OK Chicken Little.

Well, I'm glad you're not blaming this particular problem on capitalism at least!

No they don't.

Early in my career, I watched coworkers work 80 hour weeks in pursuit of that next raise, or promotion, or the IPO payoff. I decided that I didn't want those things enough to kill myself for them, so I worked normal office hours, devoting my evenings and weekends to my family instead. At work, I worked hard. At home, I pointedly did not work (for the company).

And guess what...I was promoted, and earned those pay raises, just as fast as my overworked coworkers. My boundaries didn't slow down my career one bit. And those coworkers *respected* me and my decisions, and some changed their habits as a result.

No, the "work long hours to get ahead" trope is a myth. All it actually does, is burn you out, or in your story, kill you.

Yes, I'm aware of the proverb, and I'm aware that in some cases (like yours) it's true. But most people who quote the proverb, use it to complain about their own "outsider" status, wishing they "knew" somebody. What they don't realize is that people who "know" somebody came to know people because they worked at building relationships.

Actually, discrimination based on income is *not* protected by law.

"Just add"...

We see how well current antidiscrimination law works. It bans discrimination based on race, but not based on zip code or income level.

"Just adding" personal data to the list, will work about as well. There are always proxies for the things that are off limits.

I mostly agree with you, except for your complaint about low pay and no social support. That point is specifically controlled for in the study, which you acknowledged, but then stated your opposite opinion anyway. That's unfortunate, because I know how desperately you want people to go along with your capitalism-is-evil mantra.

Your college friend isn't typical. And accounting firms don't pay junior accounts "big bucks." Salary.com says that, in NYC, they make about $72K. https://www.salary.com/tools/s...

I know right, it's a conspiracy, nan! Everything is a conspiracy!

Only once in my 37-year career, have I gotten a job because i "knew" somebody. In that one case, I knew the CEO as a friend. Worst mistake I ever made, was working for him. The pay wasn't great, and at the end, we were no longer friends.

All the rest of the times, and I've had more than 10 jobs, I got them the old fashioned way: I turned in my resume, filled out applications, went through interviews. I turned down jobs that didn't pay enough, and companies turned me down if they didn't want to pay what I was asking for.

Yes, you are right that free school lunches were a form of government assistance. But those lunches did not lift me from poverty to the upper-middle-class. I did get through college with the help of some *private* scholarships, but mostly, I worked my butt off to pay my way through. I'm not here to say that poor people don't need assistance, even from the government. What I am saying is that government assistance is not what moves the "have-nots" to the "haves."

Elon musk is about one person: Elon Musk. He is neither conservative nor liberal. He used "woke" only to rally the Republicans behind him.

I'm glad we've found something we agree on!

You are nit-picking irrelevant details. "Guy" vs. "guys" and "car alarms" vs. "theft deterrents" are not relevant. What is relevant is that as the risk goes up, people are motivated to increase their counter-measures. Electronics don't change that one bit. It's just a new battle front in the never-ending war for security.

There *is* one thing in common for every place where the "bad guys" are winning; corrupt governments. Latin America, Russia, many Asian countries. Wherever you see high crime, it's because there is high corruption...*not* high technology.

According to Salary.com, a "Junior Accountant" in NYC makes an average of $72K. https://www.salary.com/tools/s...

Ah, but yes it indeed is exclusive. You will never find conservative influencers yammering about the "ruling class" just as you'll never find liberal influencers complaining about "woke." Prove me wrong!

There's a reason for this. Liberals believe there are classes of "haves" and "have nots" and that people are stuck in those classes. By contrast, Conservatives (real conservatives, of which Trump is not one), believe that these classes are fluid and self-determined. I can personally attest. I grew up in a poor family that qualified for free school lunches as a result. I put myself through college because my parents couldn't afford *any* of my tuition or room and board. I started with nothing, and worked my way to the upper-middle class. Nobody, no government, gave it to me, I got myself there.

As for what employers want, those who don't want critical thinkers, are themselves not critical thinkers. If they were, they would know why they want critical thinkers. Your take appears to be that there is some kind of conspiracy to suppress people and keep employees subservient. I say that it's not so intentional. Employers who want subservient employees, are just dumb, nothing more, nothing less.

Pay has never been a meritocracy, at least, not directly. Like the cost of everything else, pay is a function of supply and demand. If you are a business owner, and you can get the person you're looking for for $X, you're not going to pay $X + $Y to get somebody. And if you're a person with a skill that is in demand, and you can get $X + $Y, you're probably not going to settle for $X. So pay is a negotiation between an employer and an employee, nothing more, nothing less. Merit has nothing to do with it, other than that people with more or better skills are usually harder to find, and therefore can demand more pay.

Apparently, it doesn't make as much sense as it used to.