Who needs a job when the government gives you money (while studying)?

I'm just glad you're not sponging off of my tax dollars.

Aren't we all proletarians?

I'm a proletarian as far as the social services are concerned, I suppose. My working record is pretty empty, well officially anyway.

It's about time I got a steady income, that would allow me to buy a lot of stuff that is now either off limits or depends on the current budget situation.

As far as hating proletarians goes...fuck yeah. Not that I like the intellectuals of the fancy bars in the university district much better...but at least they have something sensible to say sometimes while drinking until they fall over. Big difference.

well, in the US at least (and this is less true in second and third world countries), if you're poor it's your own fault. There is plenty of opportuinity, it's just a matter of searching it out. The people that are sitting on government checks are typically just lazy.

I don't believe being poor is entirely one's own fault. There's generational poverty that goes even beyond social issues...and the fact that people born in some areas/families are privileged to pursue success compared to people born in the crack ghetto should be a given.

Anyway, I think we had this discussion before. Personal ambition and drive certainly has a lot to do with it, but I also believe that the environment you were born in does a LOT for your destiny.

I don't think I'd have two degrees if I was born in a poor family.

Certainly your birth has an influence, but there's no being locked into a class structure. You don't get murdered for going outside your class level boundaries. Everyone in the US can get a high school diploma without paying a cent (well, beyond taxes). At that point, you can get a basic job doing anything... I got an entry level position doing tech support with little beyond that. Hell, the place I worked for would invite you in off the street as long as you could fill a chair and answer the phone. That job began at $10.58/hr...well above the minimum wage.

even if you lived in the ghetto in New Orleans you could get out if you were motivated. Buy a $500 car and drive to another state. Or join the military. Certain military jobs will get you a signing bonus ($10,000 or ever more) plus money for college (up to $50,000 I believe). You could get your degree while serving your time, get out, and easily get a job... with military experience and a degree, getting a decent job wouldn't be hard.

Anyway...about the only way you're totally screwed is if you're physically or mentally broken, at which point the government does still dole out quite a nice chunk of cash. And you've got to be pretty far gone to not be able to get any job at all.

hehehe...like I said, I do agree with the basic idea. It's the same here really, if you want to work and have the intelligence you'll get somewhere.

But I just think that the motivation is something that is, in part, something you get from background. To take the ghetto example again; if you grow up in an environment of 90% unemployment, you don't have a lot of things/persons to look up to. If your parents don't stimulate you to work hard for school (cos when you're young you don't understand the importance of school for the rest of your life yet) it's not that straightforward to make an effort for it. And there's always peer pressure of all sorts.

It's definitely possible and I'm all for it, I just think it's a rare person who can rise above his background and go to the top.

regardless of what your parents "teach" you - people even at younger ages still have minds of their own to want to learn. My former best friend for instance. She came from a very very poor family who still (her family) has next to nothing. But she went to school worked hard paid her own way through college by working a job while in high school to get money and is now relatively successful. And I can tell you that was NOT a family value.

My family thought I was dumb because of a stupid flawed IQ test the school forced on me when I was a child (I was failing 1st grade). So from then on they did not push school on me - and my family was pretty much out of the picture while I was in hich school - but I would say I did well for myself considering. (and for the record I failed 1st grade and did summer school - not because I was dumb - I needed glasses - would have been nice for someone to test that huh?)

It is one thing if your life explodes on you and you take a couple months and get it straight again - like getting laid off and need some help - but it is another to always be on the governments paycheck for sitting on your ass.

I failed Kindergarten.

Sorta on topic and sorta not

Monday I got to stay home from work because of ice - Texans just can't drive on the stuff and today Wednesday - we had more snowish Ice and I stayed home again! yay so far a 3 day work week - maybe less with pay!!!

Hehehe, I have 0-day working weeks, but then I don't get paid for staying at home either so I envy ya

As for the discussion, I guess we can all agree that people who are unemployed for a living suck, otherwise it's all good?