Are poor Americans really just incompetent idiots?

Most poor people that got rich in America have done illegal stuffs. Even taxi drivers. Some of the things they are doing aren't even illegal in their home countries, but are in the USA. For example working like 20 hours a day non-stop, which is probably the norm in China but is totally illegal in America.

I watched a documentary that shows immigrants from Korea work as taxi drivers having no house. So two people would drive 1 taxi. When one is driving, the other sleeps in the trunk. In. The. Trunk! Thus they take turns working 24-hours non-stop. Obviously illegal. Law abiding citizens simply couldn't compete with them.

Most Americans are very hard working people.

But it is safe to say that most also don't have a entrepreneurial spirit.

People from other countries seem to have this in spades.

But the countries that they come from are often so corrupt and they have to bribe everyone and jump through so many hoops that they can't ever make money.

So it comes as a surprise to them when they get into a relatively clean country with a solid rule of law and nobody to bribe. They often bring that entrepreneurial spirit and become successful.

i havent read this post as im in a sick neckache
But sometimes people maybe they cant stand for more than 3 minites coz of thei neck or whatever.
But judge poor people ok

I don't think it is just the poor in America who are incompetent. The middle and upper classes tend to not be that much more intelligent/capable although they at least have the wealth to support them.

From my experience with Americans they generally tend to be very insular in terms of their knowledge of the world and also struggle with thinking "out of the box" you really have to spell things out to them most of the time.

That probably contributes to their lack of success in some respect. I also think the political system likes to keep some of them poor and I guess if you grow up in that culture you learn to accept your station in life perhaps, whereas a newcomer has taken the huge leap of leaving their homeland and will give it all it takes to succeed as well as having the advantage of not being raised in said culture.

The American education system is also expensive and not very good so it makes sense that someone from a country where education is cheaper/free could move to the USA and even if they had to start with a dead end job would be able to build on it better than an American born person.

Things aren't that simple, what about depression, social anxiety and other disorders.

And it might be difficult to understand for someone like you but a lot of people don't care that much about getting rich.

The streets over here are paved with gold.

of course that's not true.

there are lots and lots of reasons for why a person's life goes the way it does, and a lot of them are things they have no control over. you don't control your parents and the school you were sent to and the people you grew up with and whether you grew up in a poor or rich neighborhood.

and you don't control your iq, your personality, whether you're meek or outgoing, calm or impulsive, all kinds of things. you can try to change and improve, but the reality is that the person you are is mostly the person you're going to be, and it's not a given that you can change any of those things.

it's definitely the case that immigrants often do much better than native born populations very quickly. when you compare immigrants from nigerian and the west indies to native born black populations, you'll see that they do better over generations, for example. that's not a completely fair comparison, of course, because immigrants by their very nature are often some of the most ambitious, driven people - it's not a small thing to upend your life and move to a completely different part of the world, and that is reflected in their outcomes.

none of which is to say that people should be fatalistic and give up and accept their life and not try at anything. simply that you have to understand that everyone has a different story and reason for the person they are.

i definitely have my opinions on what we ought to be doing to improve the lives of poor people. personally, i think most of the anger we've seen in the last few months is grievously misdirected at the police. i think the areas to place your rage are the public schools that are so rigid and have given poor people an absolutely atrocious education and the labour rules and other regulations that work to keep so many disadvantaged people out of the work force in their youth.

i still think the us and other developed nations are the greatest places ever to exist. if you were to choose the best place for any individual to live in history, it would surely be right here right now.

but i am worried about the possible directions we could take in the next few years that could really reverse the incredible economic gains that have been made in the last 30-40 years, for the us and the world.

I'm a poor american idiot. I have never figured out the knack for how to get ahead in life. I don't have a hustling mindset, i've never grasped how to flip things for profits, move ahead in life and climb that ladder. I have no social skills, don't create connections with people, and never have the resources to seize opportunity even when it presents itself. I never figured out how to trade favors for favors and keep the turtle shell moving. I suck at life. I have a buddy who got out of jail with nothing and within three years he was running his own company. Cause the dude is charismatic as hell and people just liked dealing with him. Good smile and a good story will take you anywhere in life. Look at that Mr. Pillow asshole.