Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
A look the cause and effects of life choices
Published on February 25, 2004 By Draginol In Current Events

There are 3 Americas. The rich. The middle class and the poor.

From the 1995 Census Bureau:

Population:
The rich: 6 million households
The middle class: 52 million households
The poor: 8 illion households

Family:
The rich: 4 out of 5 are married
The middle class: 4 out of 5 are married
The poor: 2 out of 5 are married

The rich: <5% are single parents
The middle class: <5% are single parents
The poor: nearly 2 out of 3 are single parents

Education
The rich: >9 out of 10 finished high school
The middle class: 9 out of 10 finished high school
The poor: half of them didn't finish high school

Work
The rich: 97% work full time
The middle class: 97% work full time
The poor: 23% work full time

Anyone see a pattern?


Comments (Page 3)
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on Feb 26, 2004
Definitely, there is a pattern here. Poor people with low life jobs are always quitting one and getting another for a while. This pattern is no different from when we were kids doing odds and ends dead-end jobs that we all hated. Try putting yourself in this scenario for a lifetime--depressing, as some cool blogger said McJob shit, and not easy to live with even when poorly educated. The best pattern is to upgade their pay regardless of the shit job and maybe they'll begin to feel like persons and try to better themselves in other ways, perhaps pursuing adult education in order to find a job they like. When you're uneducated and stuck with a job you hate and can't even live on it, it's pretty hard to get unthusiastic over finding a mate. 
on Feb 26, 2004

I don't think finding a mate is particularly hard. Low-lifes in high school always managed somehow to score plenty.


There is the tragic poor: The girl who came from a broken family, got pregant at 16 because her boyfriend was the first person who showed any love towards her and now she's pretty much done. She's going to almost certainly be poor for the rest of her life. She's not a "loser" in my view. Just a tragic case. We should do what we can, as a society, to try to ease her burdens.


But it's a fine line between HER and this:


Same situation but girl has a SECOND child two years later with a different guy. Now she's officially crossed from being a tragic case to being a loser. The first time she made a mistake and has suffered the consequences. The second time demonstrates a distinct pattern of poor judgement.


But you can't help the first case without helping the second. I'm okay with that.


But there are so many types of losers to choose from. Guys make better losers because they're more obvious. There are plenty of guys out there who simply can't haul their asses out of bed come Monday morning. You can't keep a job if you don't have the discipline to show up on time every day. So they lose their jobs.  These same losers then compound their problems by doing things like maxing out credit cards, throwing money away on frivelous things, not paying bills (and destroying their credit), etc.


There are girl losers who you can spot too. The girl who decides to go to a job interview at an office with nose rings and eyebrow rings. Talk about putting yourself at a disadvantage. Girls also tend to be the ones who end up career students. I'm not sure what they're thinking. Girls will blow their time at college with bachelors in psychology or anthropology. Guys will blow their time in history, political science, or philosophy (bachelor degrees here mind you).  I bet if you took a survey of them, they'd be 90% Democrats.

on Feb 26, 2004

BTW, the easiest way to NOT be poor is to try to avoid not fitting the criteria that the poor stick out in.


Single parent (usually never married), no high school, not working full time.


The three are usually interelated in their cause and effect.

on Feb 26, 2004

There are girl losers who you can spot too. The girl who decides to go to a job interview at an office with nose rings and eyebrow rings. Talk about putting yourself at a disadvantage. Girls also tend to be the ones who end up career students. I'm not sure what they're thinking. Girls will blow their time at college with bachelors in psychology or anthropology. Guys will blow their time in history, political science, or philosophy (bachelor degrees here mind you). I bet if you took a survey of them, they'd be 90% Democrats.


Dude!  You just described my sister-in-law.  She has 3 bachelors degrees, is 28 and claims that she "can't" get a job teaching elementary school (her last degree).  However, if I were the one interviewing her, I wouldn't hire her, either.  Don't go in looking like a starving artist and think that they will hire you to be a role model for children.  Three bachelors degrees and the best she has done lately is work part time at a Mexican restaurant between two crack houses and claims that she (along with her 31 year old boyfriend) can barely afford to live (in their friend's house).  Sorry, the job market in this area is not *that* bad....... She's just lazy and relies on hand outs from family.  If she didn't have family that were willing (for who knows what reason) to support her, I am sure that she would be looking to the government.  She is already whining that they don't give her healthcare.  And, yes, she is a democrat.


I just want to fit in that "rich" category some day

on Feb 26, 2004
To stories to illustrate the difference between winner and loser:

Girl A and Girl B have identical backgrounds. Niether are starting out with anything.

A starts out by taking any job she can get i.e. sweeping floors, scrubbing motel rooms, bagging groceries, waiting tables, etc. She saves all her money for college. Manages to get good grades in school and graduates without getting pregnant. She of course doesn't have enough to put herself through college but gets the rest from a small scholarship and student loans. A gets a degree, gets married and stays married. A lives a very happy, comfortable life forever after.

B doesn't think ahead of what she is going to do for the weekend. She gets pregnant by her first boyfriend who bolts as soon as he hears the news. B tries to make it on her own, gets low income housing and lives on welfare as long as she can. B decides she needs a man since otherwise she would have to get a job so she gets married, has another baby, lives in a crappy house, is unhappy and is considering divorce. Not very likely to live happily ever after.

I would say A is a winner and B is a loser. What differences do you see?

on Feb 26, 2004
Thanks, Messy.. I don't have to reply to Bulbous now..You said it for me.

And Brad's right, too.. (I'm starting to hate saying that lol)

Alot of people who are rich and famous started out with some ridiculously small amount of money..Say, 20 dollars in their pocket.
But I will reply to this "Requires idea. What percent of the population is made up of innovators, entrepreneurs, and inventors?
First of all, I'd say almost everyone fits into those category with EFFORT.
Maybe I'm just giving too much credit to the human race.
-OR-
You're not giving the general public enough credit and you're stating that only a handful of people are smart enough to become somebody..and the rest of us are complete idiots incapable of rising to anything higher than knuckle-dragging jobs. You go Bulbous!
on Feb 27, 2004
You're not giving the general public enough credit


My experiences with the general public give me little reason to have faith in it or give credit to it.
on Feb 27, 2004
I have a lot of faith in the average person. Give people freedom and they'll do amazing things. I see it every day. People are basically good. And in my experience, nice people tend to do pretty well in life.
on Feb 27, 2004
I wasn't arguing about the little faith in the public, alot of people never aspire to anything greater..even if they were capable, they don't realize it/do anything about it.

The only MAN keeping people down are themselves. Not corporations, the government, or even social standings. We are in charge of our lives, though it's so much easier to not be.
on Mar 04, 2004

Many uneducated "jobless" people refuse to settle for less than 40K per year. They must feel their time and skills are more valuable than mine.

If I make 50K and my wife makes 50K, and we live in NYC, are we "rich"? Hell no. We would practically have to live on cat food.

The "unemployment" and "jobs" statistics are very misleading. The best indicator of the employment situation are want ads and positions open in private employment agencies.

Wise political leaders are in favor of education, marriage, and close faimlies. Statistics (thanks Brad) tell us why.

Just a little grist for the mill.
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