Politics And Current Events

[Silentom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNvmWYA-ZPg

[Shyster]

He's an interesting interview: he left England to get away from class consciousness and limitations. Now he realizes that there are also deep divisions in US, but we pretend that such divisions don't exist. Like him, I think the latter is the worse option.

Interesting, but I think Mr. Reeves is making an assumption that doesn't necessarily hold water: that those towards the bottom are or would be capable of taking advantage of the opportunities that the people at the top are supposedly "hoarding." I certainly agree with the premise that people at the upper end of the income spectrum are pulling away from those farther down. I believe that can be attributed to:

– With notable exceptions such as professional athletes, most high-income jobs require high intelligence. While there may be exceptions, people who are not well above average in intelligence are not going to be able to handle jobs such as medicine, engineering, law, computer programming, high-level managerial and executive, other STEM jobs, etc.
– Smart people generally prefer to date and marry other smart people and live in neighborhoods where smart people congregate.
– Intelligence is significantly if not overwhelmingly heritable, so smart couples have smart kids.
– Those smart kids in many if not most cases grow up to also join the high-income "smart" professions.
– Rinse and repeat.

The fact that, for example, the son or daughter of two highly intelligent tech professionals gets into a good college and then lands a high-paying STEM job does not necessarily mean that a job has been "hoarded" from a poor child. Does the poor child have the smarts to get into that college? Does the poor child have the smarts to hold down a STEM job? A lot of people are poor because they're stupid, and stupid cannot be fixed.

[columbia]

I suspect that Reeves' response would start with, "Hmm, yes that is - generally - what they want you to think."

[Troy Loney]

– Intelligence is significantly if not overwhelmingly heritable, so smart couples have smart kids.

oof.

[Algernon]

– Intelligence is significantly if not overwhelmingly heritable, so smart couples have smart kids.

oof.

anecdotally I've come to believe thats false

[columbia]

[Troy Loney]

Success doesn't require intelligence.

There is definitely a correlation between success and successful parents, but intelligence is more of an independent variable.

[Shyster]

Success doesn't require intelligence.

There is definitely a correlation between success and successful parents, but intelligence is more of an independent variable.

Success at what, though? One can indeed be very financially successful and not be all that intelligent. For example, I have multiple multi-millionaire clients who never went to college. One of them could no doubt buy and sell me a hundred times over, and he is a plumber by trade. He made his fortune flipping houses and doing all the repair work himself. On the other hand, it's highly unlikely that someone who is not extremely smart would be successful as, say, an electrical engineer or a cardiothoracic surgeon.

[Shyster]

Never mind the pretension, you aren't supposed to refer to yourself as 'the honorable' anything.

Correctamundo. Honorifics are used by other people—not claimed by one's self. It's the same reason why its incorrect for a lawyer to append "Esquire" to his or her own name.

[crusherstasiak]

He's an interesting interview: he left England to get away from class consciousness and limitations. Now he realizes that there are also deep divisions in US, but we pretend that such divisions don't exist. Like him, I think the latter is the worse option.

Interesting, but I think Mr. Reeves is .......... ld have the smarts to get into that college? Does the poor child have the smarts to hold down a STEM job? A lot of ....... and stupid cannot be fixed.

Am of the opinion Tyler Cowen is a bit more precise on this topic than Reeves.

[columbia]

Massachusetts Forces Churches To House The Homeless And Feed The Hungry
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/laughingin ... he-hungry/

[Factorial]

Outright refusal to follow the Jesus Act will mean the churches involved will lose their tax-exempt status. The new taxes gained will be spent on the hungry and the homeles

[MWB]

He's an interesting interview: he left England to get away from class consciousness and limitations. Now he realizes that there are also deep divisions in US, but we pretend that such divisions don't exist. Like him, I think the latter is the worse option.

Interesting, but I think Mr. Reeves is making an assumption that doesn't necessarily hold water: that those towards the bottom are or would be capable of taking advantage of the opportunities that the people at the top are supposedly "hoarding." I certainly agree with the premise that people at the upper end of the income spectrum are pulling away from those farther down. I believe that can be attributed to:

– With notable exceptions such as professional athletes, most high-income jobs require high intelligence. While there may be exceptions, people who are not well above average in intelligence are not going to be able to handle jobs such as medicine, engineering, law, computer programming, high-level managerial and executive, other STEM jobs, etc.
– Smart people generally prefer to date and marry other smart people and live in neighborhoods where smart people congregate.
– Intelligence is significantly if not overwhelmingly heritable, so smart couples have smart kids.
– Those smart kids in many if not most cases grow up to also join the high-income "smart" professions.
– Rinse and repeat.

The fact that, for example, the son or daughter of two highly intelligent tech professionals gets into a good college and then lands a high-paying STEM job does not necessarily mean that a job has been "hoarded" from a poor child. Does the poor child have the smarts to get into that college? Does the poor child have the smarts to hold down a STEM job? A lot of people are poor because they're stupid, and stupid cannot be fixed.

I don't necessarily think there's a direct correlation between intelligence and societal class.

[MWB]

Success doesn't require intelligence.

There is definitely a correlation between success and successful parents, but intelligence is more of an independent variable.

Success at what, though? One can indeed be very financially successful and not be all that intelligent. For example, I have multiple multi-millionaire clients who never went to college. One of them could no doubt buy and sell me a hundred times over, and he is a plumber by trade. He made his fortune flipping houses and doing all the repair work himself. On the other hand, it's highly unlikely that someone who is not extremely smart would be successful as, say, an electrical engineer or a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Is it likely that a cardiothiracic surgeon could be just as successful fixing and flipping houses? There are different types of "smart."

[Shyster]

I don't necessarily think there's a direct correlation between intelligence and societal class.

I think that depends upon how one is defining "class." If we consider class to be something one has to be born into (I'm thinking along the lines of a European-style concept of nobility), then nothing else matters other than the happenstance of birth. No matter how much money one might have, the Blue Bloods will never accept you as anything other than an up-jumped bourgeoisie. If, however, we define societal class more along the lines of income and opportunity, then societal class starts to align with one's job, and one's job is significantly dictated by one's intelligence, particularly when it comes to a lot (certainly not all, but a lot) of high-income jobs.

[Shyster]

Is it likely that a cardiothiracic surgeon could be just as successful fixing and flipping houses? There are different types of "smart."

There are, but not every type of "smart" is going to qualify one for every job. A cardiothoracic surgeon might indeed also possess the ability to be a brilliant plumber, but a brilliant plumber is much less likely to have the capabilities to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.

[Gaucho]

Or the opportunity.

[MWB]

Is it likely that a cardiothiracic surgeon could be just as successful fixing and flipping houses? There are different types of "smart."

There are, but not every type of "smart" is going to qualify one for every job. A cardiothoracic surgeon might indeed also possess the ability to be a brilliant plumber, but a brilliant plumber is much less likely to have the capabilities to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Completely disagree. They require different skill sets, and different ways of thinking. Certainly the surgeon would tend to have more intelligence as we traditionally think of it, but that doesn't necessarily translate to other jobs well.

[Shyster]

Completely disagree. They require different skill sets, and different ways of thinking. Certainly the surgeon would tend to have more intelligence as we traditionally think of it, but that doesn't necessarily translate to other jobs well.

I said the surgeon "might" have the skills to be a plumber, not that he or she would.

[MWB]

The way you stated it, you seemed to say that it is more likely the surgeon could be a plumber than vice versa. That's where I think the disagreement lies, unless I misunderstood.

[shafnutz05]

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/877570127784534017

That neck tattoo certainly didn't help in being on the run.

Dubose and Rowe were taken into custody last Thursday in central Tennessee. Authorities said a homeowner saw the inmates trying to steal his vehicle and called his neighbor. After arming themselves, the men confronted the fugitives and held them at gunpoint, authorities said.

That's what I like to see. It sounds like they approached it the absolute right way.

[shmenguin]

The way you stated it, you seemed to say that it is more likely the surgeon could be a plumber than vice versa. That's where I think the disagreement lies, unless I misunderstood.

Wait...you disagree that it's more likely a surgeon could be a plumber? Eesh

[Freddy Rumsen]

Massachusetts Forces Churches To House The Homeless And Feed The Hungry
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/laughingin ... he-hungry/

#SeparationofChurchandState

[MWB]

The way you stated it, you seemed to say that it is more likely the surgeon could be a plumber than vice versa. That's where I think the disagreement lies, unless I misunderstood.

Wait...you disagree that it's more likely a surgeon could be a plumber? Eesh

Be a plumber and excel at it? Yes, I disagree that is more likely. Most skilled jobs require a unique set of skills.

ETA: I don't mean that every job requires unique skills. I wouldn't say someone working an assembly line (if those even exist) screwing on toothpaste caps couldn't be easily replaced.

[Kaiser]

Massachusetts Forces Churches To House The Homeless And Feed The Hungry
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/laughingin ... he-hungry/

#SeparationofChurchandState

Yeah this is BS. If people want to donate their money to any place, the Govt should keep their f***ing greedy paws off it. And if a church wants to be hypocrites and roll in cash while giving nothing, thats a problem for the folks they swindled.