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That's not difficult to reconcile at all. A person with nothing has way more than a person with debts and other obligations. A person with nothing has no troubl

That's not difficult to reconcile at all. A person with nothing has way more than a person with debts and other obligations. A person with nothing has no trouble changing their circumstances, because they have nothing to lose. Compare that to a person who is the sole caregiver/earner for family that is dependent on them, $20k in debt from medical bills. The sort of person for whom a one-week disruption in pay pushes them across the line from just barely keeping up to unable to pay their utility bills. Would you really counsel them to move on at full speed, damn the cost to their loved ones?

skookumchuck 9y ago
The hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers" were brought to the US as young children. Evidently there are plenty of immigrants who bring their families with them and seem to make things work. A coworker of mine once complained bitterly about a pay cut he was "forced" to take. I asked him why he didn't leave. He said he had no choice. I asked why. He said he had a wife, mortgage, car payments, etc., and could not afford even a week's disruption in his pay. I suggested that he'd made all those choices himself to max out his obligations, so that he had to run to deposit his paycheck before everything bounced. The company didn't do that, he did. He was well paid, and he'd forged all those chains on him all by himself.
- chowells 9y ago
  So... You claim that everyone trapped in these situations deserves it? That sounds a lot like admitting the people whose existence you've been denying do exist after all. It sounds like you know it and have always known it. It sounds like you're telling me they don't count because they're only getting what they deserve. I guess there's no point in me attempting further explanations - you already know all the same things I do. All I can do is beg you to take a few minutes to deeply and critically evaluate your position. Is shrugging and saying "supply & demand" really the best option we've got? Is there any chance at all that it's better to address this failure of the labor market instead?
  - skookumchuck 9y ago
    Accepting responsibility is empowering, because then one can do something about it. Blaming others for the results of ones own choices is never going to work out well. The coworker I mentioned insisted he had no choices. Of course he had choices. He could sell the car he was making payments on, and use the proceeds to buy a car he could afford, for example. But he didn't want to hear that, he wanted to be a victim and be mad at the world. > failure of the labor market It's not the labor market's fault he overextended his finances.

skookumchuck 9y ago

The hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers" were brought to the US as young children. Evidently there are plenty of immigrants who bring their families with them and seem to make things work. A coworker of mine once complained bitterly about a pay cut he was "forced" to take. I asked him why he didn't leave. He said he had no choice. I asked why. He said he had a wife, mortgage, car payments, etc., and could not afford even a week's disruption in his pay. I suggested that he'd made all those choices himself to max out his obligations, so that he had to run to deposit his paycheck before everything bounced. The company didn't do that, he did. He was well paid, and he'd forged all those chains on him all by himself.

chowells 9y ago
So... You claim that everyone trapped in these situations deserves it? That sounds a lot like admitting the people whose existence you've been denying do exist after all. It sounds like you know it and have always known it. It sounds like you're telling me they don't count because they're only getting what they deserve. I guess there's no point in me attempting further explanations - you already know all the same things I do. All I can do is beg you to take a few minutes to deeply and critically evaluate your position. Is shrugging and saying "supply & demand" really the best option we've got? Is there any chance at all that it's better to address this failure of the labor market instead?
- skookumchuck 9y ago
  Accepting responsibility is empowering, because then one can do something about it. Blaming others for the results of ones own choices is never going to work out well. The coworker I mentioned insisted he had no choices. Of course he had choices. He could sell the car he was making payments on, and use the proceeds to buy a car he could afford, for example. But he didn't want to hear that, he wanted to be a victim and be mad at the world. > failure of the labor market It's not the labor market's fault he overextended his finances.