I still don't get it. How is it possible that he managed to go through the system.
He mentions he got girls to do his homework for him. When half the population wants to see you succeed you’re going to have an easy time.
I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
91–100 of 173 posts
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
With less investment, you would have less money going into building housing.. Profit-motivated investment is the primary way in which market needs are met. When it's impeded by regulatory restrictions, market needs are met less. >>I’d expect the opposite, as you see in countries that have rent and ownership controls. The highest rental rates in the world are in the US city with the most ownership controls to prevents…
> The highest rental rates in the world are in the city with the most ownership controls to prevents developers and landlords from profiting: San Francisco. Correlation is not causation. The reason rents are high in San Francisco is because it's where the 'owners' of a bunch of high-tech Intellectual Property live. Labor aristocrats have to move there to be able to work on that tech. That is what has driven up the re…
You make it sound like you don't think people (or corporations) should be able to own property.
I hate to burst your bubble, but someone is going to own the property. And if you insist on it being the government, you are going to severely disappointed by what happens next.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#93There a funny short story I read in H.S. - The Verger by Somerset Maugham - about a guy who's in a position not unlike this. He's illiterate but competent. He doesn't bother to hide it though and is fired from is job as a verger because of that. It's a short read as I remember so I won't ruin the end but the punch line really stuck with me for some reason.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#94My grandfather, born in the back hills of West Virginia, was forced to leave school when he was around 6 years old to chop lumber so his family had enough to survive. After he left WV, he worked a press at a forge and was a landscaper at night an on the weekends. He never has learned how to read, and sadly he is in the early stages of dementia so I think that ship has sailed. But... he was always a whiz with finances…
> I can't imagine going through life like he did, how much I would hav missed. Yeah your granddads story is impressive. I cannot imagine not being able to read and write. > He was the kind of guy that can take a dollar on Monday and give you back $100 on Friday. He owns, I believe at this point, 8 properties including his own home. So he owned other peoples homes? Ugh I hate this system. Why is absentee ownership a t…
This attitude expanded just a little also applies to farmers who produce a surplus. They're also extracting a toll from others for a basic need. When it's actually used to guide policy farmers get kicked off their land and everyone fucking starves.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#95My grandfather, born in the back hills of West Virginia, was forced to leave school when he was around 6 years old to chop lumber so his family had enough to survive. After he left WV, he worked a press at a forge and was a landscaper at night an on the weekends. He never has learned how to read, and sadly he is in the early stages of dementia so I think that ship has sailed. But... he was always a whiz with finances…
The cleverest, wealthy guys, I know, barely finished high school. I'm talking self made guys, and not guys from wealthy sympathetic families whom fund their kids until something turns a profit. Jonny at Dentek--you don't count, but daddy was a wiz. If I had a child, buying real-estate, and learning the stock market, would be right up there with the three R's.
What you are describing is rent-seeking. Its easy to make money when house values and the stock market are expanding greater than the cost of money, particularly when you buy in at the start of the bubble.
Typically the limitation for real estate ownership is lack of access to credit, or a stable job enabling you to stay in one place.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I can't imagine going through life like he did, how much I would hav missed. Yeah your granddads story is impressive. I cannot imagine not being able to read and write. > He was the kind of guy that can take a dollar on Monday and give you back $100 on Friday. He owns, I believe at this point, 8 properties including his own home. So he owned other peoples homes? Ugh I hate this system. Why is absentee ownership a t…
"Yes the system makes it legal, but ‘landlords’ shouldn’t kid themselves that they are providing value to others." A landlord who takes care of building and maintainig the house etc. is not providing value? You think that happens automatically? I mean sure, it would be nice to live in a world where everyone is wealthy and capable enough to own and maintain their home. But there are actually people who like to rent to…
> But there are actually people who like to rent
I've never met any. Have you?
I guess maybe rich people who could afford to buy but choose not to, like to rent. I live in Sydney, don't know anyone who owns their house or even dreams of it one day. Saying there are people who like renting, sounds to me like saying there are people who like pain, or a terminal illness, or a death sentence. But hey, at least our money is going every week to people who already own more than one house?
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cleverest, wealthy guys, I know, barely finished high school. I'm talking self made guys, and not guys from wealthy sympathetic families whom fund their kids until something turns a profit. Jonny at Dentek--you don't count, but daddy was a wiz. If I had a child, buying real-estate, and learning the stock market, would be right up there with the three R's.
What you are describing is rent-seeking. Its easy to make money when house values and the stock market are expanding greater than the cost of money, particularly when you buy in at the start of the bubble. Typically the limitation for real estate ownership is lack of access to credit, or a stable job enabling you to stay in one place.
Not all investing is rent seeking.
Rent seeking REQUIRES manipulation of public policy to benefit you.
Being a landlord at the 5 building scale gives you no leverage in public policy. It makes you a capitalist.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#98Maybe I'm joining the large amount of comments at the bottom for once, but this article is not just about someone who ended up being a teacher due to serendipity — he committed crimes to get there. I'm all for supporting people with disability, and there is no doubt that it requires courage to admit to being a fraud after so many years — but being dyslexic shouldn't be an excuse for anyone to commit crimes and get aw…
I agree in principle. But I think there has to be a difference in punishment between unrepentant perpetrators who get caught, and perpetrators who come forward on their own volition. If I remember the original Reader's Digest article, this person was already held to account many years ago -- he lost all his credentials, qualifications and not to mention respect and credibility. Even the original story was published m…
Thank you very much for taking the time to address my comment, it has given me some food for thought.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#99Maybe I'm joining the large amount of comments at the bottom for once, but this article is not just about someone who ended up being a teacher due to serendipity — he committed crimes to get there. I'm all for supporting people with disability, and there is no doubt that it requires courage to admit to being a fraud after so many years — but being dyslexic shouldn't be an excuse for anyone to commit crimes and get aw…
I haven't seen any comments that praise him for cheating or stealing or faking his way through being a teacher. The only praise I see is for his learning to read and then coming out to tell his story.
Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Yes the system makes it legal, but ‘landlords’ shouldn’t kid themselves that they are providing value to others." A landlord who takes care of building and maintainig the house etc. is not providing value? You think that happens automatically? I mean sure, it would be nice to live in a world where everyone is wealthy and capable enough to own and maintain their home. But there are actually people who like to rent to…
> But there are actually people who like to rent I've never met any. Have you? I guess maybe rich people who could afford to buy but choose not to, like to rent. I live in Sydney, don't know anyone who owns their house or even dreams of it one day. Saying there are people who like renting, sounds to me like saying there are people who like pain, or a terminal illness, or a death sentence. But hey, at least our money…
I've lived in many countries and while I own a home in my original country to retire to (should that happen), I need places to rent when I don't want to be there. And my home is rented at those times, sometimes for years.