What is prosperity
Feb 24, 2020 13:23:10 #
This was sent to me by email. I thought it was an interesting view of how some people in the U.S. think.
What do you think?
This article was written by a college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. It's a short article but definitely worth a read.
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Lake Nokomis (Mpls) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.
Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."
Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.
Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.
Why? The answer is this, my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."
What do you think?
This article was written by a college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. It's a short article but definitely worth a read.
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Lake Nokomis (Mpls) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.
Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."
Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.
Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.
Why? The answer is this, my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."
Feb 24, 2020 13:27:37 #
Feb 24, 2020 13:30:45 #
We have had a rising economy for at least 10 years since our last recession. So uninformed people under 30 haven't really experienced what hard times are as adults and have no idea what socialism and communism are since they don't learn this from the main stream media and higher education courses.
Feb 24, 2020 15:21:59 #
Fotoartist wrote:
We have had a rising economy for at least 10 years since our last recession. So uninformed people under 30 haven't really experienced what hard times are as adults and have no idea what socialism and communism are since they don't learn this from the main stream media and higher education courses.
The main stream media and "higher education" (in price only...it seems) are not doing anyone any favors.
Feb 24, 2020 16:18:06 #
Spoken like a true Boomer.
Back in the day when you were younger having a job meant being able to get your own place and a family with one working adult could buy a house and a car.
None of that is possible anymore, so if younger folks are unhappy, perhaps you should try to understand why instead of thinking that they are the problem.
Back in the day when you were younger having a job meant being able to get your own place and a family with one working adult could buy a house and a car.
None of that is possible anymore, so if younger folks are unhappy, perhaps you should try to understand why instead of thinking that they are the problem.
Feb 26, 2020 14:50:17 #
Frank T wrote:
Spoken like a true Boomer.
Back in the day when you were younger having a job meant being able to get your own place and a family with one working adult could buy a house and a car.
None of that is possible anymore, so if younger folks are unhappy, perhaps you should try to understand why instead of thinking that they are the problem.
Back in the day when you were younger having a job meant being able to get your own place and a family with one working adult could buy a house and a car.
None of that is possible anymore, so if younger folks are unhappy, perhaps you should try to understand why instead of thinking that they are the problem.
I have kids that are doing just fine on one income. Unlike some of the kids today, mine have ambition and will work 2 or 3 jobs if they have to (and have done it before), but luckily they chose professions that suit them well. I understand that life happens and things can go wrong, but if the younger folks are unhappy then maybe some of their up-bringing didn't prepare them for the real world.
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