The American system is failing 99% of the people who live there. The levels of poverty in the USA is appalling. As is our country.
The great lie of capitalism is that to succeed all you have to do is work hard. And sure, for some, hard work does result in success. For the majority it doesn’t.
It’s a Ponzi. The only way it’s sustained is because enough people get through the net to tell the ‘look at me - I worked hard’ story and perpetuate the myth.
So about the £30k PA for working a 60 hour week? Is that a ponzi or just a fact to be ignored? It’s not a particularly qualified job either. Simply, work and get paid. Work longer and harder and get paid more.
That depends what you mean by a sound mind.
Having the kind of upbringing and stability in childhood that allows you to foster a good work ethic and make rational, sensible choices is something that not everyone shares, and yet it is absolutely crucial to ones life chances.
The hardest working people I’ve ever met lived in developing countries and they all survived hand to mouth day to day. Tell them that hard work brings reward.
It may not be exactly the same in the UK, but the principle holds true.
Plenty of lazy feckless public schoolboys automatically given cushy well paid jobs while hard working poor people struggle to survive.
The world is complex and there are not always easy answers.
I absolutely agree with you there. If you’re an idiot with idiot parents then you can’t really be blamed for putting special brew on your cornflakes and taking the kids to school (late) in your PJs.
The difference is that I’d………
Godwin’s law I claim my £10
Ah but that’s the myth. Every problem had a very simple answer it’s just that people won’t like it. Try any issue in society right now and I’ll give you the answer that will work. Won’t necessarily be a vote winner though
Good argument. One could almost say gifted……
So what would you do about it?
I completely disagree with you, but I’ll leave it there.
We won’t convert each other over the internet.
Cool but just out of interest, give me a problem, I’ll give you a solution.
Pathological lack of empathy and compassion?
Well that blew up in the last couple of hours. Not that it makes an iota of a difference, some people just want to believe their own narrow little perspectives.
So very true, we just have to humour them 
I think we’re all sound mate. @Klopptimist knows I love him really.
There is a grain of truth in what Klopptimist says. Personal responsibility has to be part of the solution. But on the other hand, helping to lift people, and not coldly demanding they do it all for themselves, especially if their circumstances are dire and so difficult to break out from, seems the civilized and right thing to do.
If the argument is taken to extreme either way, it falls down.
Sort your shit out and pull yourself up!
Here, have more benefits to waste on cigarettes!
There has to be, and there is, a vast middle ground between those extremes, and that’s where personal empathy and thoughtful public policy must reside.
Care to explain why the numbers of children in poverty has increased since 2010?
Did their parents all start new smoking habits? Or maybe these people started to mass breed? Or maybe there was a massive drive by the BBC to make everyone lazy overnight?
Sorry the answer is austerity. A squeeze on wages, social care and services putting more over the poverty line.
Your argument on working hard is just bollocks. I’ve met families where the parents have 2 jobs and still struggle. Plus using your single man perspective if working hard equated directly into success I’d be further up the food chain than I am, but several factors have stunted that, none of which are down to a lack of effort. 60+ hour weeks have been far too regular in my lifetime to the point where both mental and physical health have suffered.
It’s your narrow view and arrogance on the matter that I find unbelievable. You ignore the evidence in light of single examples.
The facts are that there are vastly varied reasons why people struggle. Many of these stem from government policy that has driven the economic landscape of the UK. I agree with @RedOverTheWater above. The solution isn’t just bumping up social care. The answer lies in giving people opportunities. Opportunities that have being squeezed out by governments. Again university has moved towards an option for the rich only for example. I’d have never gone under the current system.
Damn 3am brain dumps are not good
There’s a poster on here with a crippling angry man syndrome. I leave it there. 
Me neither. I got a full maintenance grant and my fees were covered. If I’d have even gone a year later, by which time grants had been removed, I’d have struggled.
Sounds like we went to University at the same time ('96)?