Dragon
Senior Member
- Sep 16, 2011
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the answer is quite simple.
Over the years people have lost the drive to fend for themselves. We are now in a world where we can live quite well without having to rissk all we have to get there.
Put aside how what I am about to say imay sound like rhetoric....in other words, hear what I am saying....
When I was young, my parents had to work hard to earn enough for a car, a TV, a/c, etc..
Now? The poor have what my parents strove for when they were middle class.
No, they don't.
I don't know how old you are, but when I was a boy, my father, working on a blue-collar job, could not just own a car and a few electronic toys. He could own a home. He could have a non-working spouse. He could send me and my sister and brother to college. He could save for retirement. Poor people can't do any of these things. The reason they can often own a TV, a cell phone, etc. is because these electronic toys have dropped dramatically in price, and because free items are often available from various charity sources.
Oh, and my father didn't just own a car, he owned more than one NEW car. Can't do that today if you're poor.
Now, aside from reasoning from theory without real data, do you have any actual evidence that the American work ethic has declined over the last 30 years? Are people working fewer hours or more? Are more or less of them working two jobs? Are there more or fewer multiple-income households today than there used to be? Has the productivity of American workers declined or increased?
Since the answers to all of these questions suggest to the contrary of your hypothesis, are you prepared to discard it?