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This all sounds rather tone deaf. What is the point, in your mind, of "equality of opportunity" if it doesn't result in any outcome? How exactly are people at

by ken 7y ago

This all sounds rather tone deaf. What is the point, in your mind, of "equality of opportunity" if it doesn't result in any outcome? How exactly are people at the poverty level helped, this month, by the performance of the stock market? When someone making more than triple the median salary in this country (who I'm guessing has never had to live on minimum wage) says we don't need to discuss wealth redistribution, but without offering any concrete suggestions about how to help the poor today, I find it hard to take that seriously.

throwawaycanada 7y ago
Equality of opportunity means that if a homeless person and a rich kid work exactly as hard and get the same grades on the same tests and both perform the same at work they end up in the same place. That means if they both do great they could both end up well off, and if they both decide they don't need to work and skirt their responsibilities they can both end up out of a job and not in a good place, at least until they start doing better at their jobs again. Equality of outcome means a lazy drunk who never cracked a book would get the same as an industrious person who makes great sacrifices for their career and education.
pgcj_poster 7y ago
I assure you that you should take my opinion very seriously. After all, I'm smart enough to type JavaScript into a text editor, which makes me more qualified to make judgments about political/social issues than any journalist or politician. Equality of opportunity means that no one is a serf or a slave, except people in the third world, who obviously don't count. It's important because it means no one can ever accuse me of having an unfair advantage over anyone else. The stock market helps the poor by giving money to job creators, meaning that it might reach the poor eventually. Didn't you ever read Basic Economics?

by ken 7y ago

throwawaycanada 7y ago

Equality of opportunity means that if a homeless person and a rich kid work exactly as hard and get the same grades on the same tests and both perform the same at work they end up in the same place. That means if they both do great they could both end up well off, and if they both decide they don't need to work and skirt their responsibilities they can both end up out of a job and not in a good place, at least until they start doing better at their jobs again. Equality of outcome means a lazy drunk who never cracked a book would get the same as an industrious person who makes great sacrifices for their career and education.

pgcj_poster 7y ago

I assure you that you should take my opinion very seriously. After all, I'm smart enough to type JavaScript into a text editor, which makes me more qualified to make judgments about political/social issues than any journalist or politician. Equality of opportunity means that no one is a serf or a slave, except people in the third world, who obviously don't count. It's important because it means no one can ever accuse me of having an unfair advantage over anyone else. The stock market helps the poor by giving money to job creators, meaning that it might reach the poor eventually. Didn't you ever read Basic Economics?