Its funny...most of these discussions always come back to our great public education system. Here is what the people are complaining about.
They are saying that the rich are becoming more wealthy and the middle class is suffering and becoming more poor. Currently, the top 20% of wage earners make up 50% of the income earned each year. "The middle class is under-represented" they say. Now, union members only make up 8.5% of the working force. The big bad evil corporations are "causing damage to the middle class and the heart of the society by sending jobs oversees. What will it ever take to stop them???" America is being forced into competition with the global market. Corporations are also failing to take care of the citizens. The rich can afford to send their kids to good education...how can the middle class keep up with the rich kids education levels? They say that the U.S. needs more focus on improving the public school system and to invest in public schools. And finally, the middle class is being priced out of health care now...the U.S. needs a policy change. Keep in mind...these statements were all from "The War on Middle Class"...not what I think. We will get to that.
Ok...this is a result of uneducated people trying to speak their uneducated minds about stuff they have no business attempting to change because they don't understand how and why it works (or doesn't work). The underlying problem here is the decrease in accepting responsibility for one's own life. This is a result of public schools! Its really a double-standard that people have now. I bet you, if you ask someone who receives any kind of "regularly received government assistance" if they deserve it and if its the governments responsibility to provide that to them, they will say yes. Now, ask that same person if its ok for the government to scan phone calls for terrorist activity, they will say no..."I don't want the government in my life...they can mind their own business". Anyways, here are the problems with their earlier arguments.
- The rich is becoming "richer" because they continue to do the things that made them rich in the first place and the poor are becoming more "poor" for the same reason. Overall, peoples habits don't change once they have established them. This is known as a trend. Usually, becoming "rich" is reached by a gradual increase in wealth. Of course they are not just going to stop making money once they reach a certain point. The inverse can be said for the poor. And the thing about the top 20% making 50% of the income...well, that's just a mathematical result. If somebody is making $100,000 (which is not in the top 20%), it takes 5 people making $20,000 to equal that one person. See how that works? The truth is, lazy people usually stay lazy...they may say their "lack of success or lack of luck" is not their fault...something else caused them to be where they are, but that's usually not true. Its almost like they are in denial and have lied to themselves for so long that they now believe its really not their fault. They also become content with their situation. They probably would not say so, but they are. They become content with not working hard, not making any sacrifices at all to better themselves, and content with their life situation...I mean, usually its easier...for a short amount of time anyways. Then some kind of life event comes along and everything goes to hell. When they realize other people have more than they do, work less, or even enjoy their life, they get jealous, usually become Democrats due to not understanding life, and then become an angry, sour person. You cannot prove that wrong.
- The middle class is "under-represented", they say. Well, that's because the middle class is becoming more lazy as more and more products of the government school system enter the middle class. The attitude that everything is someone else fault and someone else should take care of my needs is growing. Under-represented does not happen when everybody actually votes in elections and knows/cares about whats going on. You cannot claim that a social class is under-represented when all or at least the majority of society does not even give their inputs to the rest of society.
- So why are unions decreasing in numbers??? Because more companies are realizing what a hassle they are to deal with. A union is for people who want to get paid more than they are worth to their employer and who will not let their skills talk for them but must have a group of scumbag lawyers to "negotiate" for them. That's another problem with people. They expect to get paid a certain amount when they may not be worth that. Guess what...there is a reason the french fry boys at McDonald's get paid $6 an hour...and there is a reason why the CEO of a Fortune 500 company gets paid $6 Million a year. The McDonald's french fry boy is not really making McDonald's a whole lot of money. While he is important to getting the french fries to the customer, a monkey could probably do the job...heck, I am surprised they dont have an automated process yet. On the other hand, if the CEO completed his duties correctly, made millions even billions for the companies shareholders.
- Jobs are going oversees because of high union labor costs in America and low labor costs in foreign countries. The people complaining about this, are probably in a union. The corporations are only doing their job for the shareholders by doing this. They are decreasing expenses to raise revenues which raises shareholders value in the company. Pretty simple. Also, if instead of complaining, people come up with more efficient ways to get the job done, more jobs might stay here instead of going somewhere else.
- America is being forced into competition with the global market??? Ok, so its fine to have competition within the U.S. but no...we don't want any competition with anybody else. That sounds like selective competition to me...that's really not competition is it. Lets face it, the growing global economy is not going to go away. The quicker we learn to use it to our advantage, the better off we will be.
- Corporations are failing to take care of citizens??? Are you kidding me...did I really hear somebody say that??? Unfortunately, yes. Now, I am not saying corporations should not be good citizens themselves. They should be, its an ethical decision on their part. But its not the corporate worlds' responsibility to take care of U.S. citizens. This will come to a big shocker to these type of people but...ITS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF YOU IDIOTS!!! Their job is to maximize shareholder wealth. For the most part, U.S. corporations are pretty successful in doing so. That is why long-term investing works...almost guaranteed.
- So they are complaining that its not fair their kids cannot get the same education as "rich kids" get. You know what the problem behind this is. The school superintendent on the show stated that "public education is the equalizer in the country". To me, that sounds like a pretty communist remark. The equalizer??? As much as everybody would like for this to be true...it CANNOT BE TRUE...IT JUST WOULD NOT WORK. You cannot have a society that everybody is equal and still have a free society. The balance does not work that way. Take football for an example. Every week, 32 teams take the field in 16 games. You know what...there will be 16 winners and 16 losers. After the season gets about half way through, teams win/loss records begin to spread out. You cannot have 32 teams with winning records in a 32-team layout. You will have teams with winning records and teams with loosing records. That's just how it is. Everybody cannot win at the same time. Now, in society, MOST people can win at the same time but it just happens on different scales. This takes effort from all people and not all people in this country want to put out the effort required for the benefits they want to have.
- Self-reliance. This needs to be more prevalent in society. People cannot just depend on our wonderful public education system to make them well-educated and wanted by employers. You have to take matters into your own hands and educated yourself in whatever ways possible. This is one way I have personally become more educated in business matters. I read business magazines, news sources, possible legislation that could affect business, and even books on how to improve yourself as a person and as an asset to a business. Now, everything you read is not going to be golden. Some of the stuff I read is not even worth its weight in garbage but at least you acquired the knowledge on your own and you can make the decision on whats good and bad. That's how people who cannot afford private school or cannot afford or even get into schools such as Harvard or any other Ivy League school. To me, that does not make a person. You can give yourself that education, IF you really want to.
- The U.S. does NOT need to invest in the future of public schools. They need to abandon their current course of action and begin somewhat of a privatization plan. Everybody can still have an equal opportunity to go to the schools (like under the current system), but it would allow for more competition and in result, improved education. Competition brings improvements in order to stay on course with "everyone else".
- So they cannot afford health care...huh? Interesting, maybe if they stop consuming 10 packs of cigarettes a week, and lay off on the Starbucks a little bit, then they could afford it. Lets see...if somebody smokes and enjoys Starbucks frequently, they probably spend $50-75 on cigs and $30-45 at Starbucks, per month. You can get health insurance for as low as around $50 a month. True, its not the best coverage, but its coverage. You can get GOOD coverage for around $90 a month...sometimes even cheaper.You see, it's not that people CAN'T afford it....its people CHOOSE NOT to afford it. Its called a budget and priorities. Too many Americans don't know the definitions to those words. But this gets into a completely different topic about the lack of financial responsibility in this country...maybe I will get into that one day soon. That's always fun.
