Moved from D1 forum

[Kevin]

Do you really think everyone here has an equal opportunity for success? Do you really think someone who grows up in Harlem has the same opportunities to achieve the American Dream

Yes. And if you miss out on all the "feel good" stories of it happening all the time in america, you need to stop watching whatever it is you are watching and do some research. Loser Makes Good, Poor man ends up rich, and similar tales happen all the time in America. But because of the media are swept under the rug for the more "enticing and scandalous" stories about wieners, and boehners and other political partisan crap.

I'm not saying that everyone will end up a rags to riches story, but the fact that they happen is further proof that anyone with enough determination, grit, and desire can make things better for themselves.

Being ignorant to the possibility of that happening doesn't make your point correct.

This post is the definition of "ignorance is bliss". Take the rose colored glasses off.

I think you need to quit watching Hoax News, sorry Fox News, and pick up a book. LOL at people becoming rich all the time in America and the media sweeping them under the rug!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! That is probably the funniest thing ive read in a while, it truly made my day. Now, explain the 45 million people who live in poverty and the top 400 wealthiest citizens having more then the bottom 150 million combined. You are so delusional and misinformed, its a joke. Though the statistics prove you wrong, simple common sense here I think is enough. You seem to have a hard time distinguishing between rules and exceptions, as I stated before the "rags to riches" individuals are a very very tiny minority. LOL at someone from Harlem, who has to worry about survival and just walking down the street safely to get home having the same opportunity as someone in the Hamptons......just, LMAO. Wow. I am right, Americans truly dont get it, and the above post confirms it. Im done with this thread, you guys keep sipping on that Horatio Alger Myth kool-aid. ROFL.

So is a person who came from a family where the household income for a family of 6, adjusted to current dollar values, was $20,000 and they are making $45,000/yr in their mid 30's for a household of 1, in those same dollar values not a success story? You seem to want to think they have to become fabulously rich. Almost no one does.

Of course there are people that come from homes that made $200,000 a year and they only make $35,000 a year. Several of the numbers out there seem to indicate that current generations will be the first in a long time that are, on average, worse off than their parents. That is something to be concerned about, yes.

By the way http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml is what those poverty statistics are based off of. $10,890 a year is $5.21 and 1/2 an hour (2088 work hours in a year is the figure that I normally see for a standard 40 hour work week).

It's anecdotal, but I personally know quite a few people who came from homes that were below the poverty line, that paid for their own college, made a career, and are now doing just fine. They may not be wealthy, but they aren't lacking in anything they need and are quite happy. I know people that didn't want to work for someone else and started their own business. Most succeeded, some failed because they made mistakes. All of them recovered.

You can not summarily say the opportunities are not there. You will come back with your canned "LOL YOU ARE A BRAINWASHED MORON" response to this, but capitalism means that you CAN take that risk and succeed or fail. If you fail, you can try again!

Do I think that our country could use an overhaul of the political system? Of course, I say it all the time on these boards. As you mention Germany, Sweden and other countries that have a capitalist economy also have more socialist governments. Our representative democracy is not the only political system you can run on the capitalistic economic model.

Pete covered human nature. We have instincts they get applied to things that they didn't initially evolve for. We like to eat fats and sugar, because when food was a scarce thing the people that liked eating that had an energy advantage. Now, that instinct is a detriment because that type of food is so readily available and you have to fight your instincts to not over indulge.

It holds true with "power" too. Wanting power, gaining security, securing your genetics got passed on, helped the species survive under pressure. Those pressures get lifted, the instincts are still there AND WILL STILL BE THERE. They just get applied to other things. The reality is that no matter what economic or political model you put out there, some/many people will try to bend it to their will to get power. Part of the point of democracy is to help control that instinct. Capitalism allows it, people try to form monopolies, but in many markets that can be very hard to do, and new markets can be created by clever folks.

Pete covered all this already though.