We are not all created equal

[Owlet]

"There are some truths so hard to face, so ugly and so at odds with how we imagine the world should be, that nobody can accept them. Here's one: It is obvious that a class system has arrived in America — a recent study of the thirty-four countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that only Italy and Great Britain have less social mobility. But nobody wants to admit: If your daddy was rich, you're gonna stay rich, and if your daddy was poor, you're gonna stay poor. Every instinct in the American gut, every institution, every national symbol, runs on the idea that anybody can make it; the only limits are your own limits. Which is an amazing idea, a gift to the world — just no longer true. Culturally, and in their daily lives, Americans continue to glide through a ghostly land of opportunity they can't bear to tell themselves isn't real. It's the most dangerous lie the country tells itself."

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/american-class-system-0112#ixzz1hkMQZSZE

[mbperrin]

1. I teach economics in high school, and we go over the big lies of current American "capitalism."

I show my students how to avoid banks, conventional credit, overconsumption, fad purchases, the stock casinos, and instead show them how to network their lives to get real value for their dollars.

Start with a few aphorisms: "If you work hard, you will_________." The impulse is to say "succeed" but poor people working hard is a cliche, it's so common. The correct answer is "get tired."

I'm thankful for both sets of my immigrant grandparents, who entered this country after 1900 and succeeded with core values and a set of strict rules for money and behavior.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Our schools need more of this.

So many kids graduate with the basics of math and history, but without the knowledge of things like budgets, how credit works or even the knowledge of how to balance a checkbook.

I do not decry math and history in the least, I just wish kids were more exposed to the practical realities of credit and basic money management - because no matter their interests or what they decide to do later in life, that knowledge is needed by all.

I used to go with a team of coworkers and teach credit and money workshops to the local high schools and church groups on invitation. You wouldn't believe how wide eyed these kids would get when the concept of budgets is explained in simple terms of paying the cell phone bill.

This stuff shouldn't be evening 'stuff to do' in the gym or auditorium, it should be called Life Management Skills and made to be a required course.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. And it should be taught every year, starting in kindergarten

My kids graduated high school in the mid 90s and they were required to take ONE COURSE in junior high on life skills. One semester, one hour a day, in seventh or eighth grade. They had no clue what any of the stuff was, and no way to apply it to real life. Writing a check? None of these 12- and 13-year-olds had checking accounts. Making payments on a car loan? They were years away from a learner's permit.

And by the time they're that age, they've been indoctrinated via advertising to consume, consume, consume. Name brands are EVERYTHING.

At least my son and daughter had some grounding in the basics at home, and they never did get snared by the consumer propaganda. But it was damn hard work to fight the prevailing atmosphere at their school, with their friends, on tv, at the mall, EVERYWHERE.

A course that taught responsibility would be seen as socialistic, of course, and would get nowhere.

Why don't progressives run charter schools?


TG

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Thats the thing - it was anything BUT socialism in how it was presented

In fact, it was couched as the opposite. "Team from X Wall Street firm will be in the gym/auditorium/meeting room at 6pm on Day the Date to give a short workshop and answer questions on Understanding Credit". Not that we knew anything more than anyone else who was paying attention - we just volunteered and the school boards took us up on it. As word spread, we got additional requests from other entities.

With few exceptions, these were inner city schools and we had language translators on the dais, which was extremely beneficial as none of us were bilingual.

Too many of these kids get this kind of "education" from the Rent-a-center and payday loan places and only figure it out after the big screen is taken back and they are in debt up to their eyeballs trying to infinitely catch up to the loan they took out on their 'next paycheck'.

It worked quite well and I defy anyone in power of a given district who would toss out that shit "socialism" meme to come up with a better system for educating kids on these kinds of skills. Truly.

[maggiesfarmer]

5. are you saying you teach kids there is no point to working hard?!?!?!

my life experience leads me to disagree with that assessment. now, I'm not suggesting that hard work is sufficient for success, but I believe it increases one's odds significantly. I'd also suggest teaching the kids to consider 'working smart' and not just 'hard' -- one can put forth incredible amounts of energy spinning wheels that won't get you anywhere.

if that's not what you're saying, what do you mean with the "if you work hard, you will get tired" comment?

[mbperrin]

6. I teach kids to work effectively. Employers purposely give false information on how to succeed so

that THEY can succeed, but not you, the worker.
1) Competition is destructive in the workplace or the classroom.
2) Cooperation is far more productive.
3) Identify and shed free riders.

I prefer micro enterprises, high in skill, low in physical resources, and unable to be replicated by corporations effectively.

Just working hard is not enough:
1) Who's putting on roofing in 120 degree heat in the summer here in west Texas? Are they working hard? Yep. Will they ever become wealthy or even mildly prosperous doing it? Nope.
2) Who's building the highways?
3) Who's picking the produce?
As many as you like. Nobody on the Forbes list is there because they worked hard.


Next, realize what money is - a claim for goods and services. So every time you pay a fee or interest or other charge, you are giving up some of your rights to goods and services to someone else - whomever you paid those extras to.

Leverage your money yourself:
Tired of paying nearly a dollar a can for canned vegetables at the grocery store? No farmer's markets in our area, so 20 families in a 3 block radius went in on a wholesaler license and buy our own direct. It's unloaded at one of the houses and split up, once a month. Cost? About 60 cents a can for the very same brands and sizes. Savings? Your money for food goes nearly twice as far.

Don't buy a car and make payments. Find out what the payments will be on the car you want and make them to yourself, every month, just like you would if you financed it. In 3 years, 4 years, pay cash. You will have the car, and the interest you would have paid will still be in the bank. Want a new car every couple of years? Just keep making those same payments, use the residual from the first and trade-in on the vehicle. You can always drive a new car with no danger or repossession. Can't make those payments to yourself? Then you couldn't make them to GMAC either, so you have lost nothing.

Plenty more, but you get the notion. I'm sure that you and I are on the same page. We want people to use their efforts intelligently. Good deals are good for both sides of the deal, and that's what the current money grubbers have deliberately left out.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. You are quickly becoming one of my favorite members here.

Thanks for adding more detail on this. I look forward to reading more about what you are teaching. I like it alot.

[bemildred]

8. I have always thought it meant "equal before the law", not all the same. nt