Posted on 03/04/2020 8:00:14 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Most Americans don’t believe people are rich because they work harder than other people or poor because they don’t work hard enough, according to a new study published by the Pew Research Center.
In the results of a poll released Monday, some 65% of U.S. adults said people are rich because they had more advantages in life than others, while only 33% said it’s because they work harder than others.
When it comes to the question of why people are poor, some 71% of respondents attributed it to having to face more obstacles in life. Only 26 percent of respondents in the poll conducted Jan. 6-19 among 12,638 U.S. adults who are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel, said people are poor because they don’t work hard enough.
And people’s views of the determinants of wealth from this recent poll appear to align with other recent studies that show how income inequality and other factors such as being raised in poverty has contributed to a stifling of the American dream and upward mobility for a share of the population.
The Census Bureau found that 38.1 million people in 2018 were poor, which is 1.4 million fewer poor people than in 2017. This means about one in eight Americans still live below the poverty line — $25,465 for a family with two adults and two children.
In a recent interview explaining why working hard is simply no longer enough for many to achieve the American dream, Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity Insights at Harvard University, pointed to some of his team’s research.
“Back in the 1940s and 1950s, virtually all kids in America would grow up to have a higher standard of living than their parents did. So for children born in 1940, for example, 90 percent of them went on to have a higher standard of living than their parents. And if you look at kids who were born in the 1980s, who are turning 30 today, when we’re measuring their incomes that number is down to 50 percent,” he said.
“It’s a 50-50 shot as to whether you’re going to achieve the American dream of moving up. And so, that fading of the American dream, you know, I think is of tremendous concern from an economic perspective, socially, politically, and there are a variety of factors that I think play into what’s driving that trend.
"But at a macroeconomic level, a lot of it has to do with the fact that wage rates and incomes for people in the middle of the income distribution basically haven’t gone up over the past 30 years, so most of the economic growth that’s occurred in America has gone to the very, very top of the income distribution,” he said.
The poll data from the Pew study show that respondents were deeply divided along partisan lines.
Some 82% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said advantages in life have more to do with why someone is rich, while 86% of this group said having faced more obstacles has more to do with why someone is poor.
Just over half of Republicans and Republican leaning respondents, however, said hard work has more to do with why a person is rich, while 45% said it is because they have more advantages.
Some 55 percent of this group said people are poor because they face more obstacles while 42% said it’s because they didn’t work hard enough.
Most Americans don’t believe people are rich because they work harder than other people or poor because they don’t work hard enough, according to a new study published by the Pew Research Center.
We tend to manage the past not the present in our minds. When most of us grew up there was much opportunity and freedom. I could be an electrician to work my way through college, just by my interest in working, now you have to be certified and monitored for almost every job.
We might say to the homeless, “go get a job.” But it is not that easy with all the regulations and govt making us employees rather than employers. I have some rental property but can’t hire anyone because the risk and regulations.
The sad fact is we are more socialist than we want to admit. So the statement is more true than not, but there are exemptions.
Where are the fathers?
I was just pointing out that the guy I knew probably didn’t change his ways and was still pissing away his money ten year later.
Pew - deeply committed leftist group
That’s because the sad fact is that in 2020 people are often rich because they had the right connections, knew how to grift successfully, were able to lobby some level of government into tilting the playing field in their direction, or achieved their Masters Degree in rent seeking.
Capitalism only survives so long as the public perceives it to be fair. That is becoming an increasingly difficult case to make. Socialism here we come.
They have learned that from Hollywood. The movie Titanic comes to mind.
It’s a fad degree and exists to capture tuition from poorly informed students and parents. Environmental Science borrows from biology, chemistry, geology & physics but not enough to give you any actual expertise in these areas. Its a very watered down degree.
If you must tackle the environment do it in graduate school. You will have enough of a background to do more then wave your hands,
Rule-of-thumb for parents & college students:
Note this advice is for STEM students. Its the only advice I feel comfortable giving. Also I am going to comment on BS in science degrees only.
1. Avoid multidisciplinary degrees at the undergraduate level. Get a firm foundation in standard\traditional undergraduate STEM discipline.
2. The harder effort it takes in getting the degree usually means its the best long term economic value for you. (Not always true, person dependent, but its the way too bet!)
3. If your school allows minors (most do!) do it! Some minors are natural partners with your major. Examples math & physics, physics and math, computer science & math(or statistics), biology & chemistry. Even if you go no further then the BS it makes your BS more valuable! (Business & accounting might also be good choices also!) It’s also a way to satisfy that “hobby degree” urge!
4. If you can dual major, do it! There are several ways to look at why you would do this. If you plan to go to graduate school it makes you application more attractive and could give you a leg up in future grad courses. If you’re going to stay in science & engineering. The ones that have natural affinities to each other are the best to do. If you plan to go no further then the BS then a 2nd major in business is a very smart thing to do. And if that “hobby degree” interest is really hard to satisfy then do it here. Then you’ll at least have a “skill” fall back on when you find out that no one other then you cares about “-something-” studies.
A few comments regarding STEM. (IMO)
Not all STEM degrees are equal. In order of economic value least to best, the STEM degree standing alone: biology, chemistry, geology, math, CS & physics. However as I pointed out above combining them via minors & dual majors ups their value & your value considerably. Again the harder it is to obtain something the fewer people there are doing it usually the more valuable it is! Its a a rule-of-thumb that’s kind of true!
I remember reading somewhere in the past, that there was a pretty high correlation between IQ and income level. This makes sense to me in that the smarter someone is, the more likely they may be to see opportunities where others don’t.
I think that I also read that IQ/Income level correlation was independent of educational level as well.
That's what I got out of your post...
Among people I know, people are rich when they haven’t spent all their money and borrowed on their credit cards to live a lavish lifestyle they can’t afford, and poor if they went on cruises every year and expected the government would take care of their retirement.
. . . so the reality is that the people who become rich think they have to become rich.Likewise the people who stay in the bottom of the heap do not feel driven to become rich.
A great percentage of wealthy people do not stand out to most people.
They work steadily and smartly. They live, dress and act modestly. They save and invest wisely. They raise families with unspoiled children. They are generous to charity and church. They look and act like typical middle-aged people. And they’re millionaires.
Most rich people got that way the old fashioned way, by being born. However, when someone gets fabulously rich from some new business idea (whether it's their idea or not) they're more likely to manage their wealth more intelligently and durably (and set up foundations and charities etc) is often different from nitwit athletes who hit it big right out of college and have all or most of their peak earning years before age 30, and have few other skills.
One difference between rich and poor is, the rich generally regard supporting their families as their job, and the poor regard it as someone else's.
All of those...and taking a risk now and then.
Really life I believe is a combination of both. I mean seriously to be a Hollywood actor IS like winning a lottery. Same with sports stars. Our society awards sport stars with riches beyond imagination. In both cases luck was a huge factor.
And some people end up poor because of really bad circumstances. They get laid off, and have no family supports and end up in bread lines.
CEOs get paid huge bonus after leaving companies they just destroyed or partly destroyed.
With that said, many are poor because of drug habits and frankly a lack of desire to work. If a person with no legs can work at as greeter at Walmart there is no reason a healthy 25 year old man can’t get off his ass and get a job.
Many of these welfare bums end up as ANTIFA thugs. So the taxpayer is financing their terrorism.
And we have real wealth creators like Bezos, Carnegie, Ford, Gates, ect….
Jamie Dimon might be one of them?
The book “The Millionaire next door” makes that point.
Also, I’ve heard statistically, those who 1) finish high school, 2) marry before having a child, and 3) marry after the age of 20 are overwhelmingly less likely to be poor. Only 8 percent of families who do all three are poor. However, 79 percent of those who fail to do all three are poor.
I am not sure they think they have to become rich.
I think they just believe in something enough, to risk a great deal. This might include actual work, time, money, sometimes relationships. But their overall goal may not have been to become rich; it may have been to realize a dream, unrelated to money.
JMHO
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