Posted on 03/13/2013 12:37:05 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 27% of American Adults now say it is possible for anyone in the country to work hard and get rich, generally unchanged since late 2012.
Fifty-nine percent (59%), though, say that is no longer possible, up from 55% in late January and the highest level of pessimism in over four years of surveying. …
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Read “The Millionaire Next Door.” It is possible, but you have to have control over your paycheck (and the books, too, I’ll wager.) You can’t do it working for wages, even high wages. But you can if you’re the boss.
The current tax and regulatory environments are designed to prevent it.
Socialism kills. Both people and economies.
After being beat over the head with the continuing Obama recession, this isn’t surprising.
It’s no longer possible to work hard and GET BY!
Income taxes, INTENTIONALLY, are the biggest barrier to attaining wealth.
The problem is the younger generation has no concept of “hard work”, they considers just bothering to show up for work on time and filling a seat for a full eight hours “hard” work. (and don’t even ask them to work overtime or on weekends, that’s sweat shop abuse...)
I think it can still be done, but it just takes longer. If you leave your children in a better financial positon than what you had, mission accomplished.
I used to run a convenience store, and I swear that if I asked any young employees to do anything more than breath, they`d quite.
Anyone? No. Liberals cannot work hard and get rich. Any reasonably intelligent conservative can work hard and get rich. They just have to work twice as hard as they used to because we are supporting twice as many parasites.
The cost vs. benefit of becoming wealthy through one’s efforts has skewed quite a bit in recent times.
Did they call anyone on their Obama Phone?
The big-government/big-corporate criminal complex does not tolerate competition.
As much as the liberals knock crony capitalism, this is crony capitalism writ large and boldface.
Crony capitalism is not capitalism.
The wealth in the US is centered around government now, primarily Wash DC.
I’ve told several college kids they need to strongly consider that in their career path.
When I was that age, companies like GM, IBM, US Steel, GE were paths to upper level prosperity.
Now it’s government agency jobs and the private sector outfits that are symbiotic with them.
Not sure I’d want to have “former government employee” in my “resume” after the collapse...
Becoming a millionaire is simple really.
Become a US politician. Insider trading, bribes, sweetheart deals,...you name it.
Ask the guy who invented facebook. Or google. Or yahoo. Or...
Yet they stupidly voted for the fake.
They will pay in the long run.
If that’s your view of the future, then of course some other path should be taken.
I think one of those might be working for all the upscale medical clinics that will migrate to the Caribbean to service wealthy Americans seeking to avoid Obamacare and chaos.
“I used to run a convenience store, and I swear that if I asked any young employees to do anything more than breath, they`d quite.”
If my kids ever get that way it would be a failure on me. They both are High School students and work and they love making a paycheck and they love doing their jobs...ain’t no free rides in my house. :)
Hard work isn’t enough.
One can be the hardest working house cleaner in the world and never get wealthy.
One has to do something that people are willing to pay riches for. If you start a house cleaner business it is possible to get wealthy - but not just working as a house cleaner.
Read an interesting remark about Michael Jordan and his wealth. People are willing to pay basketball players millions and he was a man of singular ability, drive and work ethic. But nobody was willing to pay him much as a baseball player - his work ethic didn’t pay off. Now he is a Basketball coach and his work ethic isn’t translating into winning seasons for his team.
Work ethic is just one ingredient. A profession where high rewards are available is another. Natural talent is another.
No doubt they’re giving back to the fake for letting them be rich.
You will be politically attacked and taxed to well past death.
Who is John Galt?
I’m reminded more and more of Eastern Europe
Maybe 59% don’t know how to do anything. What’s the current aggregate percentage on SS, unemployment, welfare and ‘disability’ again?
SnakeDoc
“I got mine” laws.
once rich, close the door behind you. (and then lock it, bolt it, and nail it shut)
“59% Say It’s No Longer Possible To Work Hard and Get Rich in U.S.”
Music to the Community Organizer’s ears.
It used to be an old joke among race-car drivers. How do you make a million bucks racing? Start with two million bucks. The same thing now applies to the country as a whole.
You can’t just work hard, though hard work alone can keep you fed and clothed. To get wealthy requires hard work, intelligence, and willingness to take risk.
Most are sooooo screwed. Hard work is foreign to their being.
The other 41% don’t realize it yet.
Remember her heinous Hillary saying she couldn't worry about every undercapitalized business in the US - as she was about to try and inflict some disgusting rules on her subjects?
I can't believe how this country has changed and so quickly. We are all now wards of the state....taxpaying entities diced up into special interest groups and catered to or trashed depending on how we are perceived to vote.
And meanwhile those living in or near D.C. get richer and richer not to mention more arrogant.
Which is exactly how the Left wants it.
If you are rich you must have done it by ripping off widows and orphans or “winning life’s lottery”, since we all know it’s impossible to get there with hard work.
From there it’s a short step down to electing mobs of looters to “set things right”.
The 59% includes 100% of Romney’s infamous 47%. Well, possibly excluding the majority of retired working folks who should’ve never been included in the 47% to begin with.
Get rich?? This is hilarious...
In today's America, one can barely survive working your butt off with two, his and her incomes, as prices just continue to inch up, while wages have been stagnant for 12 years, benefits reduced or just outright eliminated..
In fact, most in the private sector are screwed as they're wages and benefits will never keep up with the cost of actual living, declining dollar, costs of mortgages, rents, food, medical expenses, etc, etc.
In fact, multi-generational living is growing by leaps and bounds in the U.S. now...
Meh, it could be that, some at least, know exactly what hard work is, but they have discovered that there is no additional reward for it nowadays. Why work overtime when your boss is going to forego even a cost of living raise again next year and say “it’s the economy”? That’s not a hard worker, that’s a sucker.
Welcome to globalism’s collectivism where the banksters and global CEO’s have total control over the government and economy. They are squeezing out small business in the US.
When I started my first real job I made sure to come in first, work more hours than anyone and strive for perfection in my work. Managers would fight over having me on their projects.
Then I got the same raise as anyone above average. My boss said it’s to prevent jealousy within the team and upper management looks down upon any raises far above average. I later learned it was almost impossible to be promoted due to the same issues. After that I only worked just slightly harder than my closest competition. Why bother?
Also remember that back then it was possible to be upper-middle class and save a good amount for retirement with an average white-collar job. I bought my first home at 23 (in NYC!). Today we have kids working their a**es off doing the same thing I did who can’t even afford the smallest home due to sky-high expenses. Sometimes even with two incomes. Eventually they’ll realize “Why bother working your a** off for a small apartment and crappy food when the government will give it to you for free?”
Really, do we believe that ‘just about anyone in the country’ (as the question is worded) can work hard and get rich in the US? How many of us think that those with an IQ in the bottom quartile will manage that? The next quartile up?
I would say that anyone who works hard, is resourceful, and makes that his or her goal has a chance, but certainly no guarantee, to get rich.
Still, I think there’s good reason for Americans to have become more pessimistic about said chances, and after all the doom and gloom questions that Rasmussen asked before getting to this one, it’s not surprise that the response is as doomy and gloomy as it is.
This is great news for liberals. Most here will blame liberals and crony capitalism, but the fact is liberals will reap the rewards! Their entire platform is based on taking from the rich. If people don’t believe it is possible to work hard to become rich, then they are more likely to believe that the rich cheated and stole to get rich.
Obama’s Marxism.
End of story.
That seems about right. Less than than 40% of working age Americans have a full time job...
Yes, I came to that realization a long time ago. I had a decent salaried job, no wife and kids, so my expenses were minimal, no debt, and was getting my apartment for about half price, but still, on my income, buying even a small home was next to impossible. If I saved for 10 years so I could make a 50% downpayment, I could do it, but otherwise, forget it.
So, not only is there not much motivation from the jobs nowadays to work hard, there is not even much of a goal to shoot for if you want to work hard. I could move to another area where homes are cheaper and buy one pretty much outright at this point, but that would mean giving up a steady job for no certainty of a paycheck, so that doesn’t work for someone far from retirement age.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.