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Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

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Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#171

Post by jedmeyers »

marme wrote: post #163
jedmeyers wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what point does one have to start to be considered independently successful? - You inherited a lot of wealth and a CTO position at a father's company - Parents gave you money and bought you stuff - Parents gave you a place to live - At least you had one parent - Being an orphan, at least you were born in a first-world country - At least you were born at all, thanks to the medical care in a third world country So,…

FYI the first wheels were wooden, it is common misconception that the wheel was invented in the stone age. Human civilization invented farming and pottery many centuries before the invention of the wheel

That it correct. My comment was intended to be more of an allegory than a foray into ancient history.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#172

Post by NotSammyHagar »

This article made me cry. I feel for those folks who are so poor (the parents in this article, and the kids), everyone should have a decent life, a chance to earn enough money to get an education, or have access to eduction. This kind of thing is an enormous loss of potential for humanity, for these folks that can't get access to education. It's for people like that that we should look into making college much less expensive if not free.

I am from a poorer, less developed southern state. I went to a high school with a lot of poor people. I was lucky enough to go to college, my parents had both been so I had an enormously easier time than most folks, including money to pay for it plus an expectation that I would go. Whenever I have gone back to high school reunions, I feel so sorry for those people that were never able to go to college, or develop their potential.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#173

Post by CJefferson »

jedmeyers wrote: post #147
trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

At what point does one have to start to be considered independently successful? - You inherited a lot of wealth and a CTO position at a father's company - Parents gave you money and bought you stuff - Parents gave you a place to live - At least you had one parent - Being an orphan, at least you were born in a first-world country - At least you were born at all, thanks to the medical care in a third world country So,…

I'm not clear what point you are trying to make.

No-one is entirely independently successful, but there is a big gap between (for example) someone whose parents give them nothing, and someone whose parents "lend" them $1 million to get started.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#174

Post by shaggerty »

tptacek wrote: post #166
dsacco wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as someone who has never gone to traffic court, can you tell me how the system handles people with lawyers versus people without lawyers?

We answered this on crypto nerd Slack but I'll repeat for the benefit of the class: In Cook County, at least, you're given a time to appear in court. Everyone appears at that time. Cases are handled in alphabetical order. But: if you have a lawyer, your case is handled first --- the lawyers are on the clock, you see --- so there's about an hour and a half of waiting for lawyer after lawyer to come up and get their cl…

How would myself or anyone else interested get on the crypto nerd slack?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#175

Post by sAuronas »

ktRolster wrote: post #145
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew someone who was so aggressively proud of their success, having founded and grown a successful business. He'd talk your ear off about how people like him were the ones adding value to society and how unsuccessful people are just lazy and don't try hard enough or don't take enough risks, or are just deadbeats, and how successful, hard working people are punished with taxes--you know, the standard soapbox speech.…

>going from $1M to $2M is almost inevitable. If that were true, I could easily borrow it now and make my way there.

If you have the ability to borrow $1M, I'd argue you're already there. I know people who can't open a fucking checking account.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#176

Post by tptacek »

shaggerty wrote: post #174
tptacek wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We answered this on crypto nerd Slack but I'll repeat for the benefit of the class: In Cook County, at least, you're given a time to appear in court. Everyone appears at that time. Cases are handled in alphabetical order. But: if you have a lawyer, your case is handled first --- the lawyers are on the clock, you see --- so there's about an hour and a half of waiting for lawyer after lawyer to come up and get their cl…

How would myself or anyone else interested get on the crypto nerd slack?

I guess mail me and introduce yourself? It's not like super selective or anything.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#177

Post by arethuza »

hueving wrote: post #135
ap22213 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not alone - trust me. Most people don't believe me. But, then, I grew up in a place where many if not most household incomes are less than $15k / year. It's all relative though - I have enough saved up to probably live as a rich man in probably 99% of the earth. Yet, I keep pushing myself to get into the upper class of a minuscule area of the world. It's kind of screwed up.

Sorry, I should have been stricter with my phrasing. There is no place on earth where you can consider yourself middle class only having $24m in net worth. What you are referring to is likely a small community filled with people with net worths above $100m, but that doesn't change the class level because of what I pointed out. If you can quit your job and make 6 figures off of interest, you are not middle class anymo…

Places such as the UK have a socio-economic class system where class really has rather little to do with money - upper class here means aristocracy not just rich. Money really doesn't have that much to do with it.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#178

Post by ythl »

dleslie wrote: post #19
trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

And this is why Basic Income is the future; it doesn't help those with a bed of pillows to rely on, but it provides a bed of sod to those currently wary of spikes.

What about people that squander their BI? We need safety nets below the safety nets... At some point shouldn't we let people fail?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#179

Post by softawre »

wehadfun wrote: post #150
jedmeyers wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what point does one have to start to be considered independently successful? - You inherited a lot of wealth and a CTO position at a father's company - Parents gave you money and bought you stuff - Parents gave you a place to live - At least you had one parent - Being an orphan, at least you were born in a first-world country - At least you were born at all, thanks to the medical care in a third world country So,…

I would say Parents gave you money is when most would consider your success tied to your parents.

Is that because the majority of us happen to fall just below that rung and want to consider our success "real"?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#180

Post by Godel_unicode »

aninhumer wrote: post #139
dismantlethesun wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's meant by character is that your skills with money management won't tell you where to spend money when its discretionary, and what level to set your discretionary shares at. Some people will fritter away their wealth on useless things, even if they know that they can make guaranteed returns by investing in X. Some people will continually reinvest in bad ventures, each time thinking the risk is worth it. There's…

>your skills with money management won't tell you where to spend money when its discretionary, and what level to set your discretionary shares at. Yes they will? That's an aspect of money management. >There's no skill to say what is too much risk. That's a judgement call that everyone has to make for themselves. By even framing the decision in these terms, you're already displaying far more experience in money manage…

It's not about opportunity, you could learn that much in an hour on /r/investing, or an afternoon of Googling "money management". It's about inclination to learn it, which requires a (very) little discipline.
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