Pilots on food stamps!!? Two Jobs!!?? whats next?

TXaviator said:
your chances of success are LARGELY BASED ON LUCK.
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I won't say that's a false statement. I am LUCKY AS HELL to live in America, because there are many places on this planet that are disease-ridden deathtraps with no opportunities for anyone. But, what are we to focus on? Those things we can do something about, or those things we can't? The latter is an attitude of resignation, or "can't do". That attitude stands little chance of success, while the attitude of taking responsibility for one's choices significantly increases chances for personal success. Reminds me of the movie, "Pursuit of Happyness"
 
germb747 said:
I won't say that's a false statement. I am LUCKY AS HELL to live in America, because there are many places on this planet that are disease-ridden deathtraps with no opportunities for anyone. But, what are we to focus on? Those things we can do something about, or those things we can't? The latter is an attitude of resignation, or "can't do". That attitude stands little chance of success, while the attitude of taking responsibility for one's choices significantly increases chances for personal success. Reminds me of the movie, "Pursuit of Happyness"
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I agree you should try, but I'm saying people who claim you can do ANYTHING just by TRYING HARD ENOUGH are completely full of hot air.

You CAN NOT do anything you want to.

So reasoning that down, we arrive at "You can do anything that is in your power to do" which is a very circular statement and says NOTHING.
 
TXaviator said:
ok so we can name a dozen stories? a hundred? a thousand even probably? sure no problem. hell, theres probably tens of thousands of companies that were started by people in crappy situations!! hell yeah! you can do anything you want!!

wait, as of 14 October 2009, the Earth's population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6.79 billion....

so lets say theres 50,000 successful businesses that were started by people in really REALLY crappy circumstances....(totally random number out of the air, but proves the point, wait for it.)

that means your chance of going from crappy to successful, given any particular birth circumstance on the earth is
7.36377025 × 10<SUP>-6</SUP>



or .000074 of one percent.

or 1 in 1358000 .

dang man! one in 1.4 million aint that bad! better than the powerball!


point is, the earth is large. theres way more poor people than rich people. and your chances of success are LARGELY BASED ON LUCK.
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I was simply replying based off your first post of everyone has to be white upper class people to stand a chance in succeeding. Will I argue that peope in the slums of Africa or Asia stand the same chance as anyone here in America? No. But you can do a lot by having determination. If you don't believe that, oh well, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise.
It's like people who want the rock hard body, 6 pack, 20" guns but refuse to go to the gym.

edit: You're right, I can't make it to the moon simply by flapping my arms really hard and fast. But I can be a successful person in life by trying hard and being tenacious. As I said, do I think I will make millions, not unless I were to actaully play the lottery and subsequently win, but I can and will be successful. THAT I believe. If you don't believe you will be successful in life, I feel bad for you.
 
TXaviator said:
So reasoning that down, we arrive at "You can do anything that is in your power to do" which is a very circular statement and says NOTHING.
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I think what it says is that if you put forth the effort, you may fail. If you don't put forth the effort, you will fail.

And I wasn't really talking about Oprah and people who started huge companies and made it big. I'm talking about ordinary people, whom I personally know, who grew up dirt poor. Yet, they were instilled good values, earned good grades in school, and put themselves through college and, in one example, graduate school. The ones I see fail (mostly relatives) are those who believe the whole world is out to get them. They're able to work, yet waste most of what they have and there's nothing to show for it. And guess how much of the responsibility they're willing to own? They spend too much on what they want, and therefore can't pay for what they need.
 
germb747 said:
I think what it says is that if you put forth the effort, you may fail. If you don't put forth the effort, you will fail.

And I wasn't really talking about Oprah and people who started huge companies and made it big. I'm talking about ordinary people, whom I personally know, who grew up dirt poor. Yet, they were instilled good values, earned good grades in school, and put themselves through college and, in one example, graduate school. The ones I see fail (mostly relatives) are those who believe the whole world is out to get them. They're able to work, yet waste most of what they have and there's nothing to show for it. And guess how much of the responsibility they're willing to own? They spend too much on what they want, and therefore can't pay for what they need.
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I dont disagree with your first statement one bit.

I am only saying that I feel people IDEALIZE the power of hard work waaaaay too much. There really is a finite limit to what you are going to accomplish, regardless of how hard you try, how educated you try to become, or how tenacious you are.

Theres a lot of random, chaotic, dumb chance in the universe.
 
germb747 said:
Michael Moore is good at pointing out problems. What he lacks are viable solutions. [snippage]

The burden of proof is on him to show how socialism would be better for America, and this he has failed to show.
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Respectfully, that's like saying the dude who points out that the emperor has no clothes is responsible for clothing him. Michael Moore is under no such obligation. He is a filmmaker and social commentator; his job is raising public awareness, not fixing the social ills he uncovers. That's society's job.
 
And people ask me why I got my EMT in addition to my pilot licenses... This is just typical...

Anyone else thinking of moving to Australia?
 
Not disputing Mr. Moore's comments on pilot pay. However, with respect to his views at large and assault on capitalism: he seems to neglect that government interventionists go out of their way to create or contribute to some of the so-called market failures in our system. The hand of government is far from clean in the housing boom and bust (affordable housing, anyone?). What we have, at times when things don't work, is a foul form of crony-capital-social-ism.
 
Realms09 said:
The hand of government is far from clean in the housing boom and bust (affordable housing, anyone?). What we have, at times when things don't work, is a foul form of crony-capital-social-ism.
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"Too big to fail", anyone? Funny how the "capitalists" want a free market system right up until it affects them. Then they want market stops and government bailouts of the monsters they created.
 
aloft said:
"Too big to fail", anyone? Funny how the "capitalists" want a free market system right up until it affects them. Then they want market stops and government bailouts of the monsters they created.
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I agree, it is frustrating. I hope that someday we will have a government that creates laws that are clear and constant, enforces them without bias, and lets markets work efficiently without manipulations, initiatives, and bailouts.
 
TXaviator said:
ok so we can name a dozen stories? a hundred? a thousand even probably? sure no problem. hell, theres probably tens of thousands of companies that were started by people in crappy situations!! hell yeah! you can do anything you want!!

wait, as of 14 October 2009, the Earth's population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6.79 billion....

so lets say theres 50,000 successful businesses that were started by people in really REALLY crappy circumstances....(totally random number out of the air, but proves the point, wait for it.)

that means your chance of going from crappy to successful, given any particular birth circumstance on the earth is
7.36377025 × 10<sup>-6</sup>



or .000074 of one percent.

or 1 in 1358000 .

dang man! one in 1.4 million aint that bad! better than the powerball!


point is, the earth is large. theres way more poor people than rich people. and your chances of success are LARGELY BASED ON LUCK.
Click to expand...

A bit late to the party here, but thought I'd add my view:

Granted the situation across the world isnt usually comparable to ours here in the US, but with just a little effort here someone can work themselves into a nice position in life no matter if they came from the projects or the 'burbs.

I think you're taking the ideal of 'controlling your own destiny' too literally. I mean you can set your goals to be some uber-successful multi-millionaire, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows that isnt really reasonable. To do so takes a great amount of luck no matter what your background.
 
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