Living within your means........

There's an old saying that "Everyone rises to the level of their own incompetence."

A group of individuals can put in "equal" effort to take advantage of opportunities but some will rise higher and faster than others. It's that way in every single country.

The whole point of the American system of capitalism is the "opportunity" to be equal, not the guarantee.

 

Really? Where exactly, which federal law statute?

 

Have anything resembling PROOF of this steaming pile?

 

NY to FL is about 6x the cost of FL to NY.

 

Yes, there may be a small minority of people who lived in poverty, who became very successful. Those often don't mind paying taxes and supporting the less fortunate.

There are, however, a vast number of people who were successful based on circumstance, who, however, attribute ALL of their success to hard work and skill. They usually suffer from the well-known psychological phenomenon of "self-serving bias", i.e. the tendency of attributing ones success to positive character traits, such as hard work and skill, while attributing lack of success to external factors, such as bad luck etc.

Here is an interesting paper on the issue:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292343138_Political_Self-Serving_Bias_and_Redistribution

Note that some participants in the study were given easier tasks (not knowing they were given an easier task), but then still attributed their success to their personal skill, rather than realizing that they were set up for success by the game in the first place. Interestingly, those same people didn't want the spoils of their "success" redistributed. Does that sound familiar?

 

It isn't easy to make $100K or better but it's doable by anyone with average intelligence. Many oilfield workers make more than that. Many programmers and IT workers make more than that. Many entrepreneurs make more than that. There's no easy way, but there are enough different ways that anyone who wants to do it can do it. Instead, most people prefer poverty because it gives them something to whine about. If they really wanted to make a lot of money they'd do what it takes to make a lot of money and quit listening to the government and liberals telling them that they can't accomplish anything for themselves and, here, take this handout because you're a useless brown person.

 

intelligence, or motivation/work ethic, I know some people pretty low on the intelligence scale but they are workhorse bulldogs that get stuff done and never seem to take a break. They do very very well for themselves.

 

My company still requires business casual. It's funny that when we go to conferences with keynote speakers from places like Microsoft, Google, Amazon AWS, etc., most often the keynote speaker is in a worn-out, faded, t-shirt, worn-out jeans or cargo shorts, sandals or even flip-flops.

 

Sometimes directly and all other times by proxy, those shareholders vote on company policy and direction.

 

Success is more about attitude than intelligence.

A: Life isn't fair, but I'm going to do everything I can to succeed and take all opportunities so I can to see how far I can go in life.

B: Life isn't fair, so it's not worth trying too hard because "those people" have the right circumstances and I don't.

Who is more likely to achieve success??? Winners are inspired by the challenges of life. Losers are defeated by the challenges of life.

Nothing changes the basic fact that life isn't fair.

 

From your description of the study, it obviously reached a false conclusion.

"Does that sound familiar?"

That fraudulent studies reach false conclusions? Yes.

 

So, on which basis do you call the study fraudulent? Do you think the psychological concept of "self-serving bias" is also fraudulent?

You know, in science, you have to provide evidence that something is actually fraudulent. Just saying it doesn't make it so, outside of Fox news world.

 

Define less-fortunate. Having less almost always has nothing to do with luck or circumstance. Successful people make their own circumstance. They prepare themselves so that when opportunity knocks they're ready to open the door. They continuously improve their skills and open doors that others never got to see because they did nothing to improve their circumstance.

I have a great job, very highly paid, working for a great company. It isn't luck that I found myself prepared to be hired by that company. Had I turned left at an intersection where I turned right, it would have been a different company but I would still have been as successful as I am today. It isn't skill, it's choices.

I know people, as I've mentioned, who never rose above near-minimum-wage. They made choices to live life low stress, to stay in small towns even though they have degrees that would get them five times the wages if they moved to get a better job. Their choices are legitimate for them. But just like those I know who have degrees in accounting, finance, MBAs even, who work low-paying jobs because of their intentional choices, those who live in poverty and don't have an education are living in poverty because of their choices.

I did not get to where I am because of my skill. I got there because I chose to. When I got out of the Navy, I worked for 7 dollars an hour at a feed mill before getting a job in electronics - which was my Navy skill and my hobby before going in the Navy. I worked until I got a job for $10 an hour... then $20 an hour.... Then I taught myself computer programming and Windows server administration. I got a job for 50K. Got another one for 65K. I'm not going to say what I make now but it's more than twice that.

And I'm a high-school dropout with a GED (had to get the GED to join the Navy). I was raised as a white kid living in a mixed race home in black communities. I was always the minority, often physically attacked for being white. I was one of only 3 white kids in my 10th and 11th grade in high school at Edison High School in Stockton California. The result was that I only went to school about 1/3 of the time in all years of high school; it just wasn't safe. We lived in very poor neighborhoods and almost always in the worst of the worst houses in those neighborhoods.

I could have chosen a life of crime or a life of poverty. I could have chosen a life of blaming others for my condition and whining about how unfair the world is. Instead, I chose to own my own future and the future I wanted included more money and doing work that I love doing and I did what it takes to do that.

There's no luck in it. I think I'm pretty smart but I know others with lower IQs who have done the same thing - made it on their own. It's not about skill, it can be about character in that whining feels better than working for some. It can be about specific choices that financial success is not as important as other things in life - a very legitimate choice when done responsibly.


Poverty is virtually always a choice.

 

Like I said, it's obviously a bogus study.

However...

I'm glad you asked!

Let me give you a specific illustration.

1. You are put in a room with 49 other people.

2. You are all given a math test to complete.

3. You do not know that your test is easier than everyone else's.

4. You end up with the highest score.

Which do you assume?

A. Your math skills are better than those of the others.

B. You were given an easier test.

 

LOL! Prime example of self-serving bias.

I am sure you could have been born in Sierra Leone, growing up with tape worms in your intestine, which stunt your growth, and still have been rich, due to your pure awesomeness and smart choices.

 

You probably would have chosen A. So did many participants.

It is noted, though, that none of your post proved the study fraudulent or bogus. Try again.

 

LOL OK

 

Total inability to discuss any content of the paper you called fraudulent noted.

 

What doesn Sierra Leone have to dobwith poverty in the UNITED STATES?

 

Huh. You found @Levant 's story "self-serving". I found it inspirational.

One of us is whining and demeaning another person's success. One of us is grateful to live in the only country where Levant's story can actually happen.

 

Supply and demand.

 

If I may, the best analogy was given to me by an old, long time friend when I was having problems in my life.

Building block or stumbling block, choose.

We all hit ditches and potholes in life. Where you go is all in what you do with the lesson learned from them.

 

I have never demeaned his success. I am challenging the misguided belief that success is a choice and lack of success is only caused by bad decisions and poor choices, which is so prevalent in the righty responses in this thread.