"I grew up lower-middle-class (and at times we were apparently actually 'poor'), but I loved my childhood, and thinking about it objectively, I couldn't have reasonably asked for anything more."
"So, although we were right at the poverty line most of my childhood, I had a wonderful life growing up." Change lower-middle class to lower-middle or lower-lower and I can say the same thing about my childhood. Things were hard, but we got by and didn't complain about it. It was just the way things were and you dealt with it. "Pointing out that even a family in the lower 20% of income has it pretty good here in the US." Hence the illegal immigrant problem. "But yes, the author did show those countries that portray stark differences." Be wary of stats comparing countries. They often use different baseline. For example, infant mortality is measure in the US for premature babies from 26 weeks while some countries only count babies born after 30 weeks. "The massive disparity in incomes and wealth has been a fact of life in the US for most of its history. " The world. Not the US alone. Even those utopian paradises of the past like the USSR had the elite. Or China today. The underlying question is: Can the rich fail now? It would seem that the answer is no since the US government protects the rich. Without letting struggling corporations fail, there is less room for the capable to move up. Most government officials love darwinism in the classroom but hate it in the business world. "But if most of the population in the US is apathetic, or simply disenfranchised in various ways, what will force the change?" See the post about the knowledge of civics by US citizens. Most don't even know their rights anymore so they wouldn't know how to bring about change if they wanted to. "What's going to be the catalyst for this change?" Barack was is bringing hope and change :) In all seriousness, some of these issues are tea party issues. Out of control government spending and favoritism (bailouts). J - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. - Winston Churchill The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind. - Eric Hoffer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:337648 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
