--- "B." <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Here's something from the Dept. of Horatio Alger:
>
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0211/p13s02-wmgn.html
>
>
> from the February 11, 2008 edition -
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0211/p13s02-wmgn.html
>
> But surely your background – you're privileged; you
> have an education and a family – made it much easier
> for you to achieve.
>
> I didn't use my college education, credit history,
> or
> contacts [while in South Carolina]. But in real
> life,
> I had these lessons that I had learned. I don't
> think
> that played to my advantage. How much of a college
> education do you need to budget your money to a
> point
> that you're not spending frivolously, but you're
> instead putting your money in the bank?
>
> Do you need a college education? I don't think so.
> To
> be honest with you, I think I was disadvantaged,
[WS:] I think this the key to the whole story. Based on my conversations with social workers and teachers that I know, a lot of peoplle who "fall through the cracks" do not have the skills to budget money or for that matter plan their day to be on time. This is precisely why they fall through the cracks. They do not have these skills for various reasons - from mental illness or retardation, to parental neglect or abuse, to substance abuse - but expecting these people to be able to fuction in this society as someone who graduated from college is sheer lunacy.
I also think that this guy totally misinteprets Ehrenrech's story - it is not that people who work in lo wpaying jobs cannot "make it" - but how difficult it is for those people to afford the basic necessities of life (such as housing, transportation or health care) due to the lack of services that other countries have. So yes, it is possible to buy a used truck and live in a trailer - at least as long as one remains healthy - but that life styly is below that in countries with much lower per capita GDP than the US.
In other words, if one is able to find and keep work in the US - one can buy basic necessitis of life. However, those necessities are not enough to qualify what counts a good or even decent life in this country's culture, and they are not enough to provide safety in case of emergencies (such as layoff or sickness). However, those who are not able to find or keep work are basically left behing on the streets.
Wojtek
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