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.
50% maybe but 10%?? Have you ever seen American social services? There is a very large difference in how different people make decisions. I've a friend who works there and he says his job is essentially useless because he provides oppertunity after oppertunity for homeless people to get back on their feet and they just end up saying ok but never coming to work. America has more than 10% of these people in their population for sure and I'm not going to get too specific on who they are to stay within the guidelines of SDF. What more do you think the US government owes these people? Please answer that.
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?
The Chinese people of that time were irresponsible much like how Americans today are. The similarity is that they were both coming from a society that was too used to decadence; when in decline, things fell apart. Still, personal responsibility is the root of all things good and bad. China was able to rise back up from ashes because of people with tremendous personal responsibility started the CCP and imparted hope and personal responsibility to the Chinese people. Personal responsibility is the spark of all things good.
It is the official position of the Chinese government that US homelessness crisis is a social problem, not a personal responsibility problem:
This is them shitting on their opponents; they get nothing out of shitting on poor American people.
It is also the official position of the Chinese government that economic inequality is a social problem in China, not a personal responsibility problem.
This may actually be true in some circumstances. In the circumstances where it's true, it is because China is rising out of poverty so lots of families and kids who had hopes of excellence didn't have oppertunity. Now that the government is able to supply them with oppertunity, they rise and that is China's story. Which is very different from America's which is giving basically everything to anyone willing to work to get up but they refuse. You can argue that the government failed to impart a culture of excellent work ethic but instead created one of entitlement, but you're asking too much of the US government. They got the basics down; they got beyond that and actually provide excellent material support as well, but they're not magical and they didn't connect properly with their people on a spiritual level, which is basically the most difficult and highest level of governing. You're asking too much; if a people need to be spoonfed everything to succeed, they don't deserve to.
Where it's not true in China and it is a personal responsibility problem lies in the new kids whose parents have given them everything but they think life is all gaming and taking more from their parents. That's not a government issue but a personal and familial education issue.
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.
Most Chinese people think of the poor Chinese masses of the last few decades striving to achieve more but hindered by the limits of the Chinese past so I can understand them. But if they are looking at America's situation, and 1,000 people all say it's the government's job to make you a good citizen, then China is in a very dangerous situation where any mistake higher up could cause total collapse with everyone taking no responsibility for their own lives whatsoever. I don't think this is the case; I think it's the former.
The Chinese government made tackling inequality a core policy.
That's because poverty was China's biggest shackle; giving oppertunities to a billion people will inevitably be China's rise. This is not true in America.
US uses personal responsibility. This is the result:
The amount of per capita resources in the US is far higher than in China. At that point, it comes down to personal responsibility.
The difference between China and the US is that Chinese people just need an oppertunity like a drained car battery needs a jump to start up and drive and continue to charge itself up. At this point, it's on the government to get everyone that jump, that little push to spark up and grow. Americans are like a car battery that's been charging for 8 hours on a speed charger and it still won't work. That's just broken.
In the end, when I see impoverished people in China, I think these people just need a little help and they can make it big; I see potential in all of their faces. When I see impoverished people in the US, I see rotten drunk drug addicts and alcoholics that can't be helped.
People who don’t live in the US probably don’t understand how screwed up the situation is.
I live here; I don't think it's that screwed up but it's a country that is used to good easy times, ruling the world effortlessly and now that country and its entitled people are being told they need to work hard for what they take. It's a shock and lots of people aren't taking it well.
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?
I've never seen that situation unfold before. I've known very very educated people like you've described having difficulties on the job market both in the US and China but when you say they go from earning 6 figs to being homeless in half a year, I think total lack of financial discipline, which is personal responsibility. When they were seeing the money flow in, they didn't save anything; they assumed it would always be like this. They bought things paying the lowest down payment and they bought more and more things like that and with what was left over, they went out to ritzy restaurants. They rented really expensive apartments in the middle of the city and their budget consisted of paying off all the installments and using the rest to have fun or put more down payments on things. That's how they went broke like a minature version of how pro basketball/football players go from making $20M a year to being bankrupt.
I had one gap year where I was studying for my boards. I made about $1,000 a month by my side gig that year (and another ~$2K for the whole year on my other side gig) with no official income. So about $14K for the year. I ended the year with $5K more in my bank than when I started and I never felt a pinch getting what I needed. Right now, if my wife and I both lost our jobs, I would have no financial pressure, even with a new baby and 2 on the way, for at least 10 years. And no, we're not rich; we just really really know how to budget money. When we need something for the house, be it baby clothes, furniture, kitchenware, my wife can 4 out of 5 times think of a way to get it for free and the other time, it's gonne be under 10% of MSRP. We eat healthy organic food, often from Sprouts and we pay fill up a fridge for $40 because we know when to go for the big sales (not stuff that's close to going bad, just perfectly good meat and other food on sale for 10% MSRP). So I have no pity for anyone who goes from 6 figs to homeless in a few months. Life in the US is just too fking easy.
