[losteric]

> the smarter people I know earn good salaries and have nice lifestyles. Nicer than their parents, in most cases, mainly because consumer technology constantly gets better and cheaper.

This is because today's booming companies rely on brain power instead of manpower. What does the future hold for people that aren't smart or born into money? As we continue externalizing intelligence to machines, eventually smart people will start falling victim to the automation trend that killed "dumb" jobs.

As I see it, we really need to increase funding for higher education (including adult retraining) and revamp K-12 to make the most of intelligent people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, while also placing greater emphasis on trade programs and small businesses.

We'd also benefit from tariffs on imported Chinese goods, increasing domestic manufacturing (rather than waiting until free trade equalizes global quality of life).

> I'm really at a loss for what exactly I'm supposed to be feeling outraged about.

Personally, I'm deeply concerned but not outraged... I vote for sound policies and politicians that may avoid the next Great Depression, but I profit when the public votes for more unregulated capitalism.

[Danihan]

Underrated post, completely agree. There have been several times when I wasn't doing so well financially and I wondered -- if I'm this smart (not to be cocky, but top 1% at least) and struggling, how are other people making it at all?

The answer is, they take far fewer risks than I do and rarely mess up. And when they do mess up it's years of hard work to recover.

But yeah, there is definitely some social Darwinism currently at play in regards to intelligence.