Being Poor (1 Viewer)

[RazorOye]

So now teach in a school with a large AA population as well as a sizable Latin population
( If you don’t want to consider institutional poverty and disenfranchisement maybe stop here- but I don’t think you’re that guy)
- some of the newer Latin students are literal ‘walk across miles of dessert to get here’ type families
And let me tell you those parents are STUNNED that other Latin (and even AA) students aren’t super 100% grateful for the educational opportunity
And from their POV, of course, it’s tons better than whatever/wherever they left
For the students who are a few generations into the city, the disparity is what they see the most, and have many examples of people who tried hard but were not rewarded (not all obviously) and started to lose sight of the point

Now let’s take the immigrants that you’re talking about - let’s say there are 20 of them and they are all hard working- do you think all 20 will become successful?
I dont
I think there will be 3-5 doors that could open for the 20
20 will work very hard and 5 will succeed
The 15 left behind and the kids of those 15 will have a very different idea of the value of that original hard work

....
Last year I taught at one of the most privileged school in the city - the ostensible difference that I saw was access
One group starts the year telling me about their European trips (which I don’t begrudge them at all), the other about life guarding for NORD
It’s no hard to imagine which group will have more doors open for them

I have taught in juvenile prison. Taught in inner city. Taught in the 'burbs. Taught in rurality. Taught in a school that cost $35,000/year to the children of billionaires (families of Louis Vuitton, Bacardi, billionaires, major federal politicians, etc) and the stark difference in 'opportunity' - the disparity you talk about - goes so far, in so many ways.

It goes into places I never saw, never even imagined existed. And I'm probably still just scratching the surface.

I knew going in that the 'bootstraps' mentality was in part mythical, but never realized the demystification would be this profound.

I listened to a report about Iceland moving away from GDP as the top economic indicator and moving toward a "well being index"

Iceland puts well-being ahead of GDP in budget

The Nordic nation's PM says modern governments need to value green energy and family welfare more.

www.bbc.com

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is among several economists arguing that gross domestic product - measuring a country's production in goods and services - fails to capture the impact of climate change, inequality, digital services and other phenomena shaping modern societies.

I think something like "being poor" and all of the various causes, in their multiplicities, are things that should belong in this discussion

 

[Optimus Prime]

Back due to conversation on MAP

 

[saintmdterps]

Being poor in America is thinking you wouldn't be struggling if they would just stop taking your taxes and giving it away to welfare queens.

Welfare queens like the corn subsidy, Nike, FedEx

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/05/corporations-federal-taxes/

The findings also underscore the favorable tax environment for big businesses in the wake of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Twenty-six corporations have paid no federal income taxes since 2017, according to the report, including such household names as Nike, FedEx and Dish Network. Combined, the 26 companies have booked more than $77 billion in profits since 2018, while receiving nearly $5 billion in rebates, for an effective three-year tax rate of negative 6 percent.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Welfare queens like the corn subsidy, Nike, FedEx

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/05/corporations-federal-taxes/

slight of hand by the top 1%. keep us fighting over the pennies so they don't look at us...

 

[Taurus]

I have taught in juvenile prison. Taught in inner city. Taught in the 'burbs. Taught in rurality. Taught in a school that cost $35,000/year to the children of billionaires (families of Louis Vuitton, Bacardi, billionaires, major federal politicians, etc) and the stark difference in 'opportunity' - the disparity you talk about - goes so far, in so many ways.

It goes into places I never saw, never even imagined existed. And I'm probably still just scratching the surface.

I knew going in that the 'bootstraps' mentality was in part mythical, but never realized the demystification would be this profound.

I listened to a report about Iceland moving away from GDP as the top economic indicator and moving toward a "well being index"

Iceland puts well-being ahead of GDP in budget

The Nordic nation's PM says modern governments need to value green energy and family welfare more.

www.bbc.com

I think something like "being poor" and all of the various causes, in their multiplicities, are things that should belong in this discussion

Indeed. Are we measuring success by quantity of stuff or quality of life?
I'd argue that a typical Frenchman who works 35 hours a week, takes 30 days of vacation and gets 12 holidays off per year has a better life, better contact with his kids, his wife, his hobbies, than an American millionaire who works 70 hours (or more) a week, takes maybe a week's vacation, gets 6 holidays and barely knows his children's names, has zero time to engage with them after school and only has a vague recollection that he used to really like fishing.

 

[BELOWSEALEVEL]

I'm a proud consumer of Ramen noodles for decades.
I used to buy the the square ones but
I've stepped up my game over the years
and now eat the Nissin cup noodles with shrimp. Those are the ones in the styrofoam cup with dehydrated shrimp, carrots, and some green things.
I add a little Old Bay to it and it's fantastic.
I'm 50 years old and love em.
I have about 2 dozen in the pantry at all times.

 

[tomwaits]

slight of hand by the top 1%. keep us fighting over the pennies so they don't look at us...

How did people go from Occupy Wall Street to wokeness and gender neutral bathrooms?
People got played, the big corporations would much rather play identity politic wokeness than be attacked for corporate welfare.

Also, they love it when governments mandate you have to buy their products.

 

[saintmdterps]

Indeed. Are we measuring success by quantity of stuff or quality of life?
I'd argue that a typical Frenchman who works 35 hours a week, takes 30 days of vacation and gets 12 holidays off per year has a better life, better contact with his kids, his wife, his hobbies, than an American millionaire who works 70 hours (or more) a week, takes maybe a week's vacation, gets 6 holidays and barely knows his children's names, has zero time to engage with them after school and only has a vague recollection that he used to really like fishing.

Add German, Dutch, Danish, Scandinavian, etc, and so on. In the USA exhaustion due to overwork is still a status symbol.

A few years ago I read that the average French worker got 36 days of vacation per year and used 33 days. The French do not check in to the office while on vacation. On the other hand, the average American worker got 18 days of vacation and used 14, but 75% checked in at work daily via email or text. How that is a vacation is beyond me.

The US healthcare system is another culprit in reducing quality of life. A study by the American Journal of Public Health determined that in 2109, medical bills were responsible for 66.5% of all bankruptcies. Never mind insurance premiums escalating at a far greater rate than wages. The amount of money spent by Americans on health care stifles other sectors and inhibits retirement.

'Murica...

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Add German, Dutch, Danish, Scandinavian, etc, and so on. In the USA exhaustion due to overwork is still a status symbol.

A few years ago I read that the average French worker got 36 days of vacation per year and used 33 days. The French do not check in to the office while on vacation. On the other hand, the average American worker got 18 days of vacation and used 14, but 75% checked in at work daily via email or text. How that is a vacation is beyond me.

And we've all been taught this. I worked while I had an IV in my arm getting cancer treatment because "what else was I going to do"? When I had my gallbladder out last year I took my laptop into the hospital with me because I was working on a large project and since we had all been working from home I didn't want to be seen as a slacker. My Dad's work ethic and the work ethic of the generation before are to blame for my inability to see that it is OK (because your company will never tell you this) to take the days off.

My wife may have finally gotten through to me though. I did take a week off after my latest surgery to rest and recuperate. I did not check in on email.

OTOH, even though I brought home a large project under time and under budget my "merit" increase wasn't as much as the cost of living index rose. No ones was. They had some audacity to call them "merit" increases when they had nothing to do with merit at all. And you can just forget about bonuses.

So yeah, what did I learn?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Add German, Dutch, Danish, Scandinavian, etc, and so on. In the USA exhaustion due to overwork is still a status symbol.

A few years ago I read that the average French worker got 36 days of vacation per year and used 33 days. The French do not check in to the office while on vacation. On the other hand, the average American worker got 18 days of vacation and used 14, but 75% checked in at work daily via email or text. How that is a vacation is beyond me.

from 5 years ago
=========================

..........But some of us have trouble letting go. Millions of Americans aren’t taking all the vacation time they’ve earned — and that’s a commentary on America’s new work culture.

Here are the numbers. Among full-time U.S. workers, about 90 percent receive some paid vacation, says the Labor Department. From 1978 to around 2000, these workers earned — and took — an average of 20 days a year of vacation, according to studies done by a travel industry group called Project Time Off. In 2015, full-time workers actually earned almost 22 days of vacation but took only 16. About half of workers leave some vacation days unused.

This amounts to 658 million unused days, worth about $223 billion in spending, the study says. Naturally, the travel industry tends to describe this as a crisis. It would prefer to see all that money going into the coffers of airlines, restaurants, theme parks and other tourism businesses. It regards people who don’t use all their vacation time as slightly deranged or worse. The industry’s term for employees who don’t exhaust their vacation days is “work martyr.”.........

There is a new work culture. Americans increasingly check email on vacation or limit their time away from the office. Interestingly, these attitudes are strongest among millennials (born 1981 to 1997) and, says Denis, disprove the common notion that younger Americans are slackers who feel entitled to jobs. To the contrary, she cites figures — destined for a future report — showing why millennials are more fearful than most others of taking longer vacations:

● 30 percent want to show complete dedication to work (compared with 22 percent overall).

● 27 percent don’t want to be seen as replaceable (compared with 19 percent).

● 27 percent feel guilty about using vacation time (compared with 19 percent).

Probably most Europeans regard Americans’ obsession with work as lunacy. In Europe, vacations are a right. Countries in the European Union must provide at least a month. In 2014, average French employees worked one-fifth fewer hours than their American counterparts, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-you-a-work-martyr/2016/06/19/d4cb30e8-34a2-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

 

[Bleu Raeder]

from 5 years ago
=========================

..........But some of us have trouble letting go. Millions of Americans aren’t taking all the vacation time they’ve earned — and that’s a commentary on America’s new work culture.

Here are the numbers. Among full-time U.S. workers, about 90 percent receive some paid vacation, says the Labor Department. From 1978 to around 2000, these workers earned — and took — an average of 20 days a year of vacation, according to studies done by a travel industry group called Project Time Off. In 2015, full-time workers actually earned almost 22 days of vacation but took only 16. About half of workers leave some vacation days unused.

This amounts to 658 million unused days, worth about $223 billion in spending, the study says. Naturally, the travel industry tends to describe this as a crisis. It would prefer to see all that money going into the coffers of airlines, restaurants, theme parks and other tourism businesses. It regards people who don’t use all their vacation time as slightly deranged or worse. The industry’s term for employees who don’t exhaust their vacation days is “work martyr.”.........

There is a new work culture. Americans increasingly check email on vacation or limit their time away from the office. Interestingly, these attitudes are strongest among millennials (born 1981 to 1997) and, says Denis, disprove the common notion that younger Americans are slackers who feel entitled to jobs. To the contrary, she cites figures — destined for a future report — showing why millennials are more fearful than most others of taking longer vacations:

● 30 percent want to show complete dedication to work (compared with 22 percent overall).

● 27 percent don’t want to be seen as replaceable (compared with 19 percent).

● 27 percent feel guilty about using vacation time (compared with 19 percent).

Probably most Europeans regard Americans’ obsession with work as lunacy. In Europe, vacations are a right. Countries in the European Union must provide at least a month. In 2014, average French employees worked one-fifth fewer hours than their American counterparts, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-you-a-work-martyr/2016/06/19/d4cb30e8-34a2-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

Interestingly, when I worked for a company that was owned in the Netherlands they adhered to the European standards for vacations there, but in the US did not grant us the same number of days, holidays, etc.

 

[saintmdterps]

from 5 years ago
=========================

..........But some of us have trouble letting go. Millions of Americans aren’t taking all the vacation time they’ve earned — and that’s a commentary on America’s new work culture.

Here are the numbers. Among full-time U.S. workers, about 90 percent receive some paid vacation, says the Labor Department. From 1978 to around 2000, these workers earned — and took — an average of 20 days a year of vacation, according to studies done by a travel industry group called Project Time Off. In 2015, full-time workers actually earned almost 22 days of vacation but took only 16. About half of workers leave some vacation days unused.

This amounts to 658 million unused days, worth about $223 billion in spending, the study says. Naturally, the travel industry tends to describe this as a crisis. It would prefer to see all that money going into the coffers of airlines, restaurants, theme parks and other tourism businesses. It regards people who don’t use all their vacation time as slightly deranged or worse. The industry’s term for employees who don’t exhaust their vacation days is “work martyr.”.........

There is a new work culture. Americans increasingly check email on vacation or limit their time away from the office. Interestingly, these attitudes are strongest among millennials (born 1981 to 1997) and, says Denis, disprove the common notion that younger Americans are slackers who feel entitled to jobs. To the contrary, she cites figures — destined for a future report — showing why millennials are more fearful than most others of taking longer vacations:

● 30 percent want to show complete dedication to work (compared with 22 percent overall).

● 27 percent don’t want to be seen as replaceable (compared with 19 percent).

● 27 percent feel guilty about using vacation time (compared with 19 percent).

Probably most Europeans regard Americans’ obsession with work as lunacy. In Europe, vacations are a right. Countries in the European Union must provide at least a month. In 2014, average French employees worked one-fifth fewer hours than their American counterparts, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-you-a-work-martyr/2016/06/19/d4cb30e8-34a2-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

The pathological work culture in the US beats its citizens down to the point that they become wards of the most expensive healthcare system in the world. Paradoxically, this health care system offers some of the poorest functional outcomes in the world, as it places quantity of life over quality of life.

 

[Optimus Prime]

In the USA exhaustion due to overwork is still a status symbol.

The pathological work culture in the US beats its citizens down to the point that they become wards of the most expensive healthcare system in the world.

And we've all been taught this.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Add German, Dutch, Danish, Scandinavian, etc, and so on. In the USA exhaustion due to overwork is still a status symbol.

A few years ago I read that the average French worker got 36 days of vacation per year and used 33 days. The French do not check in to the office while on vacation. On the other hand, the average American worker got 18 days of vacation and used 14, but 75% checked in at work daily via email or text. How that is a vacation is beyond me.

I'll admit, Since I took the supervisors position where i work, I am guilty of this. It may not be daily or for very long, but when I go on vacation i take my work laptop with me just in case. I'd rather handle a 5 minute problem then, than a terrible headache when i return....

 

[HoustonSaint68]

My Dad's work ethic and the work ethic of the generation before are to blame for my inability to see that it is OK (because your company will never tell you this) to take the days off.

True dat. And the irony is, I worked waaaay harder than my old man ever did. Personally, equal parts luck and self-awareness saved me from dying at my desk.

First, I purposefully took a lower paying salaried job (and not a billable one) because I knew I’d always feel stressed that I was leaving money on the table whenever I wasn’t billing. Second, I got lucky when my company got taken over about halfway through my career which gave me pause to stop, reassess and commit to getting off the damn airplane. Third, I lived (and live) waaaay below our means and retired as soon as I had the chance. Fourth, I got lucky with a wife who isn’t spendthrift, kids that don’t ask for money, and health that allowed me to work like a maniac until I retired.

Oh, and not to thread jack, but it helped to look really white and have a penis.