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I would argue that the wealth gap is symptomatic of a degeneration of culture and education in this country. I am in my late 20s, and even when I was graduating

I would argue that the wealth gap is symptomatic of a degeneration of culture and education in this country. I am in my late 20s, and even when I was graduating it was apparent that most students in my cohort simply were not leaving school with the skills to function as adults, let alone be productive members of society. Same in college, 18-21 year old children. And now these same children look desperately for others to blame, while in reality we have a growing proportion of incompetent workers performing increasingly meaningless tasks, walled away behind miles of red tape and a Goliath of bureaucracy. American popular culture places little value on education and self-improvement. The windfall that was WWII is dwindling, while other nations take steps to optimize the very parts of their labor pipeline that we in the U.S. neglect. Millennials are waking up to a decline that they are ill-equipped to reverse. Twitter, Facebook, et al. are only hastening the degradation of western culture, accelerating an existing, emergent glamorization of shallow materialism over knowledgeability and competence.

ianai 8y ago
The government could fully employ people in digging holes in the ground and filling them, alternately. But that’d be too shallow, so the machinations of government employ the many. The free market is built on ends - singular goods and services. But the living world is not. What dies or is consumed today feeds the survivors for tomorrow. A sparrow could never be reimbursed by a hawk for its life. But eventually the hawks raw materials rejoin the worlds supply and plays its part in supplying for more life. Life on earth takes energy from the sun or earth, ultimately - that’s the “end” that fuels all life. Humanity does itself the greatest disservice in defining goods and services as ends in themselves. Humanity ought to “close the loop” - find a way to survive and thrive through redefining how humanity works such that it obeys that the only end that the earth actually receives is energy from the sun or earth.
simonsarris 8y ago
You're getting downvoted, but your hunch is correct: https://medium.com/@simon.sarris/higher-education-erodes-a7c9983692e0 https://medium.com/@simon.sarris/higher-education-erodes-a7c... Students aren't leaving high school, nevermind college, with the skills that should be expected of them. A great dumbing down is in effect because we do not want to hurt feelings and want everyone to graduate, move on to the next level, etc.

ianai 8y ago

The government could fully employ people in digging holes in the ground and filling them, alternately. But that’d be too shallow, so the machinations of government employ the many. The free market is built on ends - singular goods and services. But the living world is not. What dies or is consumed today feeds the survivors for tomorrow. A sparrow could never be reimbursed by a hawk for its life. But eventually the hawks raw materials rejoin the worlds supply and plays its part in supplying for more life. Life on earth takes energy from the sun or earth, ultimately - that’s the “end” that fuels all life. Humanity does itself the greatest disservice in defining goods and services as ends in themselves. Humanity ought to “close the loop” - find a way to survive and thrive through redefining how humanity works such that it obeys that the only end that the earth actually receives is energy from the sun or earth.

simonsarris 8y ago

You're getting downvoted, but your hunch is correct: https://medium.com/@simon.sarris/higher-education-erodes-a7c9983692e0 https://medium.com/@simon.sarris/higher-education-erodes-a7c... Students aren't leaving high school, nevermind college, with the skills that should be expected of them. A great dumbing down is in effect because we do not want to hurt feelings and want everyone to graduate, move on to the next level, etc.