Civics Education in the US

I am still waiting for you to answer my question what an American is?

Is an American a guy who runs around in a dress ?

Or is an American kill a bear with his own hands?

 

Oh I'm sorry was that question directed at me? I assumed it was an open to the public question. My mistake.

In terms of what an American is? I would define it as the individual in which embodies 'american' culture.

 

I am just curious what you think. (Not trying to put you on the spot)

So what's American culture, a year or so ago Wyoming university got a lot of flack for saying America needs more cowboys and cowgirls..

Do you agree or disagree?

 

I have no idea what that even means lol. Like more ranch hands? Or do they mean the concept of a rogue western man who saves the damsel in a town being run by a corrupt sheriff?

Anyways I have to go to bed. Goodnight!

 

Well, I can’t speak for you, but I can speak for myself and many classmates. I’ve shared before on this forum that at least 25% of my high school graduating class were millionaires by age 40-45. Only one of these people came from an upper middle class family. The rest came from poverty or very low middle class. None of my graduating class are on welfare of any kind. All are literate and none have been incarcerated. I guess you can compare those to government school stats and draw conclusions.

We were taught debt was something only useful in specific cases, hard work is a virtue as long as family comes first, you’re body is to be taken care of, and drug/alcohol abuse can ruin you. Oh, and that you are responsible for your own actions, charity returns compounded tangible and intangible value to the giver, and using force of government to infringe on natural rights is folly.

Yeh, it sounds like a bunch of BS, but it seems to work.

 

A UNIVERSAL MINIMUM WAGE FOR AMERICA

You chose, You chose, You chose. The problem in that phrase is "you"!

YOU are thinking selfishly that whatever YOU chose should be provided to YOU. And quickly!

You have forgot entirely that you live in a complex market-economy and YOU are not the only clog-in-the-economic-wheel. We all owe a debt of recognizance/comprehension that we are just one little cog in a giant wheel. And, in that manner, we all are sharing the same destiny that, by means of our desires/choices/actions, we collectively determine.

On the one hand, we all benefit from that market-economy, on the other hand our work contributes to it ...

MY POINT?
*Unfortunately not really for all workers statistically. There are some, either by birth or by choice are in a portion of that market-economy called "Below the Poverty Threshold". (A calculation for each family-type, for instance $25K annual revenue for a family of four.) And at a measly minimum wage of $7.20 per hour that will never ever allow them to exit! Fortunately these people represented (in 2018 only 1.7 million workers; meaning that 2% of all hourly paid, non-self-employed workers, earned wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.2
*But what family-of-four individuals wants to live on an annual wage of $7.20 an hour? MIT (Cambridge, Mass.) created the Living Wage Calculator - which determines the "Minimum Wage of a Decent Existence". Read about its conclusions here: Bare Facts About the Living Wage in America 2017-2018 - excerpt:

*So, now The Key-Question Raised is how-in-hell did anybody ever fall into the Minimum Wage trap in America? And the answer is, you will find, that geographically those earning the Minimum Wage of $7.20 an hour are living in what we call the "boonies" where the economic climate often stagnates (in the great expanse of the US).
*In order to allow these people to live a life of decent-existence, there is only one alternative: The Minimum Wage must be doubled to $15 per hour and it must become universal law in the America.

 

What has happened in France over the past 20/30 years is an interesting lesson for the developed world.

To get reelected a French president (called Mitterand) promised to lower the retirement age to 60-years. He got reelected.

But, now today, France is in deep, deep, deep economic-sneakers. (It cannot seem to get its Unemployment Rate below 8%.) The retirement age in the EU now looks like this, from here:

 

Over 40% of Americans make $15 bucks an hour or less. So you going to tell us after 20 years on the job finnaly making $15 bucks an hour Americans are going to be glad making minimum wage, the bottom?

We just had thanks giving they going to tell there family I am making minimum wage?

Its trickle up poor/trickle up misery

 

Social mobility (upward and downward) is possible here. Maybe it’s not possible where you are. That would explain your opinions. It would also be very sad.

 

Exactly, who makes minimum wage after working a few months? If you research the job boards people in the south make two times the states minimum wage , people in high minimum wage states, they start at zero the states minimum wage.

Minimum wage = zero

 

The minimum wage is for teenagers at their first job.

 

Exactly, only 2% of Americans make $7.25 an hour.

40% make $15 an hour.

Its trickle up misery/ trickle up poor

 

I live in France. Social Mobility exists here as well as it does in the US. (Which depends upon what is meant by "social mobility". Each country is different. Which is a lesson I learned when transferred to France from the US. France is nowhere like the US in many, many ways. Though the two may have external geopolitical concerns of the same nature.

When defined uniquely as a monetary variable then the US has more social-mobility than Europe largely due to its markets-homogeneity. Which had been the hope for the Euro, and to an extent it did very-well foster inter-EU trade. People across Europe have truly specific identities that differ greatly from one country to another. Which affects how they treat commerce with one another. (The fact that VW is a mark known throughout Europe is an example of Europe's specificity - VW is everywhere treated as a "German-made car", which is why VW has enjoyed such a wide success across Europe.)

But, it's expectations were cut-short by the recent recession imported from the US. It will take some time before Europe unifies behind one executive. I'll bet that had the UK provided the first EU president voted into office by all 27 Eu-countries, then the EU would be far more economically solid today as well. The Head of government is, still, a very solid value in all countries. (Like all animals we humans have got used to "herding" for mutual protection. ;^)

As we have seen from this last invasion of unwelcome Middle-easteners, few EU-countries went off on their own in terms of migration entry-policy. Namely Austria and Hungary where the heads of national governments think or thought they were "King Bulls in their own pastures" ...

 

The continuing tragedy and decline of France for centuries since it allowed a revolution to proceed without adopting and PROTECTING a strong Constitutional Republic in the resulting vacuum is a cautionary tale for the U.S. and the other remaining great nations of the world to take great heed of.

 

And of course all the young just starting out or working in school are NEVER factored out of the Complex lie narratives on income and wealth inequality. Today's milk shake blender at minimum wage is tomorrow's engineer or executive, yet the Complex does everything in its power to hide that in its greedy, corrupt lie narratives.

I started at $2.10 an hour at 13 in 1977. Worked up to $5 an hour over several years at that job. Have made incomes of between 20k (first job out of college) to 200k+, now make far less because I choose to. The vast majority of steadily employed, non anomalous U.S. workers follow this kind of wealth and income trajectory full of CHANGE, not some hoax of static entrenchment into a permanent income/wealth position.

Yet the Complex lie narratives seek to fallaciously and irrationally fix the condition of people economically despite the various places in TIME they inhabit. How anyone ever falls for their lies is astounding and a sad testament to the state of our gov-edu sham.

 

I think I started at $2.35 per hour when I was 17 in 1979. I couldn't find a job when I was 16 because of the Jimmy Carter economy.

 

That's an interesting tale, I doubt it was because of hardwork but who am I to judge? But I'm worried you missed my point. I'm talking about relaying on welfare even now. I would bet you are on some form of government handout, or most of those millionaires schoolmates of yours. Heck even when you were a high school student all those years ago, I'm sure you were relying on government subsidizes in one form or another.

 

You won’t get an argument out of me about the proliferation of government subsidies in every area of life. It’s an abomination. I am in agriculture so yes there are subsidies that I’m unable to avoid, namely crop insurance. Direct payments I do not sign up for. It angers some at USDA because it allows me to ignore their endless surveys and office busywork. I implore you, like I have others here, to fight for an end to agricultural subsidies (and all others to businesses).

However, you are incorrect about the hard work. The high school I went to required all students to work. Many worked over 40 hours a week. Some got up at 2:00 am to work 6 hours before classes started. I believe this work ethic is what allowed lower class kids to become wildly successful. Do you have a better explanation?

I see the point you are trying to make, but if everyone is subsidized as you claim, why do some fail and others succeed? Why are the ones with the most “help” from government always the ones who never become independent of government? Where do you think the money is coming from to subsidize everyone like you claim? From the government school graduate who makes a career of flipping burgers, or people like my classmates and I who work hard and pay massive amounts of taxes? If I’m being subsidized, I’m subsidizing myself and others who contribute nothing. Why do you think hard work has nothing to do with success?

 

THE CLUB OF FAIR DEMOCRACIES

Don't know to whom you addressed this bit above of deprecating opinion. But, I will pick it up anyway.

You call it "welfare" because of your limited-english. It's always been called that in the US, so that particular elocution is a knee-jerk reaction.

Call it what you may, but here in Europe it is the product of what we call a Social Democracy. I suggest seriously that you read that definition. And have a look at what capitalism means.

In any exchange of opinion, it is key to have the same grounding in the meaning of words. Especially as regards political-debate where meanings get easily confused.

Which brings us to this: The purpose of Europe's Social Democracy is that, based upon the key dynamic of a capitalist-economy, the economic-results do not benefit just one part of the body-politic. Everybody should enjoy the wealth-generation and nobody thrown onto the economic-wayside. Western "democracies" have that grave latter problem and especially Uncle Sam.

All that matters in some Western Economies is that Income Generation goes in a major-proportion to the "right people" (on the Right), who then fund the election of an Executive Management to assure that nothing changes. Which, because of mechanical electoral-manipulations (two-centuries old), can elect scoundrels/nincompoops like Donald Dork and a majority in the Senate!

Once Uncle Sam rids himself of the Electoral-College's first-past-the-post rule for electing presidents, and the wonton Gerrymandering of state voting districts then, and then only, can he speak of belonging to the same Club of Fair-and-Impartial Democracies on this planet ...

 

The US is a union of 50 sovereign states. What's with the whole "all think the same" thing?

 

What institution has educated these high school grads?

 

You can call a tomato a fish if you like. Social Democracy is just "socialism" misnamed. "Democracy" isn't a form of government but a guaranteed prelude to anarchy and then totalitarianism. "Capitalism" is a Marxian weasel word for voluntary commerce that is rapidly being writ out of the lexicon in the net age post LW-Complex hegemony in the spread and transfer of information.

 

The public school system.

 

Exactly! The state. Isn't the state marvelous in its capacity to fail?

 

Government does nothing well. But there are many people who want government’s control over our lives expanded.