So have chinese and asians.

So obviously racism has nothing to do with success.

Basically, even good neighborhoods in cities where black people could buy homes have not appreciated in value the way houses in white neighborhoods and suburbs have over the past decades. So if your white father bought a house in the 1950s, chances are it greatly increased in value over the next couple decades. So he could borrow against the equity in the family home to send you and your siblings to college, or loan you money for a business or home, or even just help you with the expenses of setting up your own household.

Meanwhile, if your black father bought a house in the 1950s, by the 1970s it had not grown in value much at all, and so the investment didn’t pay off in the same way.

It’s one of those invisible, structural effects of racism that people dismiss when they say so-and-so hasn’t worked hard enough or invested wisely… and the effects continue well past the generations where the racism was acceptable and overt.

If the poor speak less encouragement to their children it’s probably because they experience less opportunity for it in their own lives.

“It’s hard to be free when you’re bought and sold in the market place very day.” — Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces

Probably the Rich are not Evil, though there is some evidence of it. More likely they have just learned how to play the game more efficiently and effectively and to redesign the game itself to make it more profitable. The poor do not take part in this ‘game’ in a good way. They are the muggees and feel depressed (naturally) as a result.

If we’re to fix Capitalism this inherent improvement to the system must be recognized as having broken another part.

You can’t begin the required 12-step program without saying, “Hello, my name is Rich and I’ve been making lots more money screwing all the poor guys.”

If we’re going to be a nation of opportunity, then we can’t let the Rich and Corporations simply dominate as they do today. It’s just that simple.

But, the fix involves helping them realize, hopefully before the next Great Depression, that this is the situation. The specific changes needed to fix this situation aren’t all known. There is a lot of room for creative thought and even some input from capitalists, free enterprisers and economists.

But, we have to get on with it or we’ll continue to lose the world trade competition (we started).

To ignore is to participate. Sometimes evil is benign, it is simply ignoring the truth and pretending the lies are the reality ~ and perhaps while your belly is full and life is comfortable, the lie is reality to a few if one refuses to look outside of the bubble and see what else is going on.

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

“It’s hard to be free when you’re bought and sold in the market place very day.” — Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces

Probably the Rich are not Evil, though there is some evidence of it. More likely they have just learned how to play the game more efficiently and effectively and to redesign the game itself to make it more profitable. The poor do not take part in this ‘game’ in a good way. They are the muggees and feel depressed (naturally) as a result.

If we’re to fix Capitalism this inherent improvement to the system must be recognized as having broken another part.

You can’t begin the required 12-step program without saying, “Hello, my name is Rich and I’ve been making lots more money screwing all the poor guys.”

If we’re going to be a nation of opportunity, then we can’t let the Rich and Corporations simply dominate as they do today. It’s just that simple.

But, the fix involves helping them realize, hopefully before the next Great Depression, that this is the situation. The specific changes needed to fix this situation aren’t all known. There is a lot of room for creative thought and even some input from capitalists, free enterprisers and economists.

But, we have to get on with it or we’ll continue to lose the world trade competition (we started).

There is almost no work, outside of technical scientific work, that requires a 4-year degree. Most work requires application of general intelligence and an ability to learn field-specific information.

The fact that employers can discriminate against people without college educations, on the grounds that college educated people are somehow “more qualified” should be the next civil rights struggle. Yes, people who have gone to college are more likely to be able to do x, y, and z — but it’s exactly in the same way that men are more likely to be better at math. It’s discriminatory, and puts people under tremendous pressure to delay their working lives and start it in debt.

But good luck getting college discrimination ended… belief in college is a cult.

Ian,
Thanks for a very good analysis, which I just got back to, after being out most of the day.

You wrote,

Today we’re going to run through what makes you poor and keeps you poor.

In your extensive catalog, there’s one important factor that you’ve left out: Alcohol.

Yes, I know, I know, some people drink and are very successful. But that’s not the whole story. (BTW, have you noticed that most of the beer commercials over the past 3 years portray men as stupid and boorish?)

I know about a different side of alcohol. One that is intergenerational, and linked to poverty, just like you’re writing about. And that is what happens when women who are pregnant drink too much alcohol: the growth of their children’s brains is stunted, producing a condition called “Fetal alcohol syndrome” (FAS).

Public consciousness about FAS surfaced as a result of Michael Dorris’ book “Broken Cord”, which was made into an ABC movie a generation ago. But that book tells only half the story. Excessive drinking can cause brain damage that is often much more subtle than depicted by Dorris. Today, a range of effects called “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” (FASD) is recognized. Some individuals are affected mainly by having a few points shaved off their IQ. There is a whole spectrum of effects, from very subtle to delays in social development to more severe developmental delays. But the worst part is that in families where the mother drinks too much, the father also probably drinks too much, and the family becomes dysfunctional. Women with FASD do get pregnant, and they are at elevated risk to drink too much, and so their daughters get FASD. These families are usually poor, resulting in a classic cycle of poverty that can go on for generations. American Indians are more aware of this than nice White folks, although there are probably MORE White families with the same dysfunctional cycle. You just don’t hear about them.

Meanwhile, the alcoholic beverage industry gets a free ride: they can advertise on TV! That’s right, the alcoholic beverage industry profits, at least indirectly, from the cycle of poverty.

Yes, there are other drugs that are involved in the poverty cycle, but alcohol is the biggest one.

Bob in HI

As someone working in poverty, at least in this area of the nation, alcohol plays a part perhaps in that a spouse (mostly women) have had to leave the home because of abuse ~ over 75% of welfare families are on welfare because they fled an abusive situation. Less and less however, is this because of alcohol and drugs, though it can play a part. Often this abuse is done by religious spouses who are controlling and manipulative. Substance abuse makes this tendency more prevalent, but believe me (and I am saying this as a religious person myself) more and more I am seeing abuse come out of a church, cult, or other religion (particularly when they are fundamental and this can be across the board including any religion that do not value women) than from a bar or back alley.

Cat In Seattle

Ian,
Thanks for a very good analysis, which I just got back to, after being out most of the day.

You wrote,

Today we’re going to run through what makes you poor and keeps you poor.

In your extensive catalog, there’s one important factor that you’ve left out: Alcohol.

Yes, I know, I know, some people drink and are very successful. But that’s not the whole story. (BTW, have you noticed that most of the beer commercials over the past 3 years portray men as stupid and boorish?)

I know about a different side of alcohol. One that is intergenerational, and linked to poverty, just like you’re writing about. And that is what happens when women who are pregnant drink too much alcohol: the growth of their children’s brains is stunted, producing a condition called “Fetal alcohol syndrome” (FAS).

Public consciousness about FAS surfaced as a result of Michael Dorris’ book “Broken Cord”, which was made into an ABC movie a generation ago. But that book tells only half the story. Excessive drinking can cause brain damage that is often much more subtle than depicted by Dorris. Today, a range of effects called “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” (FASD) is recognized. Some individuals are affected mainly by having a few points shaved off their IQ. There is a whole spectrum of effects, from very subtle to delays in social development to more severe developmental delays. But the worst part is that in families where the mother drinks too much, the father also probably drinks too much, and the family becomes dysfunctional. Women with FASD do get pregnant, and they are at elevated risk to drink too much, and so their daughters get FASD. These families are usually poor, resulting in a classic cycle of poverty that can go on for generations. American Indians are more aware of this than nice White folks, although there are probably MORE White families with the same dysfunctional cycle. You just don’t hear about them.

Meanwhile, the alcoholic beverage industry gets a free ride: they can advertise on TV! That’s right, the alcoholic beverage industry profits, at least indirectly, from the cycle of poverty.

Yes, there are other drugs that are involved in the poverty cycle, but alcohol is the biggest one.

Bob in HI

Alcohol is still probably the number one most widespread drug and probably does more harm than any others (though I hear reports about meth). Aye, I agree. No real good solution has been found, though, prohibition was a disaster overall.

I have a question. People say that I have a good chance to get a scholarship because I am smart and non=white. But if I leave Texas, will the color of my skin make it harder to get a job? Or harder to move up after I get a job?

Come to Hawaii, Cassie! You’ll blend right in! Everyone’s a minority here. White folks like me are called “haole.” There are more shades of brown than anyone can keep track of, between Native Hawaiians, 16 kinds of Asians, and a few Hispanics and Blacks.

Bob in HI