I think its interesting that the part you highlight is the purely opinion part of the study. To me, this is the key part of the study: There is my point right there. The teams that have spend more money statistically do better (and naturally get to the playoffs more often). I'm not surprised that there's no correlation between payroll and playoff performance - the playoffs are too small a sample (allowing for normal statistical deviation) and as the authors of this study state, there are so many additional variables that come in to play during the playoffs. One thing this study also ignores is that there have been a number of teams that spent major dollars for one year and then broke up the team the next (the Marlins comes mind), simply because the owner couldn't afford such huge payrolls over time without losing considerable money. Compare that situation to the Yankees (who never lack for huge revenues) and you can see the disparity. So I agree that you can't buy a championship, but you can buy being competitive.
Do you really believe this? If so, that makes me sad. What is your definition of the American dream? I know we are going through some tough times, but I think people will work hard, figure this stuff out and get us moving forward again. This isn't the first time the US has been down, but we have always found ways to get through. Call me old fashioned, but I still have faith in the people in this country.
Also call me half drunk, as I got off early today and started drinking. I may get a little patriotic and sentimental when drunk, and may not necessarily feel this way in the morning.
Oh yeah! Obama is socializing the lockout again! http://sheridanhoops.com/2011/11/04/mediator-to-return-to-nba-talks/ Welcome Federal Government Mediator Jorge Cohen! Warmly Welcome! Wish you great success so Obama gets credit!
Maybe we can, and I don't think it's 99% of the people we need to worry about. It's the 1% with the influence and power. When it's easier to be a self made millionaire and rise to the top in France, Australia, Spain, Canada, Denmark etc. than it is in the US, it's hard to argue that the American Dream is as likely as it once was.
As in hard work gets you monetary and material success. Its already been shown that a college degree no longer guarantees you a job. Even getting into college is crazy expensive. Unemployment rate is the highest in years. Thanks to the consolidation of wealth Middle Class is nearly dead. Without Middle Class demand is not there anymore Without demand.. etc. etc. You can't be rich unless you're born rich.
Health care and retirment. To be honest I am a socialist but the only system that I think neds major change is the health care system.
That simply isn't true. I agree with a lot of the rest of your post, especially the part about college being crazy expensive, but I know people who some would describe as "rich" (does wealthy count?) that came up from a working class family living in a working class neighborhood. It can still be done, more often than you think. Not nearly as often as the Republican Party would have you believe, however.
It use to be that just working hard and saving money would get you to the good life. But that I'm not so sure of anymore. You also have to be very savvy and invest wisely. And make sometimes unscrupulous decisions. You have to be able to screw other people over basically. And let's face it, there is an element of luck involved. It still takes hard work and being very smart -but now that's not enough to get you to a good life. If you are born to an average middle class family, you can rule out going to a top-tiered institution. That's over 50% of the population. It's simply to expensive and out of reach. How many families can afford to pay/borrow $200k to put a kid through college when the average salary is $49k? And starting out from school on a $50k salary with that kind of debt is insane. I only had to borrow $75k - and it took me 10 years to pay it all back. But since a collage education no longer guarantees a lucrative lifestyle - it's a tremendous risk to go into a big hole for that. And thus college has become the domain of the richer and richer kids. I think that the American dream isn't dead, but it is dying. You can still make it big and successful, from rags to riches - but those are fewer and fewer percentage of people. Also keep in mind that most legal immigrants who come here are highly educated in their home countries.
You say this on a Rocket's fansite, where we have a whole team of people who are millionaires and and weren't born rich. If the players believed the same thing, they would have given up a long time ago and be living on welfare checks. My parents were so poor, they went for weeks without food as kids. They were lucky to find edible twigs. My father immigrated to the USA worked hard for years building up a restaurant supply business and buying several commercial properties.
Occupy Wallstreet is brainwashing folks again. Ther is such a thing as income mobility. I have seen many people come from welfare families and move between different brackets. I have seen it in my relatives and friends. http://blog.american.com/2011/10/tr...-over-time-shows-significant-income-mobility/
You don't have to be born rich to become rich (though it sure makes it easy as hell), but you at least have to be born middle class.
I'm not saying its impossible. And I'm talking about the average American. I'm not talking about someone with an exceptional innate ability that people would pay good money for. I'm talking about low-income/middle-income families that aren't able to be successful because of the economic environment and standards that have been set today. And btw. I'm guessing your father immigrated at least thirty to forty ago? The level of economic hostility for small businesses are exponentially large compared to the past.
