| HappySqurriel said:
The vast majority of people have the opportunity to make choices that can increase their resources (or increase their earning potential) although the trade-off may be unacceptable to them ... While it is open to interpretation whether it is "fair" or not, outcomes in a capatilist economy are mostly determined by a series of well known rational factors that people have significant control over based on the decisions they make. What this means is that people generally have an idea of what they can do that would result in a higher standard of living, although most of these choices comes with an immediate lower standard of living and have risks associated with them. The sacrifices that have to be made, and the uncertainty of the outcome, are what prevent people from making the choices to improve their standard of living; it is not the lack of resources or options. |
Ok, look over the ways that are laid out as the norm for trying to get ahead in society, these choices you describe, and feel free to list any others:
* Go to college, get a degree, advance that way. Well, considering the size of student loan debt incurred to borrow, combined with uncertainty of getting a job, means that isn't a golden path. Well, what got bantied about on here is, "Stupid students picked majors in areas that don't have jobs!". Well what DO provide suficient jobs for college graduates today? Back in the day, I went and got a Masters in Information Systems, off my B.S degree in Management, with the idea that the computer science degree would be worth something. Well, things changed, and that went out. I face circumstances even going to a private college in upstate New York for my B.S degree (after researching schools) to a school not near anything. I tried to make smart decisions. Heck, I almost even landed an interview back in the day, due to my posting about Madden football on a basketball forum, but I was in NY state at the time. Yes, I tried to make the best decisions possible, did eventually land a job with IBM, then the plug got pulled.
* Start your own business. Ok, this can work, but you need to be into a market early somewhere, and do something that can get you ahead in a meaningful way. As has been writing, a lot of businesses don't stick it out long term, and good luck getting money to start. There is a lot of get lucky on the breaks here and keep getting them. I know this from personal experience as I keep trying to plug away here. And it is a matter of getting the right idea, being able to sell it, and so on.
* Save money, live below your means. Now this is one thing that is justified in trying to ding people for. This is not done. BUT, this is only part of the equation. It isn't the HOW to get ahead, but merely one of the traits one needs to have.
* Get into a career in sales. This can work, but most sales, if straight up commission, require months of savings set aside to survive starving until you get going. Without this, it doesn't work. I speak of real estate agent and insurance sales. In these you actually are self-employed.
* Invest in Wall Street. One can try to navigate this towards retirement. But beyond that, the amount of money needed to make a difference takes years to acquire and isn't open to an average joe.
* Invest in Real Estate. In this economy, nope. One would need to be gifted as an entrepreneur and use know how to get anything going properly, outworking others. Apparently those who hustle real estate generally don't know how to do this. Maybe being a real estate broker can make a difference, but not the investing, flipping and so on.
The reality of today is this: We are in a time of transition, where what will pan out and be the next big thing, is not known. Society is going through reevaluating thinsg making it hard to predict. Thus, the risks are higher. Risks being higher means that the impact of factors out of control, and not even known yet, increase greatly.
