I recommend this book all the time. “Discover What You Are Best At.” Linda Gail. I got it when I was about your age. It’s a series of self tests you can finish in half a day, and then a list of jobs that use those skills. For example, a product demonstrator and a paramedic both need good social skills and good dexterity. Totally different jobs with a similar skill set.

I found that just taking the course was helpful, because I was interacting with the other students.

[off topic]

Reminds me of a science fiction story. A regular type guy happens to look like a big star. The star sues the regular guy for copywrite infringement

Good answer!

Tom Wolfe said that if a person goes from middle class to homeless in a shelter their life changes 50%. They still have the same clothes, watch the same TV shows, eat the same kind of food.

If someone goes from being a billionaire to middle class their life has changed 100%.

[obligatory George Carlin reference]

https://youtu.be/6MVABINRzN4

Except that the rich know who to bribe with campaign contributions.

Look at Ronald Reagan. As an actor, he was not a giant star. Plenty of folks got a higher salary. Reagan lucked into a job as spokesman for General Electric, at the time one of the biggest companies in the world. Reagan hung out with the big shots and introduced them to his Hollywood buddies; in return he got stock tips and investment opportunities that made him rich.

You’re middle class if you’re still working for your money. You’re rich when your money works for you.

A $5 million a year actor/athlete still has to work; they are also paying for their trainers, agents, dietitians, clothes etc. They are upper middle class.

A trust fund baby with an income of $1 million a year is the rich one. imho.

imho, it was Nixon who started America on this course. Nixon knew that the Vietnam War was unwinnable; he even ran in 1968 as a ‘peace candidate.’ He also knew that massive bombing would mean that the US steel mills would be working 24/7 and that would be great for the Unions and owners. All he had to do was pay for it with paper money, because he didn’t want to raise taxes.

Racism is always a good idea.

When I was a kid, the worst playground insult was calling someone a ‘J@p,’ because only a yellow bastard would pull a sneak attack like Pearl Harbor.

Tojo must be smiling in Hell.

Filthy children!

Learn your history!!

https://youtu.be/JN_xXTI5Txo

In a neighborhood, everyone knows your name. If Joe the Plumber and Fred the Butcher make a bet, everyone has heard it, and the loser has to pay up, or be scorned.

In a bar, the bartender or server holds the bets and pays off the winner, and expects a cut of the pie as a sevice fee/tip.

90 year old woman goes to the local brothel. She tells the madam that she wants to try something new, so she wants to try being a hooker for a night. Madam makes some phone calls, finds some customers who 'd be into it, and tells the woman to come back the next night.

The next day the lady arrives, and soon the first john shows up. They walk upstairs, spend an hour, and come back. The second customer is waiting, and so he and she go upstairs. After she comes back down, the third guy arrives, so it’s back upstairs.

At the end of the night the madam asks if she wants to come back?

“Oh, no dear. the sex was fine but those damn stairs will kill me.”

https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/underwater-ghost-towns-of-tennessee

Apparently, back in the day the government decided that some places weren’t worth saving, and the benefits of building dams and flooding the towns outweighed other considerations.

The movie ‘Deliverance’ has a plot about something like this happening.

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=asteroid+mining

Here’s a link to some books on the subject. You’re right, most people figure it would be putting our heavy industries in space and bring down what ever products are needed.

With climate change and coastal flooding, it’s coming, just not in the form you’re thinking of.

Asteroid mining. We’ve had the tech to get people to the asterodi for decades, just lack the will to do it.

Brief moment in history…

I remember reading this tip in a magazine. Instead of having a professional photographer at a wedding, put a disposable camera at every table.

Along the lines of the original post.

Compare Angelina Jolie and Elizabeth Taylor, for example. On paper, Angelina is far wealthier, but in terms of day-to-day lifestyles, they are pretty comparable. Only the 0.01% of multi-billionaires have reaped any rewards.

The inflation in luxury goods is staggering. High school kids used to be able to afford concert tickets, football games, and Broadway plays. That Phantom was a year’s salary for a school teacher; now the most expensive cars are twenty year’s salary. It’s not that the products are so much better; there’s a larger pool of very wealthy people. In 1960, if a man’s wife had a job they were considered ‘poor.’ Today, even professionals need two salaries to keep up with the Joneses