, keep on making excuses, and blaming your lack of success on others.  College is a time to network, and judging by you and your friends success or lack thereof so far, you were very poor at it.  Having an internship and not getting an offer?  Who'd they piss off?

 

[bananaboy2601]

Wait....so the dollar dropping drastically, China and India's growing middle class and purchasing power, the government throwing around money causing use to go deeper into debt leading to hyperinflation and America no longer being the manufacturing power are my fault....I knew it.

 

[justscoreda100]

Of course there are specific incidents where a person can do every thing right and still fail, but in general the majority of poor Americans are in the situation they are in due to poor decision making.

Its 2010. By now people should know that not getting a high school diploma or having children at a young age is setting yourself up for a lifetime of poverty.

 

[purehoopa1]

Originally Posted by reigndrop

Originally Posted by purehoopa1

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Son braggin about making 85k

Kudos if that is the case. Your doing well right now. So what do you do OP for a living? College you attended? Major? Own a Hotel? Shell? What have you contributed to society to make it better? Probably nothing. 

 F outta here man with that nonsense. Dude I went to Georgia Institute of Technology and couldn't find a job.  Majored in FINANCE and decided I wanted to pursue Law Enforcement. Hell I know people who made better grades, did interns, and still are jobless 

. Do if you gonna make a post about something bring the beef to back up ur weak *** thread. 

You went to a TECH school, majored in FINANCE, and tried to pursue LAW ENFORCEMENT?  See where I'm getting at, there are no dots to connect, so honestly what were you expecting? 

It's alright though, keep on making excuses, and blaming your lack of success on others.  College is a time to network, and judging by you and your friends success or lack thereof so far, you were very poor at it.  Having an internship and not getting an offer?  Who'd they piss off?

Dude you must be ******ed or something. It is a 4 year undergraduate college. It's called GOOGLE. Yeah I majored in Business Mgt and Finance. It's not hard to connect the dots at all. When you actually start applying to colleges I am sure you won't EVER get accepted to that college even if you did apply. So you can go Jump off a bridge if you want to.  

 

[reigndrop]

Originally Posted by purehoopa1

Originally Posted by reigndrop

Originally Posted by purehoopa1

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Son braggin about making 85k

Kudos if that is the case. Your doing well right now. So what do you do OP for a living? College you attended? Major? Own a Hotel? Shell? What have you contributed to society to make it better? Probably nothing. 

 F outta here man with that nonsense. Dude I went to Georgia Institute of Technology and couldn't find a job.  Majored in FINANCE and decided I wanted to pursue Law Enforcement. Hell I know people who made better grades, did interns, and still are jobless 

. Do if you gonna make a post about something bring the beef to back up ur weak *** thread. 

You went to a TECH school, majored in FINANCE, and tried to pursue LAW ENFORCEMENT?  See where I'm getting at, there are no dots to connect, so honestly what were you expecting? 

It's alright though, keep on making excuses, and blaming your lack of success on others.  College is a time to network, and judging by you and your friends success or lack thereof so far, you were very poor at it.  Having an internship and not getting an offer?  Who'd they piss off?

Dude you must be ******ed or something. It is a 4 year undergraduate college. It's called GOOGLE. Yeah I majored in Business Mgt and Finance. It's not hard to connect the dots at all. When you actually start applying to colleges I am sure you won't EVER get accepted to that college even if you did apply. So you can go Jump off a bridge if you want to.  

It's not hard to connect the dots cause there are none to connect.  You went to tech school, did finance, and want to do law enforcement.  There's no relationship from one thing to another, and you're calling me dumb?

And lol I graduated from Northwestern 4 years ago. 

I was able to establish a deep network so I could get back into banking after a couple years of TFA.

Haters love to hate, stay making excuses, you're already down the road to success, trust me

 

[proper english]

It's really not that easy, but yes all the right tools are here in America to help you succeed. I hate to sound cliche but, the only real factor holding a lot of people back are themselves.

 

[we get money]

Originally Posted by BananaBoy2601

Wait....so the dollar dropping drastically, China and India's growing middle class and purchasing power, the government throwing around money causing use to go deeper into debt leading to hyperinflation and America no longer being the manufacturing power are my fault....I knew it.

Hyperinflation? Get real

 

[sundoobie]

Dude you must be ******ed or something. It is a 4 year undergraduatecollege. It's called GOOGLE. Yeah I majored in Business Mgt andFinance. It's not hard to connect the dots at all. When you actuallystart applying to colleges I am sure you won't EVER get accepted tothat college even if you did apply. So you can go Jump off a bridge ifyou want to. 
Holy crap... is it me or does this not make any sense?

Of course there are specific incidents where a person can do everything right and still fail, but in general the majority of poorAmericans are in the situation they are in due to poor decision making.

Its 2010. By now people should know that not getting a high schooldiploma or having children at a young age is setting yourself up for alifetime of poverty.

Nicely said.  If people do fail in America chances are it's because of poor decisions made by that individual thus yeah it was your fault.  There are a ton of opportunities here in America.  Sure it's easier for some (rich) than others (poor) but with all the Govt assistance provided, how can one not make it here?  All it takes is hard work and little bit of luck here and there.

All you have to do is look at the number of applications applied for green cards.  There is a reason why everyone wants to come to America.

Over 6.4 million qualified entries were received in the DV-2008 lottery. The following year, applicants registered in the DV-2009 lotterywere selected from over 9.1 million qualified entries. The DV-2010lottery received over 13.6 million qualified entries during the 60-dayapplication period, or more than double the number of qualified entriesreceived for DV-2008.

 

[proper english]

Originally Posted by WE GET MONEY

Originally Posted by BananaBoy2601

Wait....so the dollar dropping drastically, China and India's growing middle class and purchasing power, the government throwing around money causing use to go deeper into debt leading to hyperinflation and America no longer being the manufacturing power are my fault....I knew it.

Hyperinflation? Get real

 right? dudes over mad @ OPs statements yet they come out with these outlandish statements that really have little to do with them.. 

 ya'll are sonnin' yourselves. 

 

[eddie]

i doubt it. Everyone has a chance to succeed but some people have better chances than others. Being born into a poor family, where you have to work and go to school isnt exactly your fault

 

[throwedindagame]

EDIT

 

[Methodical Management]

What's up, properenglish?  Didn't want to attach your "good" sn to this bile, eh?  Sorry, but if you'd like to continue this discussion you'll need to do so without hiding behind a clone account.

I wake up when i want to. Nuff' said 

So does an unemployed adult living with his/her parents.  So does a homeless person.  'Nuff said.

A thread like this is worthless without STATS.
Good idea.

Here's a reality check, folks: 
Americans are LESS likely to experience upward class mobility than citizens in Germany, Canada, Finland, France, Sweden, Norway, or Denmark.  (Source)

The share of income held by the top 1 percent of households increased by 7% between 1979 and 2007 as the share of income held by the bottom 80 percent fell by 7%.   In 1965, the average CEO received 24 times the pay of the average worker.  By 2000, CEO compensation ballooned to 300 times that of the average worker. 

It's not as though we have guaranteed employment in this country, so there simply aren't enough jobs for everyone and the ability of corporations to maintain a low wage floor thrives on increasing competition for part time jobs that can't even generate a subsistence wage. 

By and large, Americans accept burgeoning inequality for exactly the same narcissism and blind faith in "the American Dream" you've so expertly demonstrated.  When surveyed, the majority of Americans believe they will make ABOVE the median income in the future.  This, of course, is a statistical impossibility.  Rather than make the country better for all citizens, it seems most are content to cling to an improbable aspirational dream of becoming part of the top quintile. 


http://www.demos.org/inequality/index.cfm
http://college.holycross....lume26/V26N3P253_264.pdf
Nickeled & Dimed by Ehrenreich
Illusions of Opportunity by Schwarz
Screwed by Hartmann
... we can go on.

 

[ill i am]

Originally Posted by proper english

Originally Posted by WE GET MONEY

Hyperinflation? Get real

 right? dudes over mad @ OPs statements yet they come out with these outlandish statements that really have little to do with them.. 

 ya'll are sonnin' yourselves.

Originally Posted by Method Man

What'sup, properenglish?  Didn't want to attach your "good" sn to this bile,eh?  Sorry, but if you'd like to continue this discussion you'll needto do so without hiding behind a clone account.

Speak for yourself...

Add another one to the # of dudes who use other accounts to either agree with themselves or say %@#! they wouldn't say otherwise.

 

[chozin87]

Originally Posted by Method Man

What's up, properenglish?  Didn't want to attach your "good" sn to this bile, eh?  Sorry, but if you'd like to continue this discussion you'll need to do so without hiding behind a clone account.

I wake up when i want to. Nuff' said 

So does an unemployed adult living with his/her parents.  So does a homeless person.  'Nuff said.

A thread like this is worthless without STATS.
Good idea.

Here's a reality check, folks: 
Americans are LESS likely to experience upward class mobility than citizens in Germany, Canada, Finland, France, Sweden, Norway, or Denmark.  (Source)

The share of income held by the top 1 percent of households increased by 7% between 1979 and 2007 as the share of income held by the bottom 80 percent fell by 7%.   In 1965, the average CEO received 24 times the pay of the average worker.  By 2000, CEO compensation ballooned to 300 times that of the average worker. 

It's not as though we have guaranteed employment in this country, so there simply aren't enough jobs for everyone and the ability of corporations to maintain a low wage floor thrives on increasing competition for part time jobs that can't even generate a subsistence wage. 

By and large, Americans accept burgeoning inequality for exactly the same narcissism and blind faith in "the American Dream" you've so expertly demonstrated.  When surveyed, the majority of Americans believe they will make ABOVE the median income in the future.  This, of course, is a statistical impossibility.  Rather than make the country better for all citizens, it seems most are content to cling to an improbable aspirational dream of becoming part of the top quintile. 


http://www.demos.org/inequality/index.cfm
http://college.holycross....lume26/V26N3P253_264.pdf
Nickeled & Dimed by Ehrenreich
Illusions of Opportunity by Schwarz
Screwed by Hartmann
... we can go on.

Those books and stats prove people haven't bettered themselves.
The American Dream isn't to grow up and work for somebody else for the rest of your life.  If you want to be rich, wealthy or well of in this country you're going to have to start some type of business.  In a country like America where people are addicted to spending there is ALWAYS an opportunity to make legitimate money.

Everybody in America who is wealthy, rich or whatever hasn't achieved their goals by putting other people down.  If you decide to be a consumer and buy the newest, hottest everything without adding anything to society you will go broke.  The people who make money in America do it by adding some type of value to the economy.  If you can add value to the economy, you'll get paid.

Let me ask this question again.

Who is stopping you from getting money?

 

[Methodical Management]

Those books and stats prove people haven't bettered themselves.
How?  Because you say so?  How many of those books have you read, by the way, since you've judged them as a set without saying so much as a single word about anything contained therein?

Let's go over some working definitions here, just so we can have a conversation within the realm of logic and reason. 

Define "bettered themselves."  What does that even mean?  Educational attainment?  Do you really want to go there?

Everybody in America who is wealthy, rich or whatever hasn't achieved their goals by putting other people down.
You're right: many of them just inherited it.  (To paraphrase Jim Hightower: Born on third base, think they hit a triple.)

If you decide to be a consumer and buy the newest, hottest everything without adding anything to society you will go broke. 
How do you suppose all of those enormous businesses made all their money?  That's where your vaunted consumer spending comes from.  When you don't pay people jack squat, yet every single corporation is obligated to boost revenues, where are the increased sales gonna come from?  Globalization is part of it, but you're just driving the wage floor further and further down.  More money in the hands of fewer people isn't exactly a boon to companies like Nike.  Imagine if they could only sell their products to those who could afford to pay for their purchases in full using cash.  How would their bottom line look right now?

Enter easy credit.  How's that worked out for the economy?  The credit markets have been compensating for burgeoning income inequality.  It only works until the call comes down. 

Why not actually read this article:  http://college.holycross....lume26/V26N3P253_264.pdf?

The people who make money in America do it by adding some type of value to the economy.  If you can add value to the economy, you'll get paid.
Your terms are worse than vague: they're tautological.  You're defining things like "better" and "value" based on outcomes (earnings.)  Who made themselves better?  Someone who made a lot of money.  Who adds the most value to society?  Whoever makes the most money.  That's a completely worthless definition; it has no predictive value whatsoever. 

You can't make the case that EVERYONE who achieves a high level of educational attainment will succeed (however defined), because you know there's plenty of evidence to the contrary and the position you've selected is comically extreme, allowing for zero exceptions.  You can't make the case that all or even most of those who start their own businesses will be successful, because, as everyone knows, the majority of start-ups fail in the first few months of operation - and that was true when credit was EASY to get.  Now how do you intend for someone with no savings to start their own business and contend with gigantic corporations? 

Based on your expertise, how would someone born poor go about becoming wealthy?  Work hard in school?  Schools are funded by property taxes.  Odds are, you're going to a low quality school.  Odds are, you have concerns that affluent children don't.  Your parent(s) can't afford SAT prep classes.  It's more difficult for you to afford adequate nutrition.  You may have to get a job to help keep the power on at home, which results in less sleep and less time to study.  You don't have a stay at home parent or high quality childcare to maximize your early cognitive development, to encourage you, to help you with your homework.  Mom and dad have to spend an hour or more commuting out to the suburbs to work a low wage job.  That's no fault of yours.  You have to work harder than an affluent child to achieve less. 

You KNOW someone who coasted through school.  I'm sure of it.  You KNOW someone whose parents had money, who managed decent grades without really trying, who got into college because it was simply expected, and who now earns a comfortable living.  You can sit here and run through a laundry list of things that the EXCEPTIONAL human being should be doing from the time they can crawl onward, but the AVERAGE kid from a poor background will not do as well as the AVERAGE kid from an affluent background.  Meanwhile, the kid with the exceptional work ethic in the projects could work their hardest and only make it as far as middle management.  What's the career trajectory for the exceptional kid born with a silver spoon in their mouths? 

Take the hardest working 5'6 kid in the world and the hardest working 6'11 kid in the world and tell me who has a better shot of cracking an NBA roster.  If you have money to start a business or money to pay for college, obviously you'll be in a much better position.  There's simply no denying that.  We don't live in a pure meritocracy because we all don't start fresh each generation.

Many of the people who are affluent in this country have gambled and won.  Taking on debt is a gamble, whether a student loan or a business loan.  Investing is a gamble.  Some people win, some people lose, and it's not always about skill.

If we sat in a casino and watched roulette players, your "theory" would hold that those who won did so because they're "better" at gambling - yet you have nothing of value to tell the prospective player.  What makes the winning gamblers better?  What did they do differently?  You don't know.  Winning players win, losing players lose.  That's your observation. 

You only think that the system is fair because you believe it to be fair.  Your entire argument seems to consist of "it's fair because I said so." 

I've gotta tell you, that isn't quite doing it for me.

 

[chozin87]

Originally Posted by Method Man

Those books and stats prove people haven't bettered themselves.

How?  Because you say so?  How many of those books have you read, by the way, since you've judged them as a set without saying so much as a single word about anything contained therein?

Let's go over some working definitions here, just so we can have a conversation within the realm of logic and reason. 

Define "bettered themselves."  What does that even mean?  Educational attainment?  Do you really want to go there?

Everybody in America who is wealthy, rich or whatever hasn't achieved their goals by putting other people down.
You're right: many of them just inherited it.  (To paraphrase Jim Hightower: Born on third base, think they hit a triple.)

If you decide to be a consumer and buy the newest, hottest everything without adding anything to society you will go broke. 
How do you suppose all of those enormous businesses made all their money?  That's where your vaunted consumer spending comes from.  When you don't pay people jack squat, yet every single corporation is obligated to boost revenues, where are the increased sales gonna come from?  Globalization is part of it, but you're just driving the wage floor further and further down.  More money in the hands of fewer people isn't exactly a boon to companies like Nike.  Imagine if they could only sell their products to those who could afford to pay for their purchases in full using cash.  How would their bottom line look right now?

Enter easy credit.  How's that worked out for the economy?  The credit markets have been compensating for burgeoning income inequality.  It only works until the call comes down. 

Why not actually read this article:  [URL]http://college.holycross....lume26/V26N3P253_264.pdf[/url]?

The people who make money in America do it by adding some type of value to the economy.  If you can add value to the economy, you'll get paid.
Your terms are worse than vague: they're tautological.  You're defining things like "better" and "value" based on outcomes (earnings.)  Who made themselves better?  Someone who made a lot of money.  Who adds the most value to society?  Whoever makes the most money.  That's a completely worthless definition; it has no predictive value whatsoever. 

You can't make the case that EVERYONE who achieves a high level of educational attainment will succeed (however defined), because you know there's plenty of evidence to the contrary and the position you've selected is comically extreme, allowing for zero exceptions.  You can't make the case that all or even most of those who start their own businesses will be successful, because, as everyone knows, the majority of start-ups fail in the first few months of operation - and that was true when credit was EASY to get.  Now how do you intend for someone with no savings to start their own business and contend with gigantic corporations? 

Based on your expertise, how would someone born poor go about becoming wealthy?  Work hard in school?  Schools are funded by property taxes.  Odds are, you're going to a low quality school.  Odds are, you have concerns that affluent children don't.  Your parent(s) can't afford SAT prep classes.  It's more difficult for you to afford adequate nutrition.  You may have to get a job to help keep the power on at home, which results in less sleep and less time to study.  You don't have a stay at home parent or high quality childcare to maximize your early cognitive development, to encourage you, to help you with your homework.  Mom and dad have to spend an hour or more commuting out to the suburbs to work a low wage job.  That's no fault of yours.  You have to work harder than an affluent child to achieve less. 

You KNOW someone who coasted through school.  I'm sure of it.  You KNOW someone whose parents had money, who managed decent grades without really trying, who got into college because it was simply expected, and who now earns a comfortable living.  You can sit here and run through a laundry list of things that the EXCEPTIONAL human being should be doing from the time they can crawl onward, but the AVERAGE kid from a poor background will not do as well as the AVERAGE kid from an affluent background.  Meanwhile, the kid with the exceptional work ethic in the projects could work their hardest and only make it as far as middle management.  What's the career trajectory for the exceptional kid born with a silver spoon in their mouths? 

Take the hardest working 5'6 kid in the world and the hardest working 6'11 kid in the world and tell me who has a better shot of cracking an NBA roster.  If you have money to start a business or money to pay for college, obviously you'll be in a much better position.  There's simply no denying that.  We don't live in a pure meritocracy because we all don't start fresh each generation.

Many of the people who are affluent in this country have gambled and won.  Taking on debt is a gamble, whether a student loan or a business loan.  Investing is a gamble.  Some people win, some people lose, and it's not always about skill.

If we sat in a casino and watched roulette players, your "theory" would hold that those who won did so because they're "better" at gambling - yet you have nothing of value to tell the prospective player.  What makes the winning gamblers better?  What did they do differently?  You don't know.  Winning players win, losing players lose.  That's your observation. 

You only think that the system is fair because you believe it to be fair.  Your entire argument seems to consist of "it's fair because I said so." 

I've gotta tell you, that isn't quite doing it for me.



I will try to keep this as brief as possible.
Everybody is born in different situations, I didn't say that.  With that said, there ARE self made millionaires and billionaires in this country who came from nothing.

Some people rise above those situations, and others choose to be a victim for the rest of their life and blame other people for their failures and bad luck.

Everybody faces different obstacles in life BUT those obstacles don't have to stop you from achieving anything.  Everybody in this country has an opportunity to make a living.  If they choose not to go out of their comfort zone and take risks they won't make it.  

This is the only personal example I'll use.  As a 21 year old real estate agent I was able to make a decent living.  Nobody held my hand and told me to go meet clients every day, nobody paid for my licensing.  Everything was done through my own hard work.  My clients were not family friends or people I knew with money.  On the other had, I have friends who sat around complaining they couldn't get a job, OR settled for the first job they could find at places like Macy's.  I did work retail for about 3 months, and used that money to get licensed and start my real estate career.

I didn't say everything was fair.  In fact, I can assure you it's not.  I can also assure you there are infinitely better opportunities for somebody than when I go visit my family in Jamaica.  

I haven't read ALL of those books you quoted and I don't intend to.  

Easy credit wasn't a good idea, but was anybody forced to fill out credit applications? People were blinded by the illusion of getting something for nothing.  I didn't understand this when I was 18, and I took the credit and now I'm in debt, which is my fault.

Based on my expertise somebody who wants to be wealthy in America should find something they are passionate about and pursue it as if their life depends on it.  I know self made millionaires who started out with nothing.  I also know people who were born with silver spoons in their mouth who haven't done anything with their life but get DUI's and drop out of college.  Their net worth is probably still above mine, but in 3-5 years I can absolutely guarantee I'll be 100X wealthier than them.

I used to think like you and complain  about other people's opportunities.  Realistically, they're blessing has nothing to do with my success.  There are opportunities in this country for ANYBODY who is willing to go outside their comfort zone and pursue something.  Success isn't easy here, but it's definitely worthwhile.  

edit:  I read Nickel and Dimed and assumed the rest of the books were similar.  I just checked out the article you recommended and...who the hell is telling people to be average?  Nobody has to be middle class regardless of where they were born.  I think there are a lot of people who don't want to sacrifice their comfort for their success

 

[djprestige21]

Darwin's Natural Selection.

 

[frankmatthews]

Originally Posted by Hans Landa

\
MO MATIK.. AGAIN, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WEALTH OR MONEY... BUT I GUESS SO, SINCE YOU GUYS KEEP INSISTING. 

Well what exactly are you talking about then?  A general satisfaction with your life?  If you are going to take it that direction I really don't see how it has anything to do with America OR being classified as a success or failure, which is relative btw.   Please elaborate.

JustScoreda100wrote:

---

Of course there are specific incidentswhere a person can do every thing right and still fail, but in generalthe majority of poor Americans are in the situation they are in due topoor decision making.



Now, is proper decision making a learned skill set, or is it innate?