Ray From Cleveland
Diamond Member
- Aug 16, 2015
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I agree actually, that the chance of becoming stupidly rich is better in this country than most. But that is still a tiny chance. What is not better in this country is going from poor to middle class, that is harder to do here than other places based on the datat.
Harder to do here or that people won't make the effort? What I did just about anybody can do. Why not the poor?
I worked, found a career I liked that put me in demand, it paid the bills, and I invested my money. These are things anybody can do.
If anybody is stopping upward mobility it's our government especially when Democrats are in charge. We give the so-called poor so much food many are fat. Free cell phones. A house or apartment in the suburbs. Free daycare if they work. The more kids, the larger SNAP's card, larger suburban home, larger welfare check.
These people are happy this way, and why not? There is no need to move upward because they have no desire to.
There is nothing you did that could not be done in any country, including trading commodity contracts.
I know you can get ahead here, but it is not as simple as people wish to make it.
After getting out of the Marines in 2009 during the heart of the recession we as a family were barely above poverty level and I found out that 20 years in the Marines pretty much meant squat to most employers despite what we had been told as we got ready to get out.
The wife and I came to the conclusion this was not how we wanted to live. So I finished my Bachelors and got my Masters and she got her ASN and then her BSN...jump forward to today and we are now in the top 10% of income earners according to the Govt.
I do not say any of this to brag, but I understand we had a lot of advantages not everyone has. I had the GI Bill, without which I would never have been able to go back school. My wife had parents that had the means and desire to help her reach her dream. Thus we were able to almost quintuple our income in less than a decade. Not everyone has these things, we were lucky and worked our asses off at the same time. I do not think it is wrong to recognize not everyone can do what we did as they do not have the resources we did.
You don't realize that you reinforced my point. You worked for it and by doing so you did move up if you're telling the truth. A lot of people can do what you did just like a lot of people can do what I did. What's stopping them?