Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on ""Bootstrapped": Alissa Quart on Liberating Ourselves from the Myth of the American Dream" video.

@joriankell1983 How many corporations spend more on lobbying than they pay in taxes? Remember the first time a handful did that? Funny, that is now a normal strategy. You wrote: "Did you know major corporations are not the majority of the economy?" This is a very vague statement, pretending to be an objective quantification. Please explain what you meant and how you measured that.
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@joriankell1983 Oh, okay. It was just something you made up. No problem.
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Wow, just wow. Does anyone ever confide in you, or is that an idiotic question?
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@michaelhalbherr3683 The fact that you are 50 years behind the times.
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@michaelhalbherr3683 Following these "rules" no longer makes it likely that "you will do quite well in America," nor does breaking them (any of them, or all) hold a person back -- and we know this now. The cat is out of the bag. It jumped out over a generation ago. Don't get me wrong. I wish it were different. A simple roadmap to a reasonably solid and stable standard of living would be lovely. Alas . . . you are describing an American society and economy that started to fray in the 1970s and was gone by the end of Clinton's two terms.
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@michaelhalbherr3683 He didn't give up. No one with that sense of humor ever gives up.
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@jackbeagle8458 Perfect. I wish I had seen this before replying. Seriously, thank you. I should follow you.
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Yes. My decision to care for an elderly, handicapped family member, with no government assistance whatsoever, most certainly had huge ramifications. I do not judge anyone who makes a different decision. I know what that sacrifice means in real-world terms, and it has to be up to the individual. (Too bad they judge me, huh?)
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Actually, he looked to cheat his late brother's descendants out of their share of the inheritance, including one special-needs infant. Look it up. Textbook example of who gets ahead.
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I did all that and I'm close to losing a house that has had no mortgage since 1999. We weathered 2001, 2008, countless family tragedies for which we were in no way responsible (when things go wrong, no one even thinks to take a drink, much less anything worse . . . we also eat an excellent diet, home cooked, every day). COVID is what done it. We could not take one more blow.
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@moniqueloomis9772 Great observation. People who write this stuff are petrified of being poor again. They know why they are so scared.
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@tinacraven2782 No it isn't. Nor did I so much as mention "government help." Why did you hear it? (It's the major corporations that have "government help," by the way. They need the 700 bases in 80 countries, they need the US military to prop up the dollar and secure global shipping lanes. They spend more on lobbying than they pay in taxes -- and they buy up T bonds and get interest from the federal government thanks to the deficit spending needed to obtain all that "government help." Late to the party?) I have to wonder what it is about the psychology of people who need to believe nonsense, and for whom actual facts leave them livid and prone to hurdle senseless insults. I had a friend whose mother used to throw it up to her that "I used to change your diapers!!" My friend would respond, "that's only because I was unable to." What comment can be made to such an exchange? Where does one start?
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The Guardian just did an article on how many of Forbes' 30 under 30 have been arraigned or convicted on fraud charges.
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If she wrote it herself, and she strove to be accurate and truthful, then she is actually earning her money. Is that something to jeer at, now? I'm starting to think so.
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@michaelhalbherr3683 Oh good grief no. Self-awareness entails an understanding of the true scope and limits of our ability to influence what happens to us, which is a very complex issue. A true understanding of "self-determination" involves some highly technical arguments about free will, among other things. Imagining that "the vast majority of [your] difficulties are self-inflicted" could itself be a symptom of a psychological issue -- or lead to one, at the first serious reversal you face in life. In fact, not seeing a reversal as something you yourself caused can be key to overcoming it more quickly, instead of wallowing in self-loathing. (Anyone who tells you differently is unfamiliar with the research, and not very wise about how people actually function.)
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@michaelhalbherr3683 BTW, in a society awash in the gun crime, white collar crime and corruption that this one is, it is really gallows humor to hear someone say we generally cause our own misfortune. Darkly funny, that. Well, the news is not easy to listen to, and if you need to ignore it for you own well-being, I won't begrudge you that.
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@michaelhalbherr3683 And my point is that you can do all those things, and more, and all it takes is one drunk driver, or an environmentally caused cancer, to take you out. Or working your whole life for a corporation rife with crime (think Enron, BP), or be mercilessly harassed or threatened at work while trying desperately to overcome a family tragedy, or be arrested for something you didn't do and played no role in, or be present in the building during a school shooting -- some kids have gone through two of those, now. It seems to me that anyone who is mature must understand just how little we do control, starting with who our family is, whether we have older or younger parents, or brothers and sisters, how long each of those people live, and what they need from us before they die. As for getting pregnant while still in school, a lot of people would end up having no children had they made "goodness" their priority. Kids fall in love, after a fashion. So? Perhaps it is immature and irresponsible, but it's not all negative. It has a poignant side. For some, it's a reason to get up in the morning and work at two deadening jobs. You don't know anyone like that? I know lots of people like that. Maybe you're just ungrateful and take random lucky breaks for granted, and instead of working on that (something you can control fairly well -- ironically enough), you prefer to jeer at people you've been taught to label "victims." That's not very smart.
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@michaelhalbherr3683 "I am suggesting that if what you say about our "limited" control is true, then why not, to the best of our ability, exercise positive agency over that which we CAN directly control?" I wholeheartedly agree with this. Now you're talking. Now we are in the realm of reality. Whew, that's a relief.
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@Ethercloud After they have been hampered in every way. I remember when a minimum-wage summer job paid for a full year of tuition at the best state schools. (I remember when two or three roommates working for minimum wage could afford an apartment anywhere, even in New York City -- though that was the generation before mine. I was too young to get a job then.) Those who paid their own way, instead of borrowing and then living with parents, were a different people. Too bad that opportunity was destroyed, too. Maybe society has a role here?
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@Ethercloud Speaking of retirement, the 401(k) and the IRA are well over a generation old. Why do no more than 10%, at most, have enough to fully fund their own retirement? How come that didn't work, when we have had some of the best market conditions in history, unlikely to repeat? If 90% made "bad choices," maybe it wasn't a matter of choices? That could be.
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Is there evidence for the rape story? Many such events occur, and many such fabricated stories are circulated during wars as propaganda. It's important to know the truth, and to acknowledge when the truth cannot be ascertained, without disrespecting anyone who claims this happened to them.
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@jj3682 No one said there was a rich guy behind the curtain. I wonder, though -- how do you account for the massive shift in wealth to the very top, which has been going on for 50 years and has been accelerating wildly since the 1990s, especially since financial deregulation? Are all of these people "working harder," "working smarter," or "adding value?" If giving people money were so sure to ruin them, and was fraught with such risk, please explain why rich people have highly sophisticated estate lawyers, place money in trusts for future generations, place money in off-shore tax havens, and even buy their children's way into schools like Harvard? Who would want to ruin their own child? Seems like they all do. How odd. The founders of these various tech companies were worth several billion by age 40 if not a decade sooner. That is like accumulating $1,000,000 a year for every year since the birth of Jesus. Please explain how anyone "earns" that -- especially by creating something like social media. (You can't eat it, wear it, or use it to heat your house, but it can be used for propaganda and surveillance simultaneously. Brilliant invention, huh?)
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You mean "liberating" oneself from the effort needed to understand how contemporary societies function, and the responsibility for making that effort? If the dollar loses its global reserve currency status, you will find out real quick how important it was to make the effort, and how it was your responsibility as a rational adult human person to do so. You might, however, be too upset to do it then. Maybe start now?
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This mental landscape is simply abnormal. You cannot persuade him that he is wrong anymore than you could persuade the 9/11 hijackers that the Koran does not sanction their murderous acts. Obviously your coworker is petrified of ending up without money. He has an abnormal fear, to boot.
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@LinkRocks The Guardian just did an article on how many of Forbes' 30 under 30 have been arraigned or convicted on fraud charges.
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The Homestead Act? Whose land was that, that they were distributing?
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Please give some examples. (Or, ask an employment discrimination lawyer to describe some of his most egregious cases to you.) Even people like Robert Greene and Jordan Peterson know that hard work is just as likely to get you in trouble as to lead to success, depending on who you are surrounded by -- and who you are surrounded by is not entirely based on conscious choices you made or could have made. Or, look up Ecclesiastes ch 9, verse 11.
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@DC-rd6oq So, I have to take your word for it. I can believe it is possible. I know it is (no longer) usual. In any case, NO ONE did it alone. Everyone had many, many breaks, and depended on the good will of many people around them. The ingratitude is something I really can't understand. Even if you earned those breaks -- plenty of people do, but the breaks do not come. Have you ever talked to anyone who started their own business? Would they confide in you how many times their clients failed to pay them? Or a major client declared bankruptcy, at just the wrong moment? I know a couple who actually made millions, and even they had trouble getting paid -- even after they could afford the best lawyers. It was only new orders that they refused to fill until past orders were paid that brought in the past due money. SMH
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@DC-rd6oq No. It is literally impossible to "do it alone." At some point -- at many points -- you must have had a teacher or someone who trained you (formal or not), you must have had clients who stuck by you, you must have had a boss who wasn't determined to trash your career, you must have had food to eat and a place to live before you established yourselves. If you had no starting capital given to you, someone must have offered you a loan on terms you could accept. You must have relied on others for roads, and vehicles, and your personal safety. Many someones must have established the body of knowledge you draw from. You must have had parents or guardians for at least 18 years. This "I did it alone" sounds psychotic. Even the words you use are a collective human product. You didn't invent English. The reason a dollar has the value it does, and can buy what it can, has very little to do with you. Hate to break it to you . . . Hardly anything anyone has is something they themselves created. Why do you need to think you did? The most solitary person I can think of offhand is the Unabomber, and he relied on the US Postal Service.
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@DC-rd6oq Then I have no idea what you mean by saying you"did it alone." If someone, somewhere gave you a job, you didn't invent the job. You didn't bring yourself up from infancy and childhood. You didn't train yourself to do anything you do. This whole discussion is on the level of some sort of ridiculous sentimentality and magic words, Halmark card "wisdom," and has nothing to do with concrete socioeconomic facts. We are ALL more dependent on society than we ever were, and more vulnerable to what someone half a world away might do, for meeting our most basic necessities. (I don't think that's so great, either, by the way. But I won't delve into magical thinking to hide from it.) If the dollar loses global reserve currency status, then what 9/11, the banking crisis, and the pandemic did not show you, you will be forced to confront.
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@DC-rd6oq Okay, you're nuts. Good to know. (So, not taking the best things in life for granted is "doom and gloom and the sky is falling." Sounds like you miss Rush Limbaugh. Or worse.)
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@DC-rd6oq A homeless person dying of cancer could have been in that park to see that sunrise, too, so I don't see how this proves your point, but anyway . . . you're upset now. I see that.
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@DC-rd6oq Sorry if you can't handle the truth. I wasn't personalizing this. I'm a lawyer, and I surely did not do that alone. It is my duty, among other things, to know what actually happens in the real world. As for the larger issues, they are simply facts. We are vulnerable in a way that people who could go to the big city, find a modest but safe room, look for a job, and if they didn't find one, return to the family farm and help bring in the harvest never were. The financialization of the economy, which is relatively new, is what has made us exceptionally vulnerable, and has distorted the principle of reward for productive labor, as opposed to reward for stock manipulation. You missed that, too? (You were using slogans Limbaugh used to use. You didn't know?)
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@DC-rd6oq The rooster who believes his crowing causing the sun to rise tells all the other birds to get over themselves. :)
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@DC-rd6oq Too bad. You could learn something. For free.
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@DC-rd6oq True story: January 1st, took a walk in the park. Heard gunshots in the distance, and came upon a flasher. But then I ran into an elderly man and talked with him, and found out that he walks around the park every single day three to nine times, depending on the weather. I was so inspired, the day was saved and then some. Thanks to other people. The park where I spent my earliest childhood has too much gang activity now to visit. Luckily there are many other very nice municipal parks within a 25 minute drive. I didn't create those parks. I'm so glad someone did.
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Er, no, not exactly. The federal government made whole all of the depositors in SVB, not only those who had $250k per account, which is the FDIC limit. Say. Why comment if you didn't know that? I mean, seriously, why? Or at least get paid for the comment. Sheesh.
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WHAT "meritocracy?" The "merit" of holding the greater force and being willing to use it against others? Every European social democracy took care that the truly hard-working were not shut out and crushed by concentrated wealth (which in turn seems to give rise to a singularly buffoonish class, sort-of like royalty in decline). Even Adam Smith warned against allowing that to happen. Our apparent wealth exists primarily because of the dollar being the global reserve currency, and the dollar is still the global reserve currency in large part because of our military, which is stretched throughout the globe. For a reason.
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I made the choice to care for an elderly, handicapped parent, with absolutely no government assistance of any kind (and he even paid too much in taxes, due to how his assets were titled). It sure did affect my standard of living. I don't judge anyone, ever, who would make a different choice, being that I know what that choice really entailed. Too bad others judge me, huh?
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