Cost of Thriving
Submitted by PriceRip on Sun, 03/01/2020 - 3:13pm
Remember the american dream was to not just get by, but to actually live better and have a bright future.
The Cost-of-Thriving Index: Reevaluating the Prosperity of the American Family, by Oren Cass, executive director of American Compass is a good read. Okay, "good read" in that it provides a way to objectively quantify why the American Dream is becoming A Nightmare on Elm Street for so many people.
People on the street are not doing so well. For me this is a very personal and visceral issue. Oren Cass drives the point home like a sledgehammer driving a circus tent spike into a pasture.
RIP
Comments
On the other hand
4 billion years from now, our galaxy, the Milky Way,
will collide with our large spiraled neighbor, Andromeda.
If there still exists a structure like our Solar System, even this collision process would have zero impact upon its inhabitants. The universe is a very strange place.
Hint: it is all a matter of scale.
RIP
Have you read any Alastair Reynolds?
This reminds me of his Revelation Space series.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
I had not, thanks for the heads-up.
I recently was able to get a membership at a local Barnes and Noble, so I suppose I will be starting a new series soon.
Really good S.F. writers put a fair amount of good real science in their works, so …
RIP
Monty Python agrees with you.
[video:https://youtu.be/hkkjzmuEBbo]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
That chart is jaw dropping
I haven't looked at the article yet. Thanks.
Especially the bit
Where the number of weeks exceeds 52...
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
That's when having a second job kicks in
edit:
or sleeping in your car.
To most Americans
That chart means little unless they understand the concept of the frog in the pan of warming water.
Thanks for puttin' it out there though.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
The real plus about teaching
is watching young people "get it" in their own way. I prefer to have them discover, sometimes via some subterfuge on my part, the truth. This way it's not me pontificating, it's them getting to the heart of the matter.
RIP
You mean
teaching them Critical Thinking skills?
It probably is a real high.
I had a couple of teachers like you in high school.
They are the only ones that I remember their names. I know it will sound hokey, but thank you for your service.
Soldiers aren't the only hero's in America.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Wow
The chart sure shows how bad things have gotten for the younger generation. I posted this in another essay and it really sums things up.
How can boomers not see how it's been rigged against so many people?
The chart starts during Reagan's presidency and goes half of Trump's. How much better were things before Reagan got his hands on the country? This is what makes this statement so idiotic.
"I went to college full time and worked to afford it and I don't see why no one cannot do that today."
No shit Sherlock. Back in '85 I thought paying $15,000 for a car was too much, but that's the price people are paying for years old cars now. Income hasn't kept up with the cost of living for way too many of us. Want to buy a house? Yeah good luck with that even if you don't have tons of student debt.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
As a Boomer
I have (during my entire career) guided younger people to the reality of how (not just the fact) they were disadvantaged by the ever changing and manipulated economic system. Some, because of their political leanings would not believe me, and even vilify me.
Those that say, "OK Boomer" are clueless, and think I am of the cursed because I went through to a PhD owing virtually nothing. Because of my age, many think, I live on "Easy Street".
Because of my life experiences, I tend to not be sympathetic towards those that refuse to listen and learn.
RIP
Generation is just another group identity
As I keep trying to say, group identity is the real problem from square 1, and now is when we should be moving away from it - not quintupling down on it like people have been doing recently for no apparent reason!
It's like nobody's even heard the basic principle that differences between groups don't hold a candle to differences within groups! This is basic shit!!! How is it that people have turned the entire world into one big obnoxious social studies classroom, yet nobody knows any of the things I learned in ACTUAL social studies classrooms?!? Did I truly earn my degree for nothing???
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Did I truly earn my degree for nothing???
If my experience with people is any indicator, neither of us have any credibility, because we have a degree or worse have a background in multiple disciplines.
I get this sort of rhetoric all the time.
After-all, being a "stable genius" trumps expertise of any flavor or degree.
RIP
"Stable genius" is, of course, an oxymoron...
...and if there's one thing more roundly condemned than being an expert, it's being a genius.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Time for a genius story:
In my third year this genius showed up at ASU. He had recently graduated with top honors from a prestigious university in the east. He had a very expensive fancy automobile, and a very fancy brand new wife. And, he was so very smart and was ready to show the world his magnificence. But first he would grace us with his presence as he deigned to be a graduate assistant for a time before moving onto California to seek his fortune.
It turned out his patriarch (remember the car, and the oh so grand wedding) had insisted upon the stay at ASU. After about three weeks the little lord had had enough of us not taking him seriously. He, in fact, drove off into the sunset never to be seen or heard again …
This story is of no import, but it was incredibly funny to have been there, and witness (up close) such a gigantic ego in action. Sad, I don't remember his wife ever saying anything.
RIP
Times are getting pretty tough, alright
https://politics.theonion.com/candidates-struggle-to-answer-question-abo...
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!