RE: Work is no longer a defense against poverty
The real problem is that no one is being taught how to handle money correctly.
I think teaching people how capitalism really works would be helpful. You are not going to succeed by working for someone. They will pay you just enough to keep you from leaving if you have any skills. People with high paying jobs are no better off. They usually have mountains of debt and are on treadmills to nowhere as they try to get by the same way as poor people. Sure, their toys are nicer, but they are stuck just the same.
The key to making capitalism work is to investing your excess money. It doesn't matter how small the amount. Pay yourself first. Your most important monthly bill is your savings. More important than your car payment, more important than your house payment.
The proper way to think about buying something is having enough capital earning an equivilent amount for the payment of the thing you desire. If your capital doesn't earn you enough to cover the new purchase, concentrate on increasing your capital until you can.
This simply will not happen. It's a simple matter of statistics. 99% of the American population is brainwashed from birth to be terrible with money. We are good little slaves who will throw away everything we have for a $100 pair of shoes that was made for $5 in another country.
Every part of society trains us to be idiot consumers. You can't just run around telling people to stop doing it. It's ingrained into our very psyche. It's like trying to tell someone to stop believing in God. Good luck.
Sadly, you are right.
But if my posts makes one person pause and think about it a bit, I will consider that a win.
Bonus: Sure fire way to succeed in life!
First couple of years doing this sucks pretty bad, but no worse than going to college and accumulating a huge debt and no good job anyway. If you can't save half, save what you can and work your way up to 50% as your investments start to pay off. As you become more successful at investing and you start making money, count that as income and increase your living budget accordingly. This way you will see a steady path to a higher and higher standard of living. Do this for 10 years and you can start thinking about not working for someone else.
But if you go the brainwashed way, 10 years will get you a possibly worthless college degree and maybe put a dent in your college debt, looking forward to a lifetime of drudgery work. Think people!
We might not have to worry about this much longer. The age of artificial scarcity is coming to an end. Cryptocurrency is ushering in the age of abundance and the ability for communities to directly control their currency.
I work a shit job for Amazon sorting packages. I put every last cent I make into crypto because crypto is the future.
Excellent! Crypto does seem to be a game changer. I have been buying some every month for over a year now.
I'll tell you what else, I love the positive and excited attitude everyone seems to have in the cryptoverse. It is such an interesting and fast moving field. I spend most of my time trying to keep up, lol. This is the excitement all young people should be feeling about life, not the misery that the legacy system has waiting for you.
Most of the people I meet have an interest in crypto but are scared of it. I think a huge percentage of the current population of Steemit is going to be in a unique position very soon. We will all have the opportunity to become crypto brokers for people who want to buy in but are afraid of doing something stupid.
Keep a look out for Genesis Vision. It's an ERC-20 coin that wants to do just that: decentralized transparent crypto brokerage.