Asked by FykalJpn yesterday.

The easiest answer is that stupid people do not have the brains to make money. There are obvious exceptions to this rule. Second, is the argument that poor people do not have the money to afford a proper education. This only raises questions about the nations public education system. Also, ignorance =/= stupidity.


Discuss.

6/19/2008 8:27:36 AM

cant it be both?

6/19/2008 8:28:09 AM

^Yes, i think that it is some combination of the two. But what do you think is the more influential of the two.

6/19/2008 8:30:31 AM

Not only do stupid people not have the brains to make money, they also don't have the brains to keep themselves from losing money. If I'm not mistaken they're usually the targets for (and victims of) scams.

6/19/2008 8:31:03 AM

the elderly is the most targeted group for scammers

6/19/2008 8:36:00 AM

^^ they don't even have to get scammed. they usually fuck it away on purpose.

6/19/2008 8:40:05 AM

poorer people just make bad investments most of the time because it sounds good, and it even could be legit, but its just with the wrong person. people with money don't have to rush, and can shop around for investments that most likely work, and they have money to sue.

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 8:42 AM. Reason : asdf]

6/19/2008 8:42:06 AM

Ah, another thread bashing poor people.

Racists.

6/19/2008 8:43:43 AM

well i've known some stupid rich people and brilliant poor people. Your lot in life has a lot to do with circumstance.

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 8:44 AM. Reason : haha none]

6/19/2008 8:43:59 AM

its all relative. i am not bashing poor people, i am actually defending them, saying its other motifs of why they get screwed, other than being 'stupid'

6/19/2008 8:45:53 AM

My great grandfather was an attorney in Cuba and when my family immigrated to the US he worked as a bus boy. This is a case of circumstance.

On the other hand, my family of immigrants has come pretty far. I have a cousin with a PhD in Robotics and works for NASA. Another cousin who writes software for the military. An uncle who is a PE and makes crazy money. So on and so forth...

This is the beauty of the US. You can go from being poor and with hard work you can get as far as you want.

6/19/2008 8:50:59 AM

i think it doesn't help that recently in the US social mobility has been deteriorating

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/class/index.html

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=E1_QDVVGDS

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3518560

6/19/2008 8:51:21 AM

come on now, we all know they're "oppressed".

6/19/2008 8:57:04 AM

Quote :

"Your lot in life has a lot to do with circumstance. "

Thats a victim mentality. Your lot in life has MORE to do with your choices. Make tons of bad choices? youll usually end up with a shitty life.

You control your life. Not chance

6/19/2008 9:19:42 AM

but if they are not poor, how will you be rich?

6/19/2008 9:22:20 AM

Quote :

"This is the beauty of the US. You can go from being poor and with hard work you can get as far as you want."

it's really no longer true to say that the US is unique in that respect

recent social mobility research has shown that people are roughly equally mobile in the US and UK and people are more socially mobile in Scandinavian states like Denmark

6/19/2008 9:25:12 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/class/index.html

lol, in the graphic thing the middle quintile thing goes to just about every quintile equally.

This means that most people on TWW have/had every chance to be anything from the poorest to the filthy rich.

Isn't it nice to know that the American dream works for a certain group of people?

6/19/2008 9:26:09 AM

Quote :

"poorer people just make bad investments most of the time because it sounds good, and it even could be legit, but its just with the wrong person. people with money don't have to rush, and can shop around for investments that most likely work, and they have money to sue. "

snake oil salesmen aren't what keep poor people down for the most part. it's dumbshit financial decisions that they make.

We, as a society, have bought into this idea that certain luxuries are necessities. If you don't make a lot of money, maybe you should be driving a $4000 car instead of a $20k+ car. Maybe you shouldn't have the latest, slickest cell phone. Maybe you shouldn't have cable, or at least not more than the very basic package that few people get. Maybe you shouldn't go out to eat all the time. Maybe you shouldn't wear $50-100 sunglasses. Maybe you shouldn't run up expensive bar tabs. Maybe you don't need an iPod or mp3 player, or a laptop, or a flat screen TV.

Poor people stay poor because they spend all of their fucking money and don't save or invest shit. They think in terms of monthly payments rather than actual cost, or better yet, opportunity cost (i.e., if I don't spent this $100 today, it will be worth $1000 for me down the road).

6/19/2008 11:05:51 AM

Quote :

"The easiest answer is that stupid people do not have the brains to make money. "

Another easy statement is that "stupid" people do not have the "brain" to manage their money. I met quite a few people who made 6 digits but couldn't afford a $20K dodge charger... They may be making more money than me, but they sure as hell couldn't show for it. Its like, wtf... I know people who live more comfortably than them and make less than half as much.

6/19/2008 12:02:50 PM

^^ hahaha are you mad or something?

6/19/2008 12:06:41 PM

Please read "A framework for understanding poverty" by Ruby K. Payne. It addresses a lot of the "stupidity" problems associated with poverty (poor problem solving, decision making) as well as generational factors that tend to keep poor families poor.

6/19/2008 12:09:18 PM

It's a combination of factors and choices.

If I had to choose one thing I'd say laziness has more to do with it than stupidity. Then again, I really don't think you can just point to one thing and say "Here's why they are poor."

Sometimes it's the sacrifice they choose to make. I know plenty of people who focus their energy on their music or art which is effectively choosing to be poor during that period of their life. They're not stupid and they're not lazy. It's hard to get ahead when you don't go to school, you work crappy jobs, and you quit your job a couple of times per year to tour for a month or two. I can respect their choice even though it's not for me. And eventually most of them will either make it with their art or they will move on to the working world like the rest of us.

Some people just make the choice not to do anything about it. Plenty of people are fine as long as they have food in their stomachs and free time to spend with their friends/family. I can respect that as well.

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 12:18 PM. Reason : l]

6/19/2008 12:17:27 PM

some people are poor because they're stupid, others are stupid because they're poor. what applies to one doesn't have to apply to another.

6/19/2008 12:34:26 PM

you dont have to be smart to be rich. you can be good-looking or promiscuous and, in our society, those can get you very far. *sigh*

6/19/2008 12:34:26 PM

i have a hard time seeing how lack of money could make someone stupid

6/19/2008 12:35:48 PM

^ i can see lack of education... not stupid

6/19/2008 12:40:27 PM

^^^^^yeah, that's a different deal.

^^^^^^^ not really, just offering a suggestion for how to stop fucking it away. It's not rocket surgery, but some people just can't seem to figure it out.

the only thing that pisses me off is when they want other people to pay more in taxes and more for entitlement programs. then i scratch my head and think "wait, I don't own a TV. I have the basic cell phone that's free with a plan. My sunglasses were $25, and that's the most I've spent on a pair in years. My vehicle was $2900."

I can't afford the lifestyle that many people live on 1/2 of my income or less...I don't really give a shit about those people's sob stories.


***i will surely end up with a nice car again in the next year or so, but the point remains that i live within my means and save for the future.

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 12:42 PM. Reason : asfd]

6/19/2008 12:41:28 PM

Quote :

"It's not rocket surgery, but some people just can't seem to figure it out."

yeah i feel you tho. i am a cheap bastard at times, but i feel like as long as i have the money, i have it!

6/19/2008 12:43:40 PM

Quote :

"You control your life. Not chance"

Chance is not the same thing as circumstance.

6/19/2008 12:51:57 PM

Quote :

""It's not rocket surgery, but some people just can't seem to figure it out." yeah i feel you tho. i am a cheap bastard at times, but i feel like as long as i have the money, i have it!"

WTF is "rocket surgery"?

6/19/2008 12:52:22 PM

*rocket science..? maybe..?

6/19/2008 12:54:05 PM

I'm surprised no one has brought up people having kids they can't afford. It's a huge problem especially when a teenager has to put off college to feed her kids. And not using birth control/condoms qualifies as a stupid choice.

6/19/2008 12:55:34 PM

^^, ^^^jesus, i feel like i'm reading youtube comments.


it's a funny saying derived from combining "rocket science" and "brain surgery".


^ yeah, there are some people that just make me go:



I mean, you bone down constantly without (or with very haphazard) use of contraceptives, and lo and behold, you end up with a kid on the way. Amazing shit, I tell ya.

That said, the Pill/Patch is not the magic bullet that some people think. I know of too many instances of it failing. Now, if you're really diligent about using it properly, and back it up with condoms, then yeah...the odds of all that failing are pretty slim.

...but still, my daughter's mother was on the Patch, and we used condoms all but one time. I think she'd been on some antibiotics or something...maybe that interfered with the Patch? Who knows.

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 1:02 PM. Reason : asdfads]

6/19/2008 12:57:05 PM

On a side note I found this interesting.

Quote :

"As black comedian Wanda Sykes puts it: "I'm worried because if he (Obama) wins, black people are going to have to come up with another excuse. You can't blame the Man when you are the Man."

6/19/2008 5:58:49 PM