I've read a lot of the comments on this story. Seeing the "conservative" side is really disheartening during this holiday season. They argue that an individual's worth is tied to their Education level and previous successes - in other words, what their parents were able to afford for them, how well their parents could set them up and what they started out with in the first place. They seem to firmly believe that poor, disadvantaged people have worthless children and that it is a wasted effort to try to ensure they have a good foundation for success - it seems they feel they were born poor, so don't deserve anything.
Somehow they seem to feel that working 16 hour days should not necessarily be enough to pay your bills and feed yourself and your children if you are not in the 'right kind of job.' It seems none of them know the struggles of living on very little income.
Lets start with Education. To get a good education in public school requires a few things : 1 - good nutrition. 2 - good, stable shelter. 3 - good clothing. 4 - Someone to tell you how important an education is and enable study habits, curiosity, etc.
Many "conservative" people start out life with a two-parent household in the suburbs where there is never a concern about 'how to keep the lights on and eat at the same time' and think they have accomplished something on their own. Talk about feeling 'entitled.' They have many advantages and privilege, but delude themselves into thinking they've done it on their own and other people must just be lazy.
They somehow believe that their being steered to shake the right hands, kiss the right buttocks, pay the right fees to the right institutions and garner the right favor is somehow all their accomplishments. Its not.
Today in the United States of America, you are not very likely at all to ever climb up the socioeconomic ladder. There is much more chance of you falling down. Most likely though, you will stay just where you started out.
Then, when people say that if you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, you should at least be able to house, feed and clothe yourself, 'conservatives' say you're asking for a handout. They say if you are working two jobs or double shifts 6 or 7 days a week and still can't pay the bills and keep food on the table, you must be lazy and worthless. That is a fine example of the cognitive disconnect required to be a modern 'conservative.'
This is the USA - if you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, heck, even if you work 6 hours a day, you should be able to afford to house, feed and clothe yourself without resorting to 'rent controlled' housing and food stamps. Even if you are stocking shelves or mopping floors. There is no reason at all that earning a living should be this hard in this country.
I am the 53% and the 99% I started near the bottom, though with more advantages than Jessica Smith or Dakota, and I am now slightly above the median. It took 15 years from the time I graduated High School to get here. Maybe it was harder because I did it my way and I earned everything without kissing butt or brown nosing or depending on having 'the right connections.'
The bottom line is - it should NOT be This hard to Earn a living in the United States.
No, its not the government's job to take care of anyone. Its the government's job to make sure that the powerful are not taking advantage of and suppressing the average citizens. There are plenty of hard working, great people who are poor and downtrodden and Not looking for a handout - but getting the combat boots of corporations and big finance off of our necks would do amazing things for the economy.
Somehow they seem to feel that working 16 hour days should not necessarily be enough to pay your bills and feed yourself and your children if you are not in the 'right kind of job.' It seems none of them know the struggles of living on very little income.
Lets start with Education. To get a good education in public school requires a few things : 1 - good nutrition. 2 - good, stable shelter. 3 - good clothing. 4 - Someone to tell you how important an education is and enable study habits, curiosity, etc.
Many "conservative" people start out life with a two-parent household in the suburbs where there is never a concern about 'how to keep the lights on and eat at the same time' and think they have accomplished something on their own. Talk about feeling 'entitled.' They have many advantages and privilege, but delude themselves into thinking they've done it on their own and other people must just be lazy.
They somehow believe that their being steered to shake the right hands, kiss the right buttocks, pay the right fees to the right institutions and garner the right favor is somehow all their accomplishments. Its not.
Today in the United States of America, you are not very likely at all to ever climb up the socioeconomic ladder. There is much more chance of you falling down. Most likely though, you will stay just where you started out.
Then, when people say that if you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, you should at least be able to house, feed and clothe yourself, 'conservatives' say you're asking for a handout. They say if you are working two jobs or double shifts 6 or 7 days a week and still can't pay the bills and keep food on the table, you must be lazy and worthless. That is a fine example of the cognitive disconnect required to be a modern 'conservative.'
This is the USA - if you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, heck, even if you work 6 hours a day, you should be able to afford to house, feed and clothe yourself without resorting to 'rent controlled' housing and food stamps. Even if you are stocking shelves or mopping floors. There is no reason at all that earning a living should be this hard in this country.
I am the 53% and the 99% I started near the bottom, though with more advantages than Jessica Smith or Dakota, and I am now slightly above the median. It took 15 years from the time I graduated High School to get here. Maybe it was harder because I did it my way and I earned everything without kissing butt or brown nosing or depending on having 'the right connections.'
The bottom line is - it should NOT be This hard to Earn a living in the United States.
No, its not the government's job to take care of anyone. Its the government's job to make sure that the powerful are not taking advantage of and suppressing the average citizens. There are plenty of hard working, great people who are poor and downtrodden and Not looking for a handout - but getting the combat boots of corporations and big finance off of our necks would do amazing things for the economy.
