Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is too far the other way. Hard work and good ideas are necessary but not sufficient. That's all.
Yeah. I was in a bad state of mind when I wrote this. I'm sorry.
Hope you're feeling better
I am done. I give up
971–980 of 1001 posts
Re: I am done. I give up
#972Earlier quoted context omitted.
While this may be true for individual cases. Statistically the argument is worthless. Frankly, it's a comforting lie that encourages harmful inaction by instilling a false sense of the playing field being close to even. The children of the top 1% make up 14.5% of the admissions to these schools. The chart of students by parental income[0] speaks for itself. The children of the bottom 20% make up a mere 3.8% of the st…
Your point isn’t coming out like you think. What you just said was 80% of the student body is middle class.
No, what was said is that ~15% of the student body is in the top 1%. The top 5% by income make up 42% of the student body. I'm not sure about your own definition but I wouldn't qualify that as middle class.
I don't view 95% of the population making up 58% of the student body as an indicator that we're doing things particularly well. Especially when you don't ignore the fact the bottom 20% make up only 3.8% of students and the bottom 60% of the population only account for 18%.
These statistics fly in the face of any belief in meritocracy, social mobility, access to education, academic achievement etc. They imply either the children of the top 5% are genetic superhumans or that, as a society, we're failing spectacularly at living up to those goals.
Re: I am done. I give up
#973Honestly, this realization is a success in itself. Some will tell you to not give up, but if your heart really isn't in it anymore, then it's ok to move on.
Personally, I think you'll be happier later on in life knowing you tried and you gave it your all rather than growing older with regret because you never tried at all.
Keep your head up. This, in itself, is a success story.
Re: I am done. I give up
#974Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also you failed, maybe you're just 5 feet 6 and can never ever become a professional basketball player no matter how hard you try Muggsy Bogues is 5'3" and played 14 seasons in the NBA. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggsy_Bogues
There was once a time when I would have written a comment like this one, but now I'm down-voting it. There are two ways to read this message, and both of them are not something I would encourage, of different reasons, and being ambiguous between them is not in it's favor either. A. You are trying to highlight that the poster is technically incorrect, so that they learn a new fact. That is mostly fine, but it doesn't…
The system lets you downvote my comment and it also lets me reply to your points A and B.
A. Stating the truth is a contribution to the conversation. The boundaries between success and failure are fuzzy and it is a disservice to suggest that you have to meet certain criteria to accomplish difficult goals. Every great success is unique and those who try to convince people that lofty goals are structurally unreachable are generally not the good guys.
B. You are conflating two very different arguments. One is, "OP needs to hit the brakes and re-evaluate because clearly something is leading him down a harmful path." The other is, "Those who set out to do something difficult are going to encounter disappointment, mistakes, and failure, and they should find hope in the knowledge that unique and unlikely success stories can be found in abundance." Your point is the former, mine is the latter.
In both cases, you are attempting to extrapolate my reasoning from my comment and that's an error on your part because you lack enough specific information about my thought process to infer my reasoning. I would appreciate it if you could respond to the best version of my comment rather than casting a harsh light upon it.
Re: I am done. I give up
#975Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was once a time when I would have written a comment like this one, but now I'm down-voting it. There are two ways to read this message, and both of them are not something I would encourage, of different reasons, and being ambiguous between them is not in it's favor either. A. You are trying to highlight that the poster is technically incorrect, so that they learn a new fact. That is mostly fine, but it doesn't…
There are people like this everywhere I just learned to not answer them, you will say something that's true for 99% of the population, instead of reading between the lines and understanding that I was trying to say "people are different and the difficulty isn't the same for everyone", they'll instantly jump on the 1% for who the thing you said doesn't apply and reply telling you how you're wrong, there people argue t…
As tempting as it may be to think this way and attempt to critique my personality based on a short textual response to a comment on HN, you may want to consider the following:
You may say something that hits 99% of the people in the way that you intend, but there will be people who fall within the 1% corner cases and take your discouragement to heart. It is important for those people to understand that naysayers are often wrong -- and they don't like having it pointed out. Some of those people may not even leave a comment, but what they read will linger in their minds.
Re: I am done. I give up
#976Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is one of the underappreciated benefits of the Nordic-style welfare state: everybody can afford to fail. Unfortunately it's rarely discussed in society as such. The political parties that built these welfare states have traditionally been associated with worker unions, and entrepreneurship isn't high on their agenda. The Nordic right-wing parties got ideologically married to Thatcher-style neoliberalism and pref…
As someone living in Finland, I would argue the cons balance out the pros. The welfare state also creates massive disincentives for entrepreneurs. There is no free lunch. In addition to the psychological aspects mentioned below (why try so hard when you’ll be fine either way), there are bigger reasons. While the safety net makes it less dangerous to fail, it also makes it harder to succeed. The barrier you need to cl…
>less dangerous to fail [...] harder to succeed
Alternatively: Finland has a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling.
Re: I am done. I give up
#977Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly... it's the mono-culture and relatively small population and distances that allow this to work relatively well. If the US actually reverted closer to the original Confederation it was started as, each state could possibly do these things, but as a whole, it's really hard... and becomes ever more divisive... At this point, largely, only corporate interests feeding both sides seem to get anything done.
No it's not. Norway overall is 75% ethnic Norwegian with the rest being immigrants. Oslo the capital is only 50% ethnic Norwegian. It's very strange to me to identify Norway as monoculture. Usually i think the person has never been to Norway when they say that.
How many of those immigrants are allowed to vote? The US, by contrast has a massive amount of immigrant populations, multiple generations in with varied backgrounds, over a massively larger scale of both population and land mass. My high school didn't have a majority from any single racial group.
Re: I am done. I give up
#978Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's all relative isn't it? Singapore is a tax dodge, but I would't characterize low corporate income taxes as a tax dodge. How does one get money out of a corporation if not via marginal personal income tax rates?
Long term capital gains.
Can you elaborate?
Re: I am done. I give up
#979Earlier quoted context omitted.
My all time favorite is Robert T. Kiyosaki's book "Poor dad, rich dad". Pretty much everything he teaches about financial success is fiction. In reality he worked a regular 9 to 5 job, failed at starting his own business, and finally made money by selling this book and providing seminars.
The takeaway I got from him was positive. First, start buying real estate and renting. THEN, with that financial security try to build a business of your own if you are motivated. The first part is hard to fail at, and you can do it while working a full time job.
He also mentioned that property is a liability, not an investment. I guess many property management companies would disagree.
Re: I am done. I give up
#980A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect."