Kinja reply list

Read More
TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Hamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:38am
It frustrates me how conservatives refuse to accept this. Increased inequality means decreased social mobility. Reduced access to education and lower work availability decreases social mobility. You don't get a working meritocracy if you expect poor people to operate with penalties for being poor, and work to give rich people every advantage they lobby for. Even if you believe that the free market is the most efficient system for everything forever, you should be able to accept that these are serious problems that need to be addressed.
Reply
- Read More
  SpeedgraphicTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
  12/11/13 10:41am
  They accept it. It's how they stay rich as fuck and in power.
  Reply
- Read More
  discordia79TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
  12/11/13 10:43am
  Your frustration stems in part from the fact that you apparently believe that conservatives are even remotely in touch with things like "reality" and "truth".
  Reply
Read More
SansPanticlesHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:41am
Im a first generation American of super-mutt descent. I studied hard in High School, got a full ride to college, married a sweet, southern, sorority girl (who, like me, is also first gen 'merican on a full ride), got a good job, had them pay for grad school and then got an even better job. We both work hard for our small plot of land, our two kids, and our Edsel, er, ford. Don't let anyone fool you. This Country, the good ol USA, holds all the promise and hope you want it to hold. You just need to work hard, have lots of luck, and set your expectations appropriately. And, believe me, I am BEYOND thankful everyday for all the breaks, luck, and opportunities to fail I have had over the years.

Besides, if you think its so bad here, try making it where my parents or where anyone else's came from. We have it pretty good here.
Reply
- Read More
  hickorydickoryduckSansPanticles
  12/11/13 10:52am
  A full ride to college? Yeah, that's not happening even for middle class kids who get really awesome grades these days.
  Reply
- Read More
  SansPanticleshickorydickoryduck
  12/11/13 11:03am
  What schools and why is this not happening? Do you have articles showing that middle class kids are not getting these offers? When I was in school, my state offered to pay your state college tuition plus room and board if you had a 21 on your ACT and a 3.5 GPA. Back then I thought that was awesome. Do that, find a good major, get some lucky breaks and boom, you're buying Khakis in no time.
  Reply
Read More
LangostaHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:40am
"By almost two to one — 64 percent to 33 percent — Americans say the U.S. no longer offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead, according to a Bloomberg National Poll."

Well, sure, when you phrase it that way. Who would ever think that everyone has an equal chance to get ahead?

I still believe that America is the country where you have the best opportunity to improve your station in life with hard work and thrift.
Reply
- Read More
  speelingchamphLangosta
  12/11/13 10:45am
  based on?
  Reply
- Read More
  TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Langosta
  12/11/13 10:46am
  Given that it's phrased "no longer offers" it seems that they feel that social mobility has decreased. I don't disagree. Believing that America is still the best is nice, but it isn't a solution.
  Reply
Read More
TheMightyCornholioHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:33am
"They call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it"
-George Carlin
Reply
- Read More
  VeryWellTheMightyCornholio
  12/11/13 11:09am
  And that was 30 years ago!
  Reply
- Read More
  BestAtNothingTheMightyCornholio
  12/11/13 11:55am
  So fucking ahead of his time.
  Reply
Read More
MeanMrMustardHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:45am
What the fuck? Hamilton, are you and the other Gawker writers not living the American Dream? Did Nick Denton not reach the American Dream? Every one of you has the world squarely by the balls. You have money, influence, connections and you can all write your own tickets. You'll always have a job in journalism. maybe you and a few others will start your own company. No doubt you would have access to startup money. Good for you. You did it through hard work, education, talent, all the usual methods. You earned it, so congratulations. It's ridiculous to say the American Dream doesn't exist. Look around your office. There it is.
Reply
- Read More
  PowerSpoonMeanMrMustard
  12/11/13 10:49am
  Denton? Absolutely. The rest of the Gawker employees? No fucking way. I'd bet that Hamilton is broke, scraping by, and in debt.
  Reply
- Read More
  303GrumpyGuyMeanMrMustard
  12/11/13 10:51am
  This is so silly that I can't help but endorse it.
  Reply
Read More
kumfinemyyHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:36am
Who are those 33 percent who still believe they have a chance at this "dream"?
Reply
- Read More
  el_atr3vidokumfinemyy
  12/11/13 10:38am
  Immigrants.
  Reply
- Read More
  kumfinemyyel_atr3vido
  12/11/13 10:42am
  None from my extended family. None of them emigrated here. Just my old man and he served in the USMM.
  
  Maybe White Ethnic immigrants.
  Reply
Read More
RussianistHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:44am
Good. This myth has only contributed to tens of millions of Americans ("temporarily embarrassed millionaires," to use Steinbeck's coinage) regularly voting against their own economic interests. This level of scoffing should have commenced at least 30 years ago, and it's a sad commentary on America's education system and culture that it didn't.
Reply
Read More
RealDealHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:58am
My dad grew up in the projects. His father worked for a company that would bounce pay checks and go out of business and then call up and say he got more money and wanted to start up again. My grandfather had 5 kids and worked that low wage job until he was 65, picking up other odd jobs to supplement. I know he would answer yes to the survey then. The American Dream is that you can survive and take care of yourself and your loved ones. That through your hard work and sacrifice you will control your life. The American Dream wasn't that everything would be easy and you would have no stresses. You still need to work your ass off, but at the ms of the day you go home to a life that is yours. I don't know when the citizens of this country got the idea that the American Dream was that you would get everything you ever wanted without having to break a sweat, that by being American you deserved a reward. That's the way people behave now. So what if someone else has more than you, quit trying to keep up with the Joneses. Fuck the Joneses. Put your time in and make the best of it you can. Don't make bad decisions and if some shit happens to you, do everything you can to rectify it and move on. The American Dream isn't getting the best, it is the opportunity to make things better and absolutely that is still true. If you are unhappy with your situation, in this great country there is always something you can do to improve it. My father-in-law moved here from Egypt in the 70s. He too will express to you that through hard work and repeated sacrifice, he was also able to achieve his American dream and surely his life is far better in Anerica than it would be of he stayed in Efypt. My current generation has spent their whole life getting spoon fed opportunities; they have no idea how to seek anything out on their own and now complain as soon as life has put up a minor challenge. This isn't some bootstraps garbage that you all ridicule. This is about taking chances making smart decisions and understanding what your means and opportunities are, instead of expecting things to be easy.
Reply
- Read More
  weirwoodtreehuggerRealDeal
  12/11/13 11:39am
  Our increased income inequality and decreasing social mobility aren't due to a sudden laziness epidemic and it hasn't happened in a vacuum either. It's due to policy.
  
  We have a tax code that favors the rich and a regulatory system that allows predatory rent seeking without funding enforcement of what regulations do protect consumers and workers. That's why your father's employer was allowed to get away with not paying him.
  
  We have weak labor laws and lower minimum wage than countries with higher mobility.
  
  Then there's this puritanical notion that is so popular here that hard work is moral in and of itself. I think that's why we're collectively OK with the fact that poor people work 60-80 hours a week at multiple jobs to just scrape by. Wealthier people work that much by choice at their prestigious jobs. Because it's legal for salaried employees to work more than 40 hours, companies encourage it. That way they don't have to hire more people.
  
  Research consistently shows that productivity falls after 30-40 hours working (depending on the job). It would be better for businesses and employees alike if we all worked 40 hours maximum and took vacations. Unfortunately it would take a massive shift in priorities.
  
  tldr; you bought into the lie
  Reply
- Read More
  RealDealweirwoodtreehugger
  12/11/13 12:07pm
  I wouldn't say I bought into the lie, as much as I am trying to argue that people's perception of the American Dream has changed drastically from a dream of opportunity to a dream of success. And those two things are different. In my example of my grandfather, I don't think he would say his life was a financial success, but he would say he achieved the American Dream. Now there are problems with equality in this country, but that is nothing new. And it shouldn't be ignored, but it doesn't mean the American Dream is less achievable. Every single American has the opportunity to make their life better. I said that and I stand by that. That is the American Dream. The land of opportunity, not the land of guaranteed success and economic equality. And when you realize that, I think you realize the American Dream is alive and well.
  Reply
Read More
DanHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:41am
The American Dream is an ideal and one in which I still believe. There will always be economic inequality, barriers to economic mobility, and a changing demographic that makes the country "look different" than it did 20, 30, 40 years ago. But that's life... This is still a land of opportunity... ask the millions of people living here illegally. I doubt they risked all that they did to go to a country where they couldn't improve their situation and have perhaps raise a family with more safety, security, and opportunity compared to where they came from.
Reply
Read More
TheMilkyOneHamilton Nolan
12/11/13 10:44am
The idea that it ever offered an "equal" chance is obviously ludicrous. But the US offered enough chances that it was possible for upward mobility. My grandparents never attended schools and worked as migrant farm workers when they were children, mainly picking cotton. My parents grew up poor, but stable. They both graduated high school and my father got a decent job and worked his way up in middle management. I'm a college graduate and have a pretty comfortable life. I think there are many who can say their family has had a similar experience.

I think this is what the American dream is really about. Few people are going to go from a ghetto to Harvard, but there is opportunity for a slow movement upward if you can dodge the pitfalls that come with poverty.
Reply