Thread The Good Ol' "Best Countries Too Live In" List.

not everyone has the ability to work themselves out of a hole, especially in not in this climate.

Of course they can. Unless they are enemy, who instead of shitting on the poor thinks its much cooler to shit on the rich(er). ya know, rich people work hard for their money, why not give it to some unemployed shit?
 
Then you're one of the people I'd love to see falling on some bad luck dear. Life isn't easy, it isn't roses and it doesn't always work in your favour regardless of how hard you try.
While true, expecting others take care of you when that happens is retarded. Expecting others to take care of you when that bad luck is the result of your own idiotic choices is doubly retarded.
 
Remember guys. These people who lose their jobs and now need welfare to bounce them back into the work force were paying taxes just like everyone else.
 
Maybe 10% and I'm being generous.

I'm talking about people that have jobs just like you and I (well not me, I don't pay tax). These people have every right to collect since they have been putting their own money into that big pile.
 
So someone who lacks ability, skill or know how has choice? Please tell me how these choices can be made and please prove to me that it is just as easy for a poor person from an underprivileged background as it is for a middle class person to make these choices and see them through.

All they needed to do was apply themselves in our free public education system. Kids choose to not study. Kids choose to not pay attention in school. They spend more time trying to be popular in something that everyone will forget your popularity after the 4 years there. Use that application of yourself to get good grades thus qualifying you for grants and scholarships. Continue to apply yourself in college. Work on establishing a career while in college through internships.
 
All they needed to do was apply themselves in our free public education system. Kids choose to not study. Kids choose to not pay attention in school. They spend more time trying to be popular in something that everyone will forget your popularity after the 4 years there. Use that application of yourself to get good grades thus qualifying you for grants and scholarships. Continue to apply yourself in college. Work on establishing a career while in college through internships.

Come on man. They are children. Then need drive and motivation. Some don't, but most do.

Those children are not going home to the same environment either.

It's not the same for everyone.
 
in 2000, I lost my job, my house, my car. I was couch surfing for 6 months as I was competing with 60k other unemployed tech people in Denver for 6k tech jobs. During that time, I worked restaurant work. I went from 90k a year to 19k. I spent the next two years busting my ass, living in crap conditions, until I finally started working my way back up and out. Yes, I've been there. I could have sat and cried and gone 'woe is me', but I didn't, I sucked it up, took jobs that were way beneath what I was used to, and finally recovered, without any welfare, or state/govt bennies minus 3 months of unemployment benefits, so, yes, I think I can say that willpower, the desire to have something different, goes a long ass way to change being poor.

Similar story here albeit not as drastic.

2008 I got laid off from a company I loved working for that treated me very well. Instead of driving home and crying about it, I drove to a consulting firm. Informed them of my situation and asked what they had available for me. I told them my skillsets and took a few tests to prove my knowledge. Then I drove home, told my wife, and began working on my resume. By the time I had sent the consulting firm my updated resume, they had a position available for me to interview for. This was a pressing need for the company, so I got my suit on and interviewed. Before I got halfway home, I was asked to turn around and go to a lab for drug testing. Got the job offer on my way home (contingent on results of drug testing).

This job paid me 30,000 less than what I was making before. I immediately accepted this position and started looking for another one. Found another job 3 months later that paid 10,000 more than the previous job. I accepted this position, and am still there using this job to increase my skillset as well as learn what types of things are needed to succeed in this area of the country. I am now looking for another job and will be looking to earn what I used to make doing a lot more than just tech support.

I've had to make major sacrifices due to the salary cuts and have not gotten to spoil myself at all as all my money has gone to taking care of my son (1 year old at the time I got laid off) and my wife.
 
Those are awesome anecdotes, but you guys have educations that make you desirable hires. Duke was a victim of a difficult business cycle. He recovered. A lot of these people have very little skills and not much education. They don't have the luxury of going from 90k to 19k. They start at 19k and scrape along the bottom.
 
Come on man. They are children. Then need drive and motivation. Some don't, but most do.

Those children are not going home to the same environment either.

It's not the same for everyone.

I don't have hard facts to back it up, but I'm willing to bet 90% of the kids out there are spending more time playing video games and hooking up than studying. I've met too many instances where a kid wasn't exactly the brightest, but he applied himself as much as possible. Once he finally figured things out, he was able to succeed. One instance of this is now working as an engineer for a military defense company.
 
Those are awesome anecdotes, but you guys have educations that make you desirable hires. Duke was a victim of a difficult business cycle. He recovered. A lot of these people have very little skills and not much education. They don't have the luxury of going from 90k to 19k. They start at 19k and scrape along the bottom.

Then they should have worked on their human capital like the rest of us adults. Quit making excuses.
 
Your "too bad, so sad" attitude is shitty.

won't someone please think of the cats!

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I'm just saying there's nothing instinctual about this. It's not like you're born and automatically you have direction in life.