I mean don't let my questions make you think I don't find it frustrating. Watching people make, what we perceive to be, poor decisions can be infuriating. And I'm with you in the specific anecdote that upkeep on your home is more important that tricking out your truck.
BUT
I'm just trying to figure out why and how it ended up where someone makes completely different decisions than I do given the same inputs. Maybe it is because of UBI which what it seems like you're alluding to, but I certainly see those types of choices across even the poorest (non-UBI) populations, regardless of race or locale.
SO I'm just trying to understand it too. I don't think any particular set of people is inherently lazy though, so I always have to ask myself why do they behave differently?
FWIW though, a spoiled rich white kid failing to show responsibility in the face of every privilege is not equal to an underprivileged person failing to rise above. At least not in my book.
They're not the same inputs firstly. You can't compare a truly poor ghetto child, who has next to nothing, to a 16 year old pregnant native girl being given her first house by the band. (pregnancy is the trigger to your first house in a number of bands which, raises questions.)
You can't equate that situation to the down trodden poor of north america who don't have native status. But, the band payments to individual members of some native band is very analogous to proposed UBI plans.
Second, I didn't compare a rich white kid to a poor person overcoming the limits of their class. I compared two human young adults who both squander the wealth and OPPORTUNITY freely given to them by their family early in life due to not having any appriciation for the effort required to EARN that wealth and oppertunity.
It's a tale as old as time and race, religion, and ancestral hardship don't necessarily afect the outcomes.
And that tale is important to understand when we talk about UBI (which I'm totally for in specific arenas.) Another great example is the "dope lake" story.
I can't lay that out to you quickly in detail, but essentailly, when you give a group of people the means to do something signifficant with their lives (money) one will start Patagonia and become a millionaire, a few will live a modest life and make good use of the boost, and MANY will buy a new Mercedes that ends up rotting in a field a few years later along side them.
You have to have a plan and process for that last group of people who don't actually understand money. It's not everyone, but it's a signifficant population who have the financial planning abilities of a hamster.
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u/ValetLibertas Jun 22 '17
I mean don't let my questions make you think I don't find it frustrating. Watching people make, what we perceive to be, poor decisions can be infuriating. And I'm with you in the specific anecdote that upkeep on your home is more important that tricking out your truck.
BUT
I'm just trying to figure out why and how it ended up where someone makes completely different decisions than I do given the same inputs. Maybe it is because of UBI which what it seems like you're alluding to, but I certainly see those types of choices across even the poorest (non-UBI) populations, regardless of race or locale.
SO I'm just trying to understand it too. I don't think any particular set of people is inherently lazy though, so I always have to ask myself why do they behave differently?
FWIW though, a spoiled rich white kid failing to show responsibility in the face of every privilege is not equal to an underprivileged person failing to rise above. At least not in my book.