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by cloakandswagger 2122 days ago
Not bizarre at all if you think about it. The economic hardship will motivate a substantial portion of our population to become more industrious. They'll fill any available job and do it productively since they're now at or below the poverty line.

The stock market is setting new highs in anticipation of a renaissance in worker efficiency and business margins.

2 comments

Can we stop perpetuating this idea that poverty is going to make people work super hard to escape? It’s a debilitating state that traps people. It’s not a blessing of motivation. Studies have show poverty lowers IQ and overall health in almost every way. Happy, financially secure workers are productive ones. Hard to focus on your job when you’re wondering where your next meal is coming from and which bills you can push off until your next paycheck.
I question and reject the conclusion of any such study based on my own experience.
Your thesis has an implication that is readily checked:

If living poverty makes people more industrious, then people who grew up in poverty should have better outcomes than people who never have.

And that's pretty well proven to by false. In fact, there's a name for all of the negative effects of living in poverty that perpetuate a life in poverty: the cycle of poverty.

You’re rejecting the conclusion of studies that you haven’t even read?
Anecdote > data?
Personal observations and reasoning > crooked, conclusion-oriented "studies"
Actually reading a study, researching who conducted and funding it, and their methods > calling a study crooked because it disagrees with your world views
Your own words betray you. You've got your conclusions already. I bet you ascribe your lucky breaks to personal qualities too.