Posted on Mar 30, 2023
“Bootstrapped”: Alissa Quart on Liberating Ourselves from the Myth of the American Dream
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"We speak with journalist Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, about her new book, Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, which examines myths about individualism and self-reliance that underpin the U.S. economy and the inequality it fosters. She says a focus on succeeding through hard work obscures the degree to which many rich and powerful people have benefited from social support, resulting in a cycle of “shame and blame” for those who fall short"
“Bootstrapped”: Alissa Quart on Liberating Ourselves from the Myth of the American Dream
Posted from democracynow.org
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Economics
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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It would sometimes seem that Scamming the system is the way to get ahead, that's so sad. It used to be work ethic, attitude and the ability to find a product or service that would be in demand.
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PO3 Justin Bowen
It would seem that way because you're apparently under the belief that the system isn't rigged against the poor and middle class in ways that have resulted in them being priced out of the benefits that people enjoyed decades and decades ago, all in the name of the sham supply-side economics.
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MSgt Dale Johnson
PO3 Justin Bowen - I worked my behind off to get what I have and now enjoy, I didn't then and do not now expect anyone to GIVE me anything. Its called Earn you Way.
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The poor, too, can be self reliant individuals. While other may attempt to shame them, shame is a personal feeling which the poor don't necessarily need to take on. I offer up these observations based on relatives. They are proud of what they have and do not bemoan what they don't have.
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We can look around and see how personal choices effect us and our progeny. This isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. I remember when I got out of anesthesia school. I was a professional, my wife was a professional and we struggled. Why wasn’t I a yuppie? Only 2% of the population were yuppies, yet that was what was hyped. I could have accumulated debt to live a more luxurious life, I didn’t. I am now comfortable. I drove a truck for about 10 years my kids didn’t want to be seen in. Lived in more modest home. Did buy our first home until I was in my mid 30’s. People in bad situations often continue down that road. Damon Johns started FUBU with basically nothing. Ben Carson grew up very poor but his mother cared. Now, in order to justify poverty logic, math etc are racist.
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PO3 Justin Bowen
I can't tell if this is a poor attempt at humor, a product of an education system in the 1960s to 1970s that produced college grads that are incapable if doing basic math and coming up with an explanation for why things have changed over the last half century and more, or a hilarious example of yet another person from your generation who is incapable of or unwilling to use Google or any other search engine to find the basic facts about the differences between college tuition in the 1970s versus college tuition today relative to income.
Here's a basic fact for you: you could pay for a full year of tuition at full-time at a 4-year university with just 5 hours - F.I.V.E. - per WEEK of work at minimum wage job in 1970.
In between then and 2020, that number ballooned to 28 hours per week (on top of a full course load),to say nothing of living expenses and costs of travel to and from a place of employment, if one could be had.
Again, please let us all know which of the three aforementioned explanations explains your ridiculous comment. I'm dying to know as your generation makes this preposterous argument over and over again despite all of the facts proving that your bootstrapping argument is nonsense.
Here's a basic fact for you: you could pay for a full year of tuition at full-time at a 4-year university with just 5 hours - F.I.V.E. - per WEEK of work at minimum wage job in 1970.
In between then and 2020, that number ballooned to 28 hours per week (on top of a full course load),to say nothing of living expenses and costs of travel to and from a place of employment, if one could be had.
Again, please let us all know which of the three aforementioned explanations explains your ridiculous comment. I'm dying to know as your generation makes this preposterous argument over and over again despite all of the facts proving that your bootstrapping argument is nonsense.
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PO3 Justin Bowen
And by the way, one of the biggest reasons for the spike in out-of-pocket costs? The dramatic cuts in public funding of universities (more than 50%) that paid for the bulk of the costs - cuts pushed by your generation.
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