Can you build a life from $25?
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Rich kid starts life from scratch with only $25 in his pocket -- 10 months later, has an apartment, a pickup truck and $5,000 in savings. [^] It's a testament to how a charitable system coupled with hard work and financial responsibility can lead to a decent lifestyle in a short time.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
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Rich kid starts life from scratch with only $25 in his pocket -- 10 months later, has an apartment, a pickup truck and $5,000 in savings. [^] It's a testament to how a charitable system coupled with hard work and financial responsibility can lead to a decent lifestyle in a short time.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
Don't worry, I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
Please excuse my refusal to participate in the suicide of western civilization
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Don't worry, I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
Please excuse my refusal to participate in the suicide of western civilization
Stan Shannon wrote:
I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
You may be right. You won't have to start out as a rich kid.
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Stan Shannon wrote:
I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
You may be right. You won't have to start out as a rich kid.
Maybe you should actually read the article.
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Maybe you should actually read the article.
I have. What's your point?
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Rich kid starts life from scratch with only $25 in his pocket -- 10 months later, has an apartment, a pickup truck and $5,000 in savings. [^] It's a testament to how a charitable system coupled with hard work and financial responsibility can lead to a decent lifestyle in a short time.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
I had a good friend named Sam do something similar. He completely dropped out of school, and started living out of his old Dodge Omni. In his case, he didn't have any possible backing from his family; they were poorer than me at the time. In 24 months he had started his own business and was doing better than any of us. I am convinced it is all about a mind set. Now Sam is finishing his Ph.D. from Duke in Finance. I'm really proud of the guy.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Stan Shannon wrote:
I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
You may be right. You won't have to start out as a rich kid.
What is that supposed to mean? From reading the article his family ties had nothing to do with it. This kid has a good attitude and put it to work.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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What is that supposed to mean? From reading the article his family ties had nothing to do with it. This kid has a good attitude and put it to work.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
What is that supposed to mean?
I'm sorry you missed my point. It has as much meaning as Stan's statement about Obama. But more seriously - Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
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Chris Austin wrote:
What is that supposed to mean?
I'm sorry you missed my point. It has as much meaning as Stan's statement about Obama. But more seriously - Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
Since you set the tone...
oilFactotum wrote:
Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
And you're about to vote for Obama so that rich kid can experiment with the entire country's future? Really, why should his background or education invalidate the experiment?
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Chris Austin wrote:
What is that supposed to mean?
I'm sorry you missed my point. It has as much meaning as Stan's statement about Obama. But more seriously - Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
oilFactotum wrote:
But more seriously - Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
Sure. It's confirmed what I have lived. When I was a kid I was extremely poor. There were times when my parents couldn't afford to buy shoes for me and my sisters let alone pay the electric bill. Once we got out on our own and stopped living with the belief that we would always be poor we were able to not only pull ourselves out of the rut but our mother as well. It's 100 percent attitude. When people take responsibility for their situation they can learn to plan their lives.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Since you set the tone...
oilFactotum wrote:
Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
And you're about to vote for Obama so that rich kid can experiment with the entire country's future? Really, why should his background or education invalidate the experiment?
Rob Graham wrote:
you're about to vote for Obama
Sure am!
Rob Graham wrote:
why should his background or education invalidate the experiment?
Didn't say that, did I?
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oilFactotum wrote:
But more seriously - Do you really believe a college educated rich-kid's experiment really means anything?
Sure. It's confirmed what I have lived. When I was a kid I was extremely poor. There were times when my parents couldn't afford to buy shoes for me and my sisters let alone pay the electric bill. Once we got out on our own and stopped living with the belief that we would always be poor we were able to not only pull ourselves out of the rut but our mother as well. It's 100 percent attitude. When people take responsibility for their situation they can learn to plan their lives.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
It's confirmed what I have lived.
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions. What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
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Chris Austin wrote:
It's confirmed what I have lived.
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions. What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
oilFactotum wrote:
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions.
Its not a notion, its a fact I have lived.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Don't worry, I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
Please excuse my refusal to participate in the suicide of western civilization
Stan Shannon wrote:
Don't worry, I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
Oh I'm not worried. If anything Obama will help reduce the number of people who fall into poverty because medical bills cause them to go bankrupt.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
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Chris Austin wrote:
It's confirmed what I have lived.
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions. What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
oilFactotum wrote:
What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment?
I read her book. While I think there were... problems... with her experiment, it does bring up issues that can't be ignored or brushed off. Thing is, I think it really is, 99.99% of the time, all about attitude. You do what you believe you can do, or must do. This might start a discussion on what forms that attitude, though, which is probably far more interesting - it's pretty apparent those attitudes are formed very early in life.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
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Chris Austin wrote:
It's confirmed what I have lived.
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions. What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
oilFactotum wrote:
What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
Actually, that one is also pretty good proof that attitude is the determining factor as well. Ehrenrich failed because she had a crappy attitude: a quote from the Wikipedia article on her book: "The author, a Ph.D. educated journalist, found manual labor taxing, uninteresting and degrading." More: Bringing funds all for unexpected expenses, approximately $1300, she leaves her home and her middle-class existence, with a few personal items and her car, for a few months of low wage work. Starting off in her backyard, Ehrenreich searches for lodging and a job in neighboring Key West, Florida. Securing jobs at two restaurants, "Jerry's" and "Hearthside", fictitiously named, in consonance with other locations and people throughout the book, and a one-day housekeeping stint, she works for one month before succumbing to an extremely busy night at Jerry's; after walking out mid-shift, Ehrenreich heads to Portland, Maine, without an automobile, for a fresh start. Beginning anew, Ehrenreich lands two more jobs after a four day search, one as an assistant at a nursing home and another as a maid at a cleaning franchise. Worn down by her work-load and work-related stress, she travels to her final destination, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is employed in the women's department at a Wal-Mart before ultimately ending her investigation. Even with the odds stacked on her side -- a car, no dependents (other than herself), and initial funds -- Ehrenreich fails to achieve a sustainable lifestyle
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oilFactotum wrote:
Right. It reinforces your preconceived notions.
Its not a notion, its a fact I have lived.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
The notion is your believe that your personal experience can be applied to the rest of the world.
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oilFactotum wrote:
What about Barbara Ehrenreich's experiment? The other one mentioned in the story.
Actually, that one is also pretty good proof that attitude is the determining factor as well. Ehrenrich failed because she had a crappy attitude: a quote from the Wikipedia article on her book: "The author, a Ph.D. educated journalist, found manual labor taxing, uninteresting and degrading." More: Bringing funds all for unexpected expenses, approximately $1300, she leaves her home and her middle-class existence, with a few personal items and her car, for a few months of low wage work. Starting off in her backyard, Ehrenreich searches for lodging and a job in neighboring Key West, Florida. Securing jobs at two restaurants, "Jerry's" and "Hearthside", fictitiously named, in consonance with other locations and people throughout the book, and a one-day housekeeping stint, she works for one month before succumbing to an extremely busy night at Jerry's; after walking out mid-shift, Ehrenreich heads to Portland, Maine, without an automobile, for a fresh start. Beginning anew, Ehrenreich lands two more jobs after a four day search, one as an assistant at a nursing home and another as a maid at a cleaning franchise. Worn down by her work-load and work-related stress, she travels to her final destination, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is employed in the women's department at a Wal-Mart before ultimately ending her investigation. Even with the odds stacked on her side -- a car, no dependents (other than herself), and initial funds -- Ehrenreich fails to achieve a sustainable lifestyle
Rob Graham wrote:
ound manual labor taxing, uninteresting and degrading.
That there makes me want to shake people like her. I was laying fucking pavement in Phoenix in the middle of summer as a day laborer on the weekends to pay for school and housing. At the same time I was working as a bouncer and a teaching assistant during the week. She wants to talk about taxing and degrading, try teaching students physics after they see you bouncing at a popular nightclub.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Rich kid starts life from scratch with only $25 in his pocket -- 10 months later, has an apartment, a pickup truck and $5,000 in savings. [^] It's a testament to how a charitable system coupled with hard work and financial responsibility can lead to a decent lifestyle in a short time.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
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Stan Shannon wrote:
Don't worry, I think this is one of the things Obama plans to change.
Oh I'm not worried. If anything Obama will help reduce the number of people who fall into poverty because medical bills cause them to go bankrupt.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. - Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. - Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? - Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Epicurus
Al Beback wrote:
Oh I'm not worried. If anything Obama will help reduce the number of people who fall into poverty because medical bills cause them to go bankrupt.
Not likely. Obama's proposed plan does not require universal coverage (except for children). It will do little more than require parents to buy coverage for their children. Fine rhetoric, lousy plan.