I’m not denying that there is a disproportionate concentration of wealth at the top. What I am saying is that the chances to improve one’s station in life in the U.S. is very doable, this is still a land of opportunity compared to most other countries. It might not be what it once was 100 years ago, but you’ve still got a comparatively reasonable chance of improving your lot provided you make the right decisions in life.
When you take income equality out of the equation it still very much is. Some people point to the Nordic countries as examples of countries that have very good upward mobility; however the thing is the income spread is not as drastic. There aren’t that many really destitute people nor are there a huge number of exceedingly wealthy people. There’s not nearly the level of income inequality in those nations compared to the U.S., That’s both good or bad depending upon how you look at it. Good because it means that the average person is likely going to have a very good standard of living. There’s not much of an income gap (relatively speaking). The bad is that it’s more unlikely to that you’ll really move up from where you started because again, there’s not much of an income gap. They’ve done well with creating an equitable society. Which is appealing to a lot of people. However, I’ll say, if you had a sure-fire billion-dollar idea. You’d be better served to bring that idea to market in the U.S. than in Norway,Denmark,or Sweden. You’ll pocket a lot more for your efforts. And that’s not just because of the bigger market.
Many people, including myself have been broke college students before. I purposely went to a local college( commute in to class, live at home, thus saving on room and board) and took base classes at junior college during the summer. (that would transfer credits), because it was cheaper, and held down a job while doing so. And a $200 ticket would’ve definitely put a dent in the finances for me as well.
Most people however, exhibit poor fiscal sensibilities. I see, and I’m sure you see it every day. There are some instances were a person did everything right, and still got a raw deal, but there many more situations were someone had kids that there weren’t ready to pay for (or had more kids than they could afford), bought more house than they could afford in the long term, bought more car than they could afford, and/or live a lifestyle that they can just barely afford but have not contingency plans should the proverbial house of cards even move the slightest bit. You can call it stereotyping all you want, but look that the median net worth of the typical person in the U.S (if you look at people who rent, it’s shockingly low). or the amount of money people have put away for retirement, that tells you quite at bit about American spending habits.
As an example. There’s a family, who has three kids, they are all students in the school system I work for. I know that the kids get free lunch/breakfast. I also know that both parents lease new cars every 2 years. They aren’t business owners or anything. To me that suggests that they are trying to keep up appearances, and would be better off if they bought cheaper used cars and just kept them for a few years and not have payments. There’s another family that has two kids, the father is “disabled” vet who hasn’t had a regular job as long as I’ve been aware of him, the mother also claimed disability, but at some point got cut off, and had to get a job. The kicker is that the father who was apparently not able to work was perfectly capable of moving to Alaska for several months to prospect for gold, the mother was very optimistic about this, and thought he would return with six or seven figures in their bank account. And when he came back he mentioned that he was now a millionaire. However, that appears to be less than true, as they at first moved in with the father’s dad (grandpa), apparently got kicked out, or maybe just moved out and were homeless for some period of time. It became apparent that the Alaskan expedition pretty much wiped them out financially. These are just two examples of the kind of stuff I get to see every day. Anyway the point I’m trying to make is that most of the time, it’s not just an unlucky break that contributes to a person’t financial ruination, but poor personal decisions, usually a combination of several bad decisions. Most people have fantastic hindsight, far fewer have exceptional foresight.
First hand experience chief.
