chocoloco said:
Most Americans do not need improvements in their standard of living, as we I already have some of the highest standards in the world. Consumption would only increase in a country that already consumes way more of the world's resources than is our fair share. If everyone lived to the standards of Americans there would quickly be nothing left. You also act as if you can blame poverty on laziness alone when there are always many factors contributing to it. Some people are not born with such luck as most Americans already have and many people suffer, from discrimination, poor mental health, physical disorders and many other problems that do not allow them to work for money. |
First off, we have not hit some sort of ideal for standard of living in the western world; and there is no reason to become complacent with where we are simply because our standard of living is better than anyone has had in the history of humanity. Much like how the poor of today have a much better standard of living than the vast majority of people 100 years ago, I want to build a society where the poor people in 100 years have a better standard of living than the vast majority of us have today. As frustrating as it would be for us to witness, I strive to have an economy where poor people are upset that the rich people have access to a better quality of robot maid than they do.
With that said, I didn’t make a single claim about why people are poor; and I wouldn’t say that laziness was the primary factor. Poverty is caused by a combination of countless (mostly) well understood factors including lack of (or poor quality) education, work experience, job skills, social network, and financial literacy; or significant problems with drugs or alcohol, self-discipline and/or motivation, or emotional/behavioural problems. None of these problems are improved by the welfare system, and the majority of them get worse while a person is on welfare.
