Wise words from Thomas Sowell

[pp4me]

[I Shrugged]

I suspect he's right on.

Anyone over 50 or so must know how much more accepting this country has become.
Blacks have been more accepted by whites each year as time marches on.
LGBTEtc
Divorced people
Single mothers
and more.

When I was young, I think there was still a decent amount of stigma to being divorced. Certainly in the mind of any Catholic, but not limited to them.
Single mothers? Man, forget about that! You should hide and not show yourself!

This stuff takes time! I strongly doubt you can change any person by screaming at them, telling them they are racist and horrible, etc. I'm pretty sure it has the opposite effect.

[vnatale]

I suspect he's right on.

Anyone over 50 or so must know how much more accepting this country has become.
Blacks have been more accepted by whites each year as time marches on.
LGBTEtc
Divorced people
Single mothers
and more.

When I was young, I think there was still a decent amount of stigma to being divorced. Certainly in the mind of any Catholic, but not limited to them.
Single mothers? Man, forget about that! You should hide and not show yourself!

This stuff takes time! I strongly doubt you can change any person by screaming at them, telling them they are racist and horrible, etc. I'm pretty sure it has the opposite effect.

When I grew up in the 50s, 60s in Rhode Island.....no minorities in the neighborhood, one divorced women, no mothers worked, no single mothers (other than that divorced woman). I guess we were all Leave It to Beaver families!

Vinny

[boglerdude]

Based Sowell. Im curious about where gender discrimination is going to go. Men are openly denied housing opportunities (female-only housing ads). It doesnt bother me, but it is discrimination. Should we strive to be gender blind like we are color blind?

[Kriegsspiel]

I'm not really concerned with females wanting to live with only other females, no.

But on the topic of Sowell, I saw a story that reminded me of something he wrote in Basic Economics (IIRC), that looking at income stratification is only a snapshot in time, and people generally don't stay in the same bracket their whole lives. A recent Brookings Institution study looks like it corroborates that. Most individuals increase their income throughout their lives, they usually don't go the other way.

He does look at household income in his study, which doesn't make sense to me because women started working more throughout the time period of his study, but then he looks at individual income which is what Sowell was talking about.

Cato Institute is who linked to the story, they included this graph from the WaPo:

[Kbg]

My personal take is the lower mid and mid-mid stats are why so many young people are non happy campers...IDK, but it looks like bad journalism as well possibly because the numbers don't appear to be inflation adjusted.

[I Shrugged]

I think you can be sure they are inflation adjusted.

[Kriegsspiel]

IDK, but it looks like bad journalism as well possibly because the numbers don't appear to be inflation adjusted.

The numbers in the study they were talking about were inflation adjusted, I didn't read the WaPo article.

My personal take is the lower mid and mid-mid stats are why so many young people are non happy campers...

If they knew that it was normal to start at the bottom and work your way up, maybe they'd be less sad?

[Kbg]

IDK, but it looks like bad journalism as well possibly because the numbers don't appear to be inflation adjusted.

The numbers in the study they were talking about were inflation adjusted, I didn't read the WaPo article.

My personal take is the lower mid and mid-mid stats are why so many young people are non happy campers...

If they knew that it was normal to start at the bottom and work your way up, maybe they'd be less sad?

I'm pretty sure our parents said this about us and their parents about them etc. etc. etc. With some objectivity, it is quite easy to factually demonstrate things are substantially more difficult for younger generations than for boomers and early GenX at equivalent stages of life.

[shekels]

IDK, but it looks like bad journalism as well possibly because the numbers don't appear to be inflation adjusted.

The numbers in the study they were talking about were inflation adjusted, I didn't read the WaPo article.

My personal take is the lower mid and mid-mid stats are why so many young people are non happy campers...

If they knew that it was normal to start at the bottom and work your way up, maybe they'd be less sad?

I'm pretty sure our parents said this about us and their parents about them etc. etc. etc. With some objectivity, it is quite easy to factually demonstrate things are substantially more difficult for younger generations than for boomers and early GenX at equivalent stages of life.

Contrary to Popular Belief, No One Owes You Anything
at least that's what I was Told.

[Kbg]

That is true, but don't expect people not to be ticked off when they know the game they're playing is tougher than a couple of generations before them. I have a child with diabetes, 6 figure income, buys excess insulin from people because he can't afford it even with company insurance that isn't extended to his wife. College 5-6x more expensive in real terms than when we went to school. Boomer leaders jacking up the national debt to levels not seen since WW2 which their children and grandchildren get the bill for.The gig economy = large corporations who have managed to figure out a way around most working laws instituted. I could go on and on, but I'm 100% positive we all took the bennies and were happy to get them.

History 101...when there is rioting in the streets there are serious societal problems. Societies rectify those problems or get toppled over by them. "Suck it up buttercup" solves nothing.

[shekels]

That is true, but don't expect people not to be ticked off when they know the game they're playing is tougher than a couple of generations before them. I have a child with diabetes, 6 figure income, buys excess insulin from people because he can't afford it even with company insurance that isn't extended to his wife. College 5-6x more expensive in real terms than when we went to school. Boomer leaders jacking up the national debt to levels not seen since WW2 which their children and grandchildren get the bill for.The gig economy = large corporations who have managed to figure out a way around most working laws instituted. I could go on and on, but I'm 100% positive we all took the bennies and were happy to get them.

History 101...when there is rioting in the streets there are serious societal problems. Societies rectify those problems or get toppled over by them. "Suck it up buttercup" solves nothing.

The game they're playing is Rigged.
College and Healthcare are a scam.
The national Debt will not be payed, or if possible the Debt will be inflated away.
Who expects the Debt to get better in this debt based monetary system?
Your Government has become dysfunctional.
So will Rioting solve any of these shortcomings, I see they just create new problems.


Dysfunction
https://youtu.be/E6urQjuO9eI

[Kbg]

That is true, but don't expect people not to be ticked off when they know the game they're playing is tougher than a couple of generations before them. I have a child with diabetes, 6 figure income, buys excess insulin from people because he can't afford it even with company insurance that isn't extended to his wife. College 5-6x more expensive in real terms than when we went to school. Boomer leaders jacking up the national debt to levels not seen since WW2 which their children and grandchildren get the bill for.The gig economy = large corporations who have managed to figure out a way around most working laws instituted. I could go on and on, but I'm 100% positive we all took the bennies and were happy to get them.

History 101...when there is rioting in the streets there are serious societal problems. Societies rectify those problems or get toppled over by them. "Suck it up buttercup" solves nothing.

The game they're playing is Rigged.
College and Healthcare are a scam.
The national Debt will not be payed, or if possible the Debt will be inflated away.
Who expects the Debt to get better in this debt based monetary system?
Your Government has become dysfunctional.
So will Rioting solve any of these shortcomings, I see they just create new problems.


Dysfunction
https://youtu.be/E6urQjuO9eI

I assume you are familiar with the year 1776.

[Mountaineer]

That is true, but don't expect people not to be ticked off when they know the game they're playing is tougher than a couple of generations before them. I have a child with diabetes, 6 figure income, buys excess insulin from people because he can't afford it even with company insurance that isn't extended to his wife. College 5-6x more expensive in real terms than when we went to school. Boomer leaders jacking up the national debt to levels not seen since WW2 which their children and grandchildren get the bill for.The gig economy = large corporations who have managed to figure out a way around most working laws instituted. I could go on and on, but I'm 100% positive we all took the bennies and were happy to get them.

History 101...when there is rioting in the streets there are serious societal problems. Societies rectify those problems or get toppled over by them. "Suck it up buttercup" solves nothing.

The game they're playing is Rigged.
College and Healthcare are a scam.
The national Debt will not be payed, or if possible the Debt will be inflated away.
Who expects the Debt to get better in this debt based monetary system?
Your Government has become dysfunctional.
So will Rioting solve any of these shortcomings, I see they just create new problems.


Dysfunction
https://youtu.be/E6urQjuO9eI

I assume you are familiar with the year 1776.

And, April 1775. https://www.history.com/topics/american ... on-history

And, 1905 and 1917 (they turned out well!, be careful what you wish for). https://www.history.com/topics/russia/r ... revolution

And, November 3, 2020. Be sure to vote for truth, justice and the American way. Oh wait, there are no political Supermen with those beloved characteristics, this time or ever. I guess we shall have to go find a tall building to leap over and call it a day; or be content and realize that we are not in charge as much as we think we are. I think our instant gratification culture, and selfies (oh look at me, ain't I wonderful) and lack of concern for others as illustrated by widely shared videos of others picking their noses (or worse) have done us in.

The good news is it ends well for me, and hopefully you.

[Kbg]

Well if you are going to go all history wonk on me, we need to go back before 1775, 1767 at least for the US revolution. :-)

Last year I decided I wanted to learn more than I knew about the Russian revolutions and read quite a few books on it/them. That's a seriously tragic story. A wonderful counterfactual to ponder is what would have happened if the Bolsheviks wouldn't have taken over the revolution. There were actually quite a few people who were motivated by all the right things and were mostly dead not many years into Stalin's takeover if not earlier.

Individuals do make a big difference...Washington, Lenin. Nuf said.