supercat
Major
The problem of the US in a nutshell:
American Economics Thread
- Thread starter Bernard
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
I'm not sure if you are saying that his thinking is the problem of the US or if he's summarizing the problem with the US but to me, it's clear that this type of thinking is causing American decline. Homelessness and poverty in the US is absolutely the result of personal failure and only personal failure. People who blame the system for everything that's bad in their lives make excuses not to work hard and pull their share in society. The correct attitude is that if someone can succeed by working hard in this system then so can I. American social services offers ample oppertunities for the homeless and poor to put themselves together but the problem is that they refuse to do the work because they think that if the rich can sit on their asses and get rich off of invesment then, their lives should be no different. As a matter of fact, today's American youth think that working without getting paid top end salary or keeping all the profits to themselves is being a chump so to make sure no boss gets rich off of thier work, they'd rather take a welfare check and complain instead.
I saw some meme the other day that goes along the lines of this:
Having a Rolex is not impressive if it tells you when your lunch break is over.
Having a 2 week vacation is not freedom if the rest of the year, you are trapped at your job.
Having a job is not security if you can be fired and replaced without hesitation.
And all there was just so much support for this meme. I thought this perfectly sums up the rot in America's youth. They want to own expensive things afforded by a job with an unlimited, unregulated schedule in which they can't be fired cus they got their boss by the balls. Absolutely fucking delerious. I mean, it's possible to have that kind of life but you better have worked so hard in your youth that you're like the only surgeon in the country who can put a brain back into a skull or the only computer engineer who can design the next generation quantum chip or something. These kids want to be given that life without ever doing anything worth a shit.
I interpret the opposite. It is state fail to control things like drug causing homelessness. As well as failure to plan economy like China. Yes laziness is a also factor, but that itself could also be caused by the substance abuse culture. I wont work either if I am too busy huffing opium. Instead of fighting drugs like Qing, I would say US is worse than Qing. They are too busy legalizing drugs and nobody is holding them at gun point!
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
There's lots and lots of people who are working jobs, NOT addicted to drugs. This actually constitutes the majority of people. If one were to become addicted to drugs, it's one's own fault for choosing to go down that route, not the fault of the government for failing to eliminate all drugs and create guardrails that make it impossible to fail. All drugs aren't eliminated in China either but our culture churns out kids who are much more resistant to such things. Blaming the presense of illegal drugs, which are always a personal choice and never forced on anyone, is a perfect example of people blaming MacDonalds for why they're fat.
Systemic weaknesses exist and are in abundance in America. The laws are becoming more and more lax essentially reward theft from stores (especially in California) leading to lack of motivation to work for money to buy things. Masses of criminals breaking into stores and taking all they can in broad daylight only happens in the US because we are at a point where employees are told to just let them go in order to avoid legal difficulties. As a matter of fact, if anyone tries to catch one, they are fired for putting the store in a potentially very expensive legal battle. If the system put armed guards in front of stores who put a bullet in the head of anyone becoming violent or resisting arrest for theft, this would not happen. So the system, of course, has horrible weaknesses, but as long as other people are succeeding, it shows that it's a workable one and it's down to personal responsibility.
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I think US is kinda special where problems are not failure to regulate. It is actively encouraged. All those drug cartels are propped by the intelligence agency. The law enourage and protect thieves. Government purposefully open up border ship bus load of people on welfare.
I think government failure contribute part of reason why people are so fucking lazy. If CPC is in charge even opium addicted bums get to become good workers. The same shitty KMT soldiers became heroes when they defect to PRC. That is quality leadership.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Well, saying that it's the government's fault for people being lazy essentially means that the perfect government is one where everyone is put into a job and you either do it well or you get thrown into a labor camp. That's the only way the government can be responsible for your life and making sure that you are a productive citizen.
Governing is actually really really complicated; like a secret recipe to a sauce with like a thousand ingredients. We can agree that China's sauce is better than America's, but at the same time, like I said, the majority of American people are still citizens in good standing who contribute to society; those who do not go this route cannot blame a system where the majority are succeeding and they are failing because they are lazy.
I don't believe that in large numbers, humans make decisions differently on average. The difference is in the government. 1% of the population can fail due to personal responsibility but when its 10%, 20%, 50%, then it is a systemic issue.
It's just like in Qing Dynasty, was it that 30% of China got hooked on opium because Chinese are naturally personally irresponsible and love drugs or is it because the government lost a war and was forced to allow drug dealers to push opium on Chinese people?
It is the official position of the Chinese government that US homelessness crisis is a social problem, not a personal responsibility problem:
It is also the official position of the Chinese government that economic inequality is a social problem in China, not a personal responsibility problem.
Unofficial poll on Zhihu: 1000+ reply post. I read the first few carefully, then scrolled the rest. Not a single one said that poverty was a personal problem.
The Chinese government made tackling inequality a core policy. US uses personal responsibility. This is the result:
It's just like in Qing Dynasty, was it that 30% of China got hooked on opium because Chinese are naturally personally irresponsible and love drugs or is it because the government lost a war and was forced to allow drug dealers to push opium on Chinese people?
It is the official position of the Chinese government that US homelessness crisis is a social problem, not a personal responsibility problem:
It is also the official position of the Chinese government that economic inequality is a social problem in China, not a personal responsibility problem.
Unofficial poll on Zhihu: 1000+ reply post. I read the first few carefully, then scrolled the rest. Not a single one said that poverty was a personal problem.
The Chinese government made tackling inequality a core policy. US uses personal responsibility. This is the result:
Well said. You conveyed my idea better than I ever could.I don't believe that in large numbers, humans make decisions differently on average. The difference is in the government. 1% of the population can fail due to personal responsibility but when its 10%, 20%, 50%, then it is a systemic issue.
It's just like in Qing Dynasty, was it that 30% of China got hooked on opium because Chinese are naturally personally irresponsible and love drugs or is it because the government lost a war and was forced to allow drug dealers to push opium on Chinese people?
It is the official position of the Chinese government that US homelessness crisis is a social problem, not a personal responsibility problem:
It is also the official position of the Chinese government that economic inequality is a social problem in China, not a personal responsibility problem.
Unofficial poll on Zhihu: 1000+ reply post. I read the first few carefully, then scrolled the rest. Not a single one said that poverty was a personal problem.
The Chinese government made tackling inequality a core policy. US uses personal responsibility. This is the result:
People who don’t live in the US probably don’t understand how screwed up the situation is. It is not just the dumbass pot smoking delinquents who are in trouble. We are talking Ivy League graduates with immaculate GPA, developers with two decades under their belt, and hard working people on the cusp of retirement who are finding themselves screwed over in this job market. Many of them go from earning six figs to shopping at good will to homelessness within half a year or even shorter. Are those people all stupid/entitled or fiscally irresponsible?
Pretty much the same anywhere where the government doesn’t value the efforts of those who work there asses off to make sure the nation is still running because sooner or later, their will come a time when all these hard workers are going to get fed up with all the bullshit and then those in power will have to find out the hard way that billions of dollars doesn’t repair a power plant that is on the verge of collapse, hard workers with experience and resources and materials do and both are in big trouble right now because the fat cats in power do not remotely get it