We need a new type of STEM role model

[Israel_B]

@wait_really

than the mere fact that the majority of wealth is beyond reach for the majority of the people, then they can’t possibly see their needs met- therefore, poverty is a condition necessitated by wealth.

again, wealth is not a zero sum game and again you describe the situation as though it were.

@wait_really

if the wealthy had less- much less, even, and thus less claim to or power over available resources, wouldn’t it follow that the poor would have greater access to and power over resources?

Not at all. Again not a zero sum game. If I have $10 and Ms Moneybags has $100,000,000, taking money away from her doesn’t do anything about my $10 or why I don’t have $100 to begin with or even why I can’t earn more.

In actual reality her $100,000,00 doesn’t in and of itself prevent me from going to trade school and getting a better job and earning $100 either.

@wait_really

Of course, one could easily argue that any government’s failures are tied to their relations with the wealthiest of their society.

Argue it all you want but it doesn’t make it true.

[Israel_B]

@anon61221983

You don’t understand that people who have a lot of extra cash have more ways in which to not pay that money into taxes? That people with more money make conscious decisions to save as much as they can on paying taxes (as do we all, so I’m not judging, really) and that a lack of tax dollars has real world consequences?

Thanks for clarifying.

@anon61221983

All punk scenes are different. You’re experiences aren’t others.

I did pretty clearly hedge my statement there and before.

[wait_really]

@Israel_B

Not at all. Again not a zero sum game. If I have $10 and Ms Moneybags has $100,000,000, taking money away from her doesn’t do anything about my $10 or why I don’t have $100 to begin with or even why I can’t earn more.

So the things needed to fulfill Maslow’s hierarchy are infinite? It seems to me that your main point here is that there is enough to go around for everyone, no matter how much might be claimed by some, others can always improve their lot through basic gumption?

Again though, to turn this question around- is the issue taking $100 away from the millionaire to give to those with $10? Or is the issue those with with $1,000,000 taking $100 away from those with $10?

As for education, I’ll point to a few articles on the subject, but the short answer is “Education is not a cure for poverty.” This is not an opinion, it is an extended view of what the statistics actually say.

Media | Demos

By 2014, the “less than high school” poverty rate had increased 3.7 points. The “high school” poverty rate increased 4.6 points. “Some college” went up 4.1 points, “associate” went up 3.8 points, “bachelor’s” went up 2.1 points, and “post-bachelor’s” went up 1.7. Despite the educational gains, overall adult poverty in 2014 was actually 1.1 points higher than in 1991.

Additionally, James Galbraith has done excellent work addressing skill-bias in regards to economic outcomes/inequality

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/galbraith-unequal.html?mcubz=2

In sum, micro economic postulates about an individual going to trade school and acquiring a skill from which they might individually enjoy a better-paid career say nothing to the macro economic effects of people going to school, at all. An answer to the individual is not the answer for the masses.

[Israel_B]

@wait_really

It seems to me that your main point here is that there is enough to go around for everyone, no matter how much might be claimed by some, others can always improve their lot through basic gumption?

Nope. Simply that wealth is not a zero sum game.

[Mal_Tosevite]

Pretty sure; Dennis Ritchie died when tech journalism was still wailing about Jobs, but Dennis was a footnote. Apple is built in no small part on Dennis Ritchie’s contributions to the field. Steve Jobs was a smart guy, but he was smart about what looks cool.