On 28th Jan 2015 10:27pm, AD said:
I think you're completely missing my point. I'm saying how having some form of wealth or privilege (which more often than not has wealth attached to it) can make a massive difference in the opportunities you can take advantage of and the chances you can/are willing to take.
I'm a business/accounting/economics graduate so I'm hardly advocating a communist upheaval. My background was in an accounting practice where I got to experience as huge variety of different businesses, ranging from a tiny sole trader renting out bouncy castles to a group of limited companies with multi-million turnover. And believe me it makes a huge difference in what you are able or willing to do.
When you're used to having a certain level of security you're more willing to take risks. If something has never affected you you're less likely to be influenced by it. Look at the number of people who eat rubbish, smoke, drink etc despite knowing the harm it does to their body and don't care about changing - until they have that heart attack and suddenly taking those chances doesn't appeal as much anymore. You think "It'll never happen to me" or "how bad can it be?". So for someone who's had to scrape a living or live on the breadline that knowledge and experience makes them more hesitant on risking too much. If you haven't then it means nothing to you and you almost dismiss it out of hand.
I remember watching a programme about a self made millionaire, and he said "the only real difference between being poor and being rich is that the rich eat better".
I am not entirely convinced that your 'poor' model leads to taking less chances. I would have thought that, with so little to lose, the poor man would do whatever it took, and this thinking has lead some poor people way out of poverty. Whatever level you are at, there is the potential to lose it all overnight or to set a spiral downwards path from which there will be no recovery. Education and breeding don't save you from that..
