Yes, wisdom and good decisions can get you pretty far in life on occasion but that isn’t the whole story or even most of it.
Yes, it is almost entirely is.
- get at least a high school degree
- get a full-time job
- get married before having children
97% of young people who follow all three steps are not poor as adults
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2d ago
the difference between political action/messaging vs actionable individual advice. Personal advice and policy prescriptions are frequently at odds with one another. Often, where you should be fighting tooth and nail in the political arena to reject intolerable conditions, you should simultaneously as an individual resign yourself to reality as it currently exists and more or less just get on with it as best you can. There may be political conditions in which it’s just literally impossible for this or that group to get ahead, but that’s not true of any group in the United States of America in 2025, whatever real challenges exist.
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2d ago
Are the men of the UK the most absolutely cucked human beings to ever exist on planet earth ever in the history of time? Is there another time in history where this would have even been remotely tolerated? You allowed a foreign rape-brigade to rape an entire generation of your children, and the response has been essentially nothing.
I guess I'll jump on this one as well. In the US if one is selective one could get away with horrible things against underclass girls on any given day. If most of the males she knows are junkies they're probably willing to sell her, or abuse her themselves. But rapists - any large group of criminals - are not known for low time preferences and careful planning at scale, nor at scale do you completely avoid girls who only marginally underclass with non-underclass connections. It does seem like you will eventually run into a beloved niece of a hard ass willing to do something.
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9d ago
Build a social circle helps a lot. Tried and true way is to join a stable or growing church, be involved, go to Sunday school. Can find ways to do it secularly, building a high quality social circle is basically a part time job (and can happen through a job). Marry a person with a strong family/social circle.
It can take some time but it builds inertia and can build generational inertia.
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10d ago
I bought a house in 2016, thinking there was a 50% chance I'd be under water in it.
It's something that seems not uncommon in tense, high-stress police interactions. Multiple cops screaming unintelligible and contradictory orders at people. Midwits screaming at individuals with room-temperature IQs. While screaming in tense situations is common, I think it also comes from police "verbal judo" training; which was even discussed in the Chauvin trial. I’m sure being in control is central, but I bet “being authoritative” is a big part of it, and for midwit cops that just turns into yelling.
Shaver taught me that in the unlikely event I get in a situation where I'm being screamed at by multiple cops I'm just gonna kneel with my hands on my head and let them do the rest of the work. They'll probably throw my face into the ground, maybe break my arm, but better than playing death Simon says until they shoot me.
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17d ago
I'm not as black pilled as you, but it is why I will probably never be "super optimistic".
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18d ago
The economic distortions and perverse incentives that statism creates - especially those seen in Argentina for decades - take a long time to unwind and will make many people's lives worse in the medium term. Even if Milei manages to stay ahead of entrenched interests, a recession that is bound to occur regardless could derail everything in an election.
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18d ago
Some Irresponsible Speculation
The The New York Times articles has some less irresponsible speculation and is how I would hedge I had the resources.
Mr. Thiel, who has a history of collecting backup countries as he hedges his bets against the United States, is considering making Argentina another Plan B, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Born in Germany and raised in the United States, he received citizenship in New Zealand in 2011, and applied for a passport in Malta in 2022.
I'm not super optimistic on Milei long term but, if I had the disposable income it's a bet with a lot of payoff.
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28d ago
In my area it's companies with dozens of venues a week. Questions are provided to the hosts, it's a side gig the hosts do do one or a few times a week in the evenings for a few hours.
@The_Nybbler beating me by five minutes.
Motte and Bailey... "Nobody means literally abolish the police!"
It's a lack of "healthy and affordable foods"
USDA: Mapping Food Deserts in the United States
ERS's Food Desert Locator is based on a definition developed by USDA, Treasury, and HHS. Low-income census tracts with a substantial number or share of residents with low levels of access to retail outlets selling healthy and affordable foods are defined as food deserts. A census tract is a small, relatively permanent subdivision of a county that usually contains between 1,000 and 8,000 people but generally averages around 4,000 people. Census tracts qualify as food deserts if they meet low-income and low-access thresholds:
- Low-income: a poverty rate of 20 percent or greater, or a median family income at or below 80 percent of the statewide or metropolitan area median family income;
- Low-access: at least 500 persons and/or at least 33 percent of the population lives more than 1 mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (10 miles, in the case of rural census tracts).
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29d ago
At the quantity of kids that 30 somethings are having it seems plausible. One kid per parent is manageable, or it can be an evening to get away from the kids. I never want to predict the future lest I get bit in the ass but I take my toddler out. It's not everything it was before he started coming out with me but I just get to hang out with other parents as our kids interact. Or one parent takes a few kids and you trade off.
There's also the ultimate third space of Church where if they at all want to grow will have child management.
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29d ago
I want to second this. It's why I chose trivia, but trivia is just an excuse. I don't care if we answer a single question. It's mean to be a super low commitment reason to hang out. Granted it does help that we are one of the best teams in the area... winning is fun. But we do have regulars who almost never answer a single question.
Also if you do want to take it to the next level and create a friend group that does require some effort and sacrifice. But it's worth it, just don't expect everyone to contribute the same amount.
For third spaces I think it's primarily lack of incentives for third space creation and maintenance, and the lack of incentives stems from wealth. Food deserts are probably more what I suspect you're darkly hinting at, but I also put wealth in a big part of that, society being wealthy and providing ample welfare.
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29d ago
I'm an older millennial so I don't get the full experience of the kids these days, but the weekly trivia night I go to has a great ratio of younger adults, so does the church I attend.
As you noted I suspect the people complaining are lazy and also have a propensity to be weirdos who other's don't want to be around.
Third spaces and food desert are similar. Third spaces don't exist, and healthy food is lacking because people don't want them.
What about an an autonomous AI advantage? Ukraine getting some western tech that's allowing independent identification and targeting of designated targets?
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1mo ago
Reading Morning Star.
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1mo ago
I guess this was quite awhile ago when a circle of friends were geneticists and a physicians assistant cohort. The with out a doubt best looking guy - only seen him with 6' D1 volley ball players - body count was 4. The - slightly pudgy normal looking guy - was at 28; also the guy who'd slept with a drunk much younger subordinate and would make low key passes at people's wives.
None of that contradicts that wisdom and good decisions gets almost everyone in the US pretty far in life.
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