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Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#51

Post by icanhackit »

branchless wrote: post #44
icanhackit wrote: post #42

Expectations surrounding education have spun out of control. On top of a seven-hour school day, our kids march through hours of nightly homework, daily sports practices and band rehearsals, and weekend-consuming assignments and tournaments. Each activity is seen as a step on the ladder to a top college, an enviable job and a successful life. Small-print: Successful life not guaranteed. Neither is happiness but we did…

The dominant culture says you are a loser. Well done to you for having the confidence to stick to your guns. Problem is you can't opt-out fully because you have to live and for that you must pay banker tribute via rent.

The dominant culture says you are a loser.

Paradoxically I'm doing OK by society's standards. By valuing personal space and control over it I decided to get into the property game with my partner earlier in life, enabling us to purchase an inner city property before their prices exploded. Now I'm watching my friends work their arses off to live further away in the 'burbs. Often success comes down to timing...and an aversion to bullshit social rituals can also help.

Problem is you can't opt-out fully because you have to live and for that you must pay banker tribute via rent.

No rent, but you point remains: gotta work to live.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#52

Post by beccasanchez »

branchless wrote: post #34
atomicfiredoll wrote: post #10

I can't help but feel like this is the inevitable conclusion for a society that's obsessed with working and financial success. It could be an interesting premise to explore. When a number of employers and the government don't value ensuring a healthy work/life balance, or even employee's health, how do you keep that same behavior out of the minds of people running school systems and classrooms? How do you ensure you…

The reason the system wants you to work hard is because they get a share of your labour for every part you are successful above subsistence. They get this through debt issuance, primarily via land prices. Fiat money costs absolutely zero to produce, they give it out freely and in return you pledge to give part of your labour for 30 years. If land prices were far lower we'd all be working 3 or 4 days a week. Employers…

Why should the people in power ever institute this? It would ruin all of them.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#53

Post by saint_fiasco »

sosuke wrote: post #24

It makes adults sick doesn't it? Why not children? I wonder what a society without that "drive for success" would look like. My first thought, maybe a little sad, is if everyone else didn't have that drive I might actually succeed.

Your sad thought is interesting because it suggests that children are being overworked in zero-sum games, ultimately gaining nothing, because all the other children are overworked too.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#54

Post by codingdave »

I'd take all this as less of an opportunity to complain about our own growth, and more of an opportunity for everyone who has or will choose to procreate to think deeply about raising your own children, and to do better for them than has been done for yourself.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#55

Post by meric »

beccasanchez wrote: post #52
branchless wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason the system wants you to work hard is because they get a share of your labour for every part you are successful above subsistence. They get this through debt issuance, primarily via land prices. Fiat money costs absolutely zero to produce, they give it out freely and in return you pledge to give part of your labour for 30 years. If land prices were far lower we'd all be working 3 or 4 days a week. Employers…

Why should the people in power ever institute this? It would ruin all of them.

The land value tax was a nail in the coffin to the decadent Roman empire. People just got up and left their property.

...the decay of trade and industry was not a cause of Rome’s fall. There was a decline in agriculture and land was withdrawn from cultivation, in some cases on a very large scale, sometimes as a direct result of barbarian invasions. However, the chief cause of the agricultural decline was high taxation on the marginal land, driving it out of cultivation. Jones is surely right in saying that taxation was spurred by the huge military budget and was thus ‘indirectly’ the result of the barbarian invasion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography_of_the_fall_of_...

History does not repeat, but it surely does rhyme.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#56

Post by branchless »

beccasanchez wrote: post #52
branchless wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason the system wants you to work hard is because they get a share of your labour for every part you are successful above subsistence. They get this through debt issuance, primarily via land prices. Fiat money costs absolutely zero to produce, they give it out freely and in return you pledge to give part of your labour for 30 years. If land prices were far lower we'd all be working 3 or 4 days a week. Employers…

Why should the people in power ever institute this? It would ruin all of them.

The same reason they ever implement anything: because they are either worried about losing all their power / something even more "abrupt".

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#57

Post by branchless »

icanhackit wrote: post #51
branchless wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dominant culture says you are a loser. Well done to you for having the confidence to stick to your guns. Problem is you can't opt-out fully because you have to live and for that you must pay banker tribute via rent.

The dominant culture says you are a loser. Paradoxically I'm doing OK by society's standards. By valuing personal space and control over it I decided to get into the property game with my partner earlier in life, enabling us to purchase an inner city property before their prices exploded. Now I'm watching my friends work their arses off to live further away in the 'burbs. Often success comes down to timing...and an a…

Ok this isn't really representative then. You got in by entering the pyramid scheme earlier. For 20 somethings who were born too late this isn't an option. They are not suckers, they are victims.

I don't think social rituals are what is breaking most people, it's economic rent and exploitation by money issuers. On that let's be clear - this is not the kids' fault.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#58

Post by TulliusCicero »

douche wrote: post #50
branchless wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've put that in my reply above. We need to have taxes to regress speculation which will see land prices fall and will replace much of income tax. Have a read of the link or many other sites on LVT. I think we also need to deal with money creation by private banks. This has been an absolute disaster since it became effectively unconstrained with the end of the gold standard. (not that I'm a gold bug). It's the issue…

Every time this comes up, the answer I see trotted out is that increased land taxes will cause land prices to fall and rents will get cheaper. I don't understand how this makes any sense, at all. If the town raises the property taxes on my rental, guess what, the rent is going to go up at least as much as the tax increase.

> I don't understand how this makes any sense, at all. If the town raises the property taxes on my rental, guess what, the rent is going to go up at least as much as the tax increase.

This is only true if the rent is based on the cost of the unit in terms of purchase price and upkeep. That's true in lower cost-of-living areas, but in expensive areas, the rent is high primarily because demand is outstripping supply, not because the cost of landlording has gone up. And if rent prices are not based on cost, then an increase in cost (which is what a property tax increase is) will mostly not be passed onto renters.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#59

Post by neves »

branchless wrote: post #57
icanhackit wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dominant culture says you are a loser. Paradoxically I'm doing OK by society's standards. By valuing personal space and control over it I decided to get into the property game with my partner earlier in life, enabling us to purchase an inner city property before their prices exploded. Now I'm watching my friends work their arses off to live further away in the 'burbs. Often success comes down to timing...and an a…

Ok this isn't really representative then. You got in by entering the pyramid scheme earlier. For 20 somethings who were born too late this isn't an option. They are not suckers, they are victims. I don't think social rituals are what is breaking most people, it's economic rent and exploitation by money issuers. On that let's be clear - this is not the kids' fault.

Don't forget the college payments.

Re: Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?

#60

Post by ryandrake »

douche wrote: post #50
branchless wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've put that in my reply above. We need to have taxes to regress speculation which will see land prices fall and will replace much of income tax. Have a read of the link or many other sites on LVT. I think we also need to deal with money creation by private banks. This has been an absolute disaster since it became effectively unconstrained with the end of the gold standard. (not that I'm a gold bug). It's the issue…

Every time this comes up, the answer I see trotted out is that increased land taxes will cause land prices to fall and rents will get cheaper. I don't understand how this makes any sense, at all. If the town raises the property taxes on my rental, guess what, the rent is going to go up at least as much as the tax increase.

If you could just raise your rent tomorrow, why don't you? Will the market bear the new price or won't it? Taxes should have no effect on what renters will bear.
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