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>Their reasoning was that high levels of inequality create financial incentives for innovation >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbS9jZOlQjc http://www.youtube.

>Their reasoning was that high levels of inequality create financial incentives for innovation >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbS9jZOlQjc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbS9jZOlQjc Maybe we should tell those kids in somalia to "innovate" a steak or a hamburger... American today are living off the golden age when a man could work his way up and actually move up in life. I say actually because they had the means to do so. If you are too poor you can't afford shit, you can't afford to go to college, to move to an area with better jobs (or less cancer) let alone dropping everything and building a startup. Why you think YC started giving out $20k? so founders wouldn't starve during the 3 months they are skipping from work. It might be news for some here but most young people have no savings and their parents can't support them anymore. Back in 1950 you could live off a part-time gig waiting tables while you were in college/building something, but today? don't make me laugh.

hnal943 13y ago
Also part of the "Golden Age" of America was generational thinking. Many people immigrated to America not to become rich themselves but to provide better opportunity for their children. Even if you don't believe that rags-to-riches stories are possible in the extreme, it is certainly possible to be born poor and work your way up the point that your children are able to go to college, which allows them to provide your grandchildren with even more opportunity.
pawn 13y ago
It's a myth that this is no longer possible. Want to know how I know? Because I did it. I grew up poor. My parents told me if I was going to college, I'd have to figure out how to do it myself because they couldn't afford to help me. So I did. I worked hard in high school, scored a 30 on the ACT, got some scholarships and paid the rest myself from jobs worked during school and money saved during the summer. I earned my CS degree, got out and found a job, and now I have a (different) job where I can afford a 2000 sq. ft. house that I currently owe just over $100k on and still have plenty of money to save up. People today are generally either lazier or less imaginative. I'm not sure which.
- chiaro 13y ago
  I did it, therefore everyone can do it? This kind of thinking is completely counter-productive to working towards a solution where no-one has to do it. Unfortunately such a myopic self-accountability for one's own situation is deeply ingrained in the American mythos. Ironically, this conception leads to some of the lowest socio-economic mobility amongst developed nations. After all, if anyone can get to where I am, anyone who isn't where I am is in their position because they're too lazy. No need to look at education, incarceration, safety net programs and healthcare. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_United_States#Comparisons_with_other_countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_... Key quote: ... 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults. That shows a level of persistent disadvantage much higher than in Denmark (25 percent) and Britain (30 percent).
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - matwood 13y ago
    I think there is a position in the middle between you and the person you responded. I see a lot of kids now that have grown up with that attitude that it is never their fault. That leads to not taking responsibility for their own situation. When I was growing up, it didn't matter if I was right. If a teacher called the house it was always my fault and I was punished. Now it seems teachers are blamed for simply trying to do the right thing. Parents take their kids side even when they are grossly wrong. A local murder case where 2 teens shot and killed a guy after luring him to buy a truck has their parents and friends posting 'free <whatever the idiot thugs are called>' on facebook and twitter. So while you are right that a lot of factors come into play when attempting to move up the ladder, you cannot completely absolve the individuals responsibility for their own situation.
- saraid216 13y ago
  > People today are generally either lazier or less imaginative. I'm not sure which. Definitely less imaginative. Fewer people these days have fantastical stories where they're a singularly representative sample of a nation of 300 million. That takes imagination.
ahomescu1 13y ago
My theory is that (over)population might have something to do with it. The population of the US was around 150 million, it's more than double that now. Maybe there was the same amount of "opportunity" back then as now, but now more people compete over it (and over the same resources). The total population of the world was 2.5 billion back then, now it's almost triple that. The world hasn't grown 3 times since then, it's the same size.

hnal943 13y ago

Also part of the "Golden Age" of America was generational thinking. Many people immigrated to America not to become rich themselves but to provide better opportunity for their children. Even if you don't believe that rags-to-riches stories are possible in the extreme, it is certainly possible to be born poor and work your way up the point that your children are able to go to college, which allows them to provide your grandchildren with even more opportunity.

pawn 13y ago

It's a myth that this is no longer possible. Want to know how I know? Because I did it. I grew up poor. My parents told me if I was going to college, I'd have to figure out how to do it myself because they couldn't afford to help me. So I did. I worked hard in high school, scored a 30 on the ACT, got some scholarships and paid the rest myself from jobs worked during school and money saved during the summer. I earned my CS degree, got out and found a job, and now I have a (different) job where I can afford a 2000 sq. ft. house that I currently owe just over $100k on and still have plenty of money to save up. People today are generally either lazier or less imaginative. I'm not sure which.

chiaro 13y ago
I did it, therefore everyone can do it? This kind of thinking is completely counter-productive to working towards a solution where no-one has to do it. Unfortunately such a myopic self-accountability for one's own situation is deeply ingrained in the American mythos. Ironically, this conception leads to some of the lowest socio-economic mobility amongst developed nations. After all, if anyone can get to where I am, anyone who isn't where I am is in their position because they're too lazy. No need to look at education, incarceration, safety net programs and healthcare. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_United_States#Comparisons_with_other_countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_... Key quote: ... 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults. That shows a level of persistent disadvantage much higher than in Denmark (25 percent) and Britain (30 percent).
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- matwood 13y ago
  I think there is a position in the middle between you and the person you responded. I see a lot of kids now that have grown up with that attitude that it is never their fault. That leads to not taking responsibility for their own situation. When I was growing up, it didn't matter if I was right. If a teacher called the house it was always my fault and I was punished. Now it seems teachers are blamed for simply trying to do the right thing. Parents take their kids side even when they are grossly wrong. A local murder case where 2 teens shot and killed a guy after luring him to buy a truck has their parents and friends posting 'free <whatever the idiot thugs are called>' on facebook and twitter. So while you are right that a lot of factors come into play when attempting to move up the ladder, you cannot completely absolve the individuals responsibility for their own situation.
saraid216 13y ago
> People today are generally either lazier or less imaginative. I'm not sure which. Definitely less imaginative. Fewer people these days have fantastical stories where they're a singularly representative sample of a nation of 300 million. That takes imagination.

ahomescu1 13y ago

My theory is that (over)population might have something to do with it. The population of the US was around 150 million, it's more than double that now. Maybe there was the same amount of "opportunity" back then as now, but now more people compete over it (and over the same resources). The total population of the world was 2.5 billion back then, now it's almost triple that. The world hasn't grown 3 times since then, it's the same size.