Europe vs. America

True, it’s merely descending rapidly.

The difference is the more and more unsympathetic, stratified, and competitive society that has come about over the last few decades.

There are so many little variables that add up, but the biggest one i think is this real revulsion at the culture of excess and mass consumerism that is so apparent. I mean its hilarious how i can get panhandled by a homeless bum in dirty cheap clothes whose protunding belly contains most of his 250+ pounds, and be aquainted with high level corporate executives whom weigh 145, play par golf, run six miles a day, and are rated tennis players. Almost everyone my age from my hometown has gotten stuck in post-graduate ruts without real job prospects, still live off daddy’s money, and still party down every day.

Than you compare this to illegal mexicans whom are completely willing to work dirty thankless jobs at less than minimum wage for 12+ hours a day. A regional comedian commented on this sentiment; “The illegal Mexican is a great American.”

Than add all the other ingredients to the brew, like the Millionaire Myth if i may coin a phrase - the inverse of which explains why those on the bottom deserve to fail, and the conservative’s favorite straw man the Welfare State. There is this lingering Puritanical sentiment that if your on the bottom rung of the ladder, and your not working 16 hours a day to get ahead, you don’t deserve to get ahead.

I don’t think it should be about getting ahead, or wage gaps, or anything else relative. I really think poverty should be considered on an absolute scale. Can you afford food? Rent? A car? We have a lot to worry about, but it should be kept in a more immediate perspective, I think.