Has America become an oligarchy?

[August]

Originally Posted by Skybird

If you spent that time in an isolation cell of the MP, then not.

That was only part of the time I swear!

The rest of my off duty time was spent at my Grandparents house in Altenbuch or my Aunt and uncles place in Hanau just soaking up that German culture and trying to convince the locals that room temperature beer was a sin against nature.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by August

....trying to convince the locals that room temperature beer was a sin against nature.

I sincerely hope you were succesefull

Speaking as a liberal european, here's my comment: I don't believe that the US has become an oligarchy. Anyone can become succesefull. It's just that the playing fields are too unbalanced in favor of those who are allready rich

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Betonov

Anyone can become succesefull. It's just that the playing fields are too unbalanced in favor of those who are allready rich

The deck is stacked against you if you're starting out poor. Make a math mistake when balancing your checking account? Overdraw fees are around $35 each on every charge on your account while it's in the red. They could very well eat up your entire paycheck without you even knowing it. This is on top of the debit card fees, ATM fees, sevice charges and other assorted fees that the bank is trying to pile on to you.

Try to avoid bank fees by cashing your paycheck? Check cashing places charge a percentage of your check to do so.

Payday loans? Your bank ate up all of your paycheck in fees and you need $100 to keep the electricity on? Payday loan places have usurious interest rates, especially if you fall for their trap of extending the term in order to lower your payments. We're talking APRs in the hundreds of percents.

So let's say you've run the gamut of fees just to use your money. You're responsible and you don't get mixed up with credit cards and the like. But what's this? Oh, you don't have credit? Sorry, you're not renting an apartment without a credit check. You have no credit, so you don't get an apartment. By some miracle, you find a place to live - oh wait, the electric company runs a credit check on you and you need to put down a $300 deposit before they'll turn on service for you. Same for most any utility provider - phone, cable, etc.

Car breaks down on the way to your hourly wage job? You don't show up, you don't get paid. You live out in the country, so no bus or subway service for you. So now you're out the cost of the car repair, plus the hours of work you missed.

Oh but you gotta pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard and you'll be a millionaire. Just take a second job, right? Assuming you can find one that works around your other job's hours, that is. You get the interview, but oh wait, don't mention that you have another job. That alone's usually enough to get the thumbs down from the interviewer. Why do they want to hire someone like you when they have a ton of other people with no job who can work whenever?

Educate yourself, get a better job than the hourly wage crap, right? Ok, sign up for night classes at community college. Take out student loans for books and tuition. Hope you can give up the hours at your second job and still make the bills, right? Not to mention the student loan process, which is designed to absolutely screw people. But that's another post altogether.

So just move to a place where there's better jobs, right? Moving costs money. You have to deal with the loss of income while you're unemployed and looking for one of these mythical "better" jobs. And then there's the whole deal about the credit checks from landlords and deposits to get your utilities turned on.

I'm not saying that all of this is the system's fault, or the rich people's fault, or anyone's fault. I'm just saying that this whole story they sell you about "anyone can be a success if they just work hard enough" is a load of crap. It sucks to be poor, and a lot of times, despite your best efforts, you stay poor. If hard work was all it took to be rich, I'd know a ton of Mexican and central American immigrants who were bajillionaires. Some of those guys work 2 and 3 jobs, 7 days a week.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Educate yourself, get a better job than the hourly wage crap, right? Ok, sign up for night classes at community college. Take out student loans for books and tuition. Hope you can give up the hours at your second job and still make the bills, right? Not to mention the student loan process, which is designed to absolutely screw people. But that's another post altogether.

That's what I love about my country. Education is free for all. All the way to the top. Altough a doctorate might cost you a small fortune but nothing so drastic you'd need a loan for.

[August]

Originally Posted by Betonov

I don't believe that the US has become an oligarchy. Anyone can become succesefull. It's just that the playing fields are too unbalanced in favor of those who are allready rich

I agree with that comment.

[joegrundman]

Originally Posted by Betonov

I sincerely hope you were succesefull

Speaking as a liberal european, here's my comment: I don't believe that the US has become an oligarchy. Anyone can become succesefull. It's just that the playing fields are too unbalanced in favor of those who are allready rich

There is an error here. The existence of an oligarchy does not mean it is impossible for people to become successful.

[Blood_splat]

Damn... If only I thought of the snuggie.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by joegrundman

There is an error here. The existence of an oligarchy does not mean it is impossible for people to become successful.

Same could be said about the Camorra or the Triades.

[1480]

Originally Posted by Skybird

If you spent that time in an isolation cell of the MP, then not.

Skybird with a joke, a zinger no-less.....wait, I do see a potbellied pig hovering outside my back door