Speakeasy forum: There are those who eat lobster

there will be a time when every single person is equal to the one next to them? All do the same amount of labor and all do the same amount of innovating and all share equally in living styles? If you do, you're dreaming of a world that should not exist. Even the wildest of animals know better by instinct alone that there is always a hierarchy that must be maintained or chaos takes over.

and the fact when you work in construction or factory work the better paying jobs are less demanding physically than the lower paying ones.

Goes along with the adage you'll never get rich working for someone else. Of course, I've seen a few people try to start their own business to get rich end up losing everything and in the hole. The percentage of success for people starting their own business is pretty low.

When you're working the manual labor jobs at the bottom, it's easy to think the guy who just walks up and hands out the work and then goes back in the office isn't doing much for his money. They don't consider the less physical work as hard. It's normally a misconception.

It's also wrong that many in lower and midde management jobs don't see workers as people, only biological machines.

but even with greed and ambition some will never rise.

Today even more than in the past, because there are less paths from the bottom to the top, and less acceptance of giving anyone without specific resources a chance.

In industry, in the past you could hire on as a janitor and with work, effort, including work improving yourself outside of your job itself, move up. Retired now, but when I started my current job, the HR head literally started as a janitor there out of high school.

Now industy less and less will move anyone from blue collar to white collar based on work experience. You can't be managment most places now without that piece of paper. Many now don't even hire helpers and train for skilled labor jobs (welders, electricans are ony two examples). You have to have a community college associate degree to get an interview or employment appititude test for such work. When I applied for my current job back in 97, they used the unemployment office as a screening facility. There was an employment ad without identifying the employer.

I had to go to an interview at the unemployment office, proof of a two year degree, 10 years or more experience in one of 3 field, and if they passed then I was told who the employer was, where and when the testing would start, and a pass to get into the testing. We had a several page paper test, then the survivors of that were given hands on testing.

I remember when I was in night classes a younger guy asking how could he get a job when they all seem to require 2 years experience minimum in the field plus the 2 year degree he was working toward. The teacher told him after getting his degree, he'd probably have to get a job for a few years somewhere like a Purdue chicken processing plant. That was just the most desperate nearby. They had a huge turnover because of rather unpleasant working conditions, low pay, poor benefits, even for "skilled labor". But they provided a training ground for other jobs basically.

Indeed, I'm sad to say that over my working life, I've seen making friends with the right people without being a hard worker doing as much good as doing good work. Who you hunt, fish, or play golf with can matter more than how good you do your job.

Back to the subject, even if someone wants to move up, just working harder often won't do it anymore. Just being ambitious won't either. I'll grant you find greed at all social-economic levels and groups.

What's that old saying though? to whom much is given much is expected? probably just some envious guy came up with it trying to justify his envy I suspose. We hear more often watch out for number 1 because no one else will.

As far as pithy sayings.......

The hand patting you on the back is concealing a knife.

Lord help me not step on feet today that are connected to the as s I'll have to kiss tomorrow.

When in trouble, delegate responsibility.

That's without getting into any sayings that were on my old (lost) Murphey's Law wall poster. Of course, there have been several different variations of those.

but then that story doesn't seem to be taken too far, since most religious people I know are also a bit of the you have to be self reliant in this world type. They frown on eat drink and be merry without saving for tomorrow too.

Didn''t really recall right off the top that those who receive are expected to do more being part of it.

Contradiction in a way. I would say the story was not being totally preoccupied with the earthy treasure view, not about fallacy of storing up earthly goods in itself, since as I note most religious seem to believe in self reliance and planning for the future even while condemning forgetting putting unworldy things first.

So you're expected to store up but then to believe what you need will be provided. Nothing new in inconsistency in religious doctrine, not that doctrine and faith are exactly the same.

even without referencing any afterlife.

Just being a decent human would still involve observing most of that.

being "at the top"? Seems most would be happy to be "off the bottom" somewhere in the middle. There are miserable people all the way from the top to the botto and back up again. Must be something other than money that keeps that from happening. Maybe something inside each of us?

in ways it can't be tracked.

in trying to 'move up' at least on a financial level is the Federal government moving the bar for what is considered to be the poverty level........it makes it much more difficult to even get a sense of security as 'lower middle class' when the highest poverty level today is what would have been middle middle class a few short years ago.

You gave a link and it appears not related to your post. It so happens I saw that last night and found it not all misleading but rather ironic that someone born in '75 gives details about a war he never experienced and only got on it once someone else provides documents of "war crimes" yet wasn't the basis initially for his work. Well, guess what war is hell and people die on both sides. It's nothing new, been going since cave man walked. I also find it displeasing to have to engage in war, where the enemy is hiding within the populace and you wonder why they get killed. It's as much the enemy fault as those seeking them. After being in country you know what is best trail to walk on if the local folk use it too or avoid areas where no locals go. Further, locals got killed by the other side as as easily if they didn't cooperate. Guess what, war is hell. the good thing about war is its over.

So what the heck does Vietnam have to do about lobster? You want people to be happy, then give them a chance to succeed. If you reduce or cut off any inkling of success you create a society that sooner later erupts. That's why there was a French revolution, the American revolution and even Communism. These are outside of outright aggression or expansion of one's nation or region. Think in terms of Alexander the great, Roman Empire, Nazis or Communism. Don't be surprised if you're a rich area and you neighbor wants it too. Either by nation standards or you next door neighbor. If gain or benefit can be had with little harm or cost to you, that's seems to be enough to get into what ever comes about. -----Willy off soapbox

People derive more hatred and bigotry from what they've read of the past than what they've experienced themselves. At some point, all we have to go by is what has been written. What has been written can, in no way, describe all that has happened.