Now actually those beliefs, in my own abilities to get out and that there would always be a place to return, are not necessarily real, but for the point here, the point is that I believed them and that belief was an important aspect of the difference you are talking about.

So even as I experienced the hatred of bigotry and stereotype because of my long hair in the 60’s, it was always with the knowledge that it would go away when I cut my hair. The boring factory work I did was to pay for college. Later after I dropped out the hard highway construction labor was tempered by the fact that I knew it was to make enough to allow longer periods of freedom. And the homeless periods, living under plastic, was self-chosen to save money in good weather and in a beautiful location.

And throughout it all I was quite conscious that I could (even if it was a false belief) just stop and return to being a “regular middle class citizen” whenever I was ready to choose to do that.

So you are right. I can only imagine what it’s like to only have hope at best and despair at worst despite having had all the outward trappings of having nothing.

I appreciate the reminder Ian.

Before my retirement I was a service rep for the Social Security Admin. During the Reagan years he had cut back on employees so critically that I was alone at the front to attend to all who came for assistance of any kind.

The waiting room was usually pretty full and many had to wait a long time for me to get to them. They “took a number” and waited until their number came up.

One day a well dressed woman blustered into the door and immediately up to my window, demanding that I take care of her right then. I pointed to the number ticket machine and sign. Long story short, our exchange boiled up into my defense of all those politely waiting their turn. That was the only time I recall losing my temper in dealing with the public.

My supervisor and manager heard the word war and were shocked. The supervisor immediately escorted the woman, a retired teacher, into the inner sanctum and attended to her matter, giving her the preferential treatment she had demanded.

As the woman departed she approached my window and tried to apologize for her rudeness. I bluntly told her, “you got what you wanted and it was not right that you went before those who have waited so long before you”. I did not accept her apology.

Every person after her who came to my window thanked me for standing up for them. Yes, they were mostly of the working class of people. It has been my experience that these are the true Americans – I choose them any day!

I can only imagine the effect on her many students of that teacher’s attitude toward the treatment due the elite and the condescension toward the less fortunate.

When I was really down and out I used to say “people misunderstand Pandora’s box. The last thing that came out was the worst thing, because it makes people endure all the rest.”

I hope things work out for you, and that you get note hope, but luck.

So they’ll bail out the financial sector, even though it hasn’t made any more profit than the Big 3 in the past 8 years, and unlike the auto sector, didn’t bring down the world economy, but they won’t help out the undeserving whom they don’t understand.

Huh? “unlike the auto sector, didn’t bring down the world economy”???????

But a lot of folks never get lucky despite the fact that they work hard. Perhaps they aren’t really all that bright (half the population, after all, is below average intelligence.) Perhaps they’ve got some personality issues or weak social skills. Perhaps there’s something not quite right in their brain chemisty. Or perhaps they just never catch a break because they aren’t lucky and their parents weren’t well enough positioned to help them get those breaks.

I’d like to add one more “disability,” as it were. Some of us were never really able to wrap our heads around money-as-success and consequently appeared as lazy no-gooders – when the truth is that we really never could work up giving a good sh*t about it.

While your story appears as an arc, Ian, mine is a bit more like the bell curve. Poor (but effin’ interesting, no regrets!) beginnings, a three-decade run as a very well paid software guy, then my dropout a few years ago… I now struggle on the wages of a “sandwich artist.” Couldn’t be happier, though. My years of awesome disposable income obliterates any charges of sour grapes about wealth – instead, I come fully informed and can bear honest witness to the emptiness of having when others have not.

On a personal note – this is the first I’ve heard of your loamy roots, and if I may I’d like to raise a pint to the genius of humanity, always to be found outside the comforts of the elite. I speak particularly of your genius, because you have so helped, with your posts, my understanding of what is going on in the economy, and with economics in general.